Wrath versus Contrition: Emotions of Interpersonal Conflict and Legislation on Vendetta in the Italian Communes (XIII-XIV centuries)

Autonomous use of violence — whether for vengeance or in a feud — can potentially endanger community safety. The contributors to this volume depict the logic and narrative strategies used to validate the autonomous use of violence on the one hand, and examine attempts to delegitimise such violence through legal and religions norms on the other. In doing so, they focus on the endeavours of theologians to discredit violence used in a feud as a danger to the salvation of an individual’s soul and as a threat to everyone’s safety. As emotions are often cited as an argument for both justifying and rejecting violent action, some of the studies in this anthology also contribute to the history of emotions.