Criminal Justice and Crime in Late Renaissance Florence, 1537–1609

A study of Florentine criminal justice under the reign of the first three Medici grand dukes.

John K. Brackett (Author)

9780521522489, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 August 2002

176 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1 cm, 0.27 kg

"[Brackett's] conclusions are persuasive and his presentation of the Otto sober and judicious." Times Literary Supplement

This book examines in detail the Florentine system of criminal justice under the reign of the first three Medici grand dukes, from 1537 to 1609. The author discusses the structure and functions of the court, the operation of the two city prisons, and the definition and treatment of the major categories of crime. His main purpose is to shed light on the character of the Medicean state by examining the effectiveness of its main instrument of social control. The study is important for the amount of detail that it offers for such an early period, and it helps to vitiate the usefulness of the term 'absolutist,' which conveys a misleading picture of the early modern state.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The bureaucratic structure of the Otto: the personnel and their functions
2. Financing the Otto
3. The Otto as police: organization and function
4. Criminal procedure before the Otto: from discovery to sentencing
5. The Otto and its role in the centralization of criminal justice in the Florentine state
6. Crime and criminals
Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]