Nobles were slaughtered and their castles looted or destroyed, bodies were dismembered and corpses fed to animals-the Udine carnival massacre of 1511 was the most extensive and damaging popular revolt in Renaissance Italy (and the basis for the story of Romeo and Juliet). Mad Blood Stirring is a gripping account and analysis of this event, as well as the social structures and historical conflicts preceding it and the subtle shifts in the mentality of revenge it introduced. This new reader's edition offers students and general readers an abridged version of this classic work which shifts the focus from specialized scholarly analysis to the book's main theme: the role of vendetta in city and family politics. Uncovering the many connections between the carnival motifs, hunting practices, and vendetta rituals, Muir finds that the Udine massacre occurred because, at that point in Renaissance history, violent revenge and allegiance to factions provided the best alternative to failed political institutions. But the carnival massacre also marked a crossroads: the old mentality of vendetta was soon supplanted by the emerging sense that the direct expression of anger should be suppressed-to be replaced by duels.
This title was awarded the 1993 Howard Marraro Prize for the best book on Italian historyAbout the AuthorEdward Muir is the Ver Steeg Professor of History at Northwestern University. He is the editor, with Guido Ruggiero, of Sex and Gender in Historical Perspective and Microhistory and the Lost Peoples of Europe.
AwardsWinner of Helen & Howard R. Marraro Prize for Italian History 1994 (United States).
Book InformationISBN 9780801858499
Author Edward MuirFormat Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Johns Hopkins University PressPublisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm