Chivalry and Social Violence

This chapter looks at how chivalry's emphasis on autonomy and the defense of honor and power through violence resulted in intense conflict between the chivalric elite and other Florentines. The chapter considers the chivalric violence directed at the middling and lower classes (especially the popolo minuto), a practice referred to in this book as “social violence.” The chapter starts with a discussion on chivalric attitudes toward those of lower and middling social status, the popolani. Particularly, it examines how the sources generally distinguished chivalric warriors from their fellow citizens either by depicting the latter as of base character, utterly lacking in martial vigor and skill, or through expressions of great contempt toward those who enjoyed extensive wealth thanks to their mercantile and commercial dealings. As the chapter emphasizes, many of these men enjoyed the dignity of knighthood from the chivalric perspective but did not cultivate the profession of arms or live the chivalric lifestyle. The chapter analyses the historical practice of social violence in its many dimensions. What emerges is a deep, almost visceral desire on the part of the chivalric elite to unleash brutal, often transgressive, violence against popolani.