6
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history of women arid of gender relations has some times appeared static, lending credence to those who would argue that women have no history. The chapters in this volume seek to address the issue of change over time. What was new about gender relations in the Renaissance compared to earlier periods? How did notions about gender-appropriate behaviour change in Renaissance Italy and in response lo the currents of religious reform thai emanated from northern Europe in the sixteenth century? Finally, many of these authors are attentive to issues of class and ask in what ways I he changes observed in die relations lietwern men and women of die elite differ Trout those of the lower classes?
Part One of this volume focuses on some of these questions with regard to urban geography and ritual life. As Roliert Davis shows, urban spates were geudctcti Newlv omstiiiLted Renaissance, governments made them so through die passage and implementation of laws dial reinforced notions ol public spaces as male and private spaces as female. Most public rituals involving the instillation of governments or the celebration of public events brought otil processions of councillors, guildsmen. noblemen and rulers who were invariably male. Their ritual walks through the city proclaimed die theoretical masculinity of public spaces and of the law, Yet odier forces were also at work to undermine this paitnership between government and gendered geography. Class figured prominently in this. The gender of public space was not a constant, but was rested fretpiendy and required repealed reaffirmation. Throughout die cities of the Italian peninsula, lower-class youths, olicri in defiance of government orders, though sometimes in tacit connivance with government officials, engaged in contests to prove their physical prowess through hulirhasiug, wars of the fists, stonc-dirowing contests, etc. These masculinized public space in ways that disrupted public order. Of necessity, working-class women ventured out more often into this dangerous public sphere than did dieir elite sisters. Prostitutes in particular tesled (he restrictions imposed by governments on the use of die streets and courtesans sometimes controlled entire neighlxtiirhoods. Ye I al (he same time die iransgressions of these J.isi two groups reinforced the notion that the streets were for those women with less honour or those whose honour had been depleted altogether. Elite women ventured out less frequently, and when they did so, they often walked on enormously high platform shoes that made it iiii|H«sible for diem to rnmrc about unaided bv a large corps of female servants. Stirh visible, accompanied displays would have lefl no doubt dial the honour of these women was
Inlmductittri
Mhi.< nl,ible and also lhat. at least tleetingly. ihcy were reclaiming
■ In  in i is. .is passersby tried finitely to gel around these slow-moviue, II >......i
\......Img lo Sharon Suocchia, women of the middling and upper
i • • , Ii.liI out e been more risible in ihr streets of late medieval tint • arty Renaissance Italy. The rituals of marriage and corporate |M*np* had allowed women greater participation in public life. Yet <M lite hlteendi century wore on. nuptial rites increasingly high-ltn!.i>'l the honoui ami public recognition of grooms and I heir
......In   < loiporate gTottps aLsodeveloped rites that madeiimore difh-
i .ili h<t women lo partake in common puhlk ceremonies, Strocrhra (|rKties, (or example, dial as the Magellan! movement made inroads hi leltgtous confraternities, females were increasingly excluded. 1 In KMie was not llagellation fm w, which women and men had pi i. ir-iil m solitude lot centuries; it was not even the unseemly
■ | nil- ot the bleeding bare lucks of anonymous contratemal nit miters; nil her, the problem was the inversion of gender roles by tell .ibasing men 1 he patriarchal ideal placed the confident male ti ihr top of the social hierarchy. Hie spectacle of men flagellating ilu uiM'Kes would have undertrutied lite confidence of women in iln soi i.d pyramid thai placed them towards the liotlom.
Vet the self-same forces thai served lo masculinize public life, in 11ii end worked to feminize it as well. .Strocchia speaks about the 'civilizing' efforts of the stale. As Renaissance govern merits tried to
■ inn the disruptive behaviour of male youths and nobles, ihey spread ihe ethos of restrain! and |*olite behaviour. In thr course of the sixteenth centurv. in most places in Italy, loud public insults and vendettas gave way to courtly manners and duels. Males may have had greater access lo public places but the new codes of behaviour in which they were expected to adhere were, by earlier standards, distinctly 'feminine*.
Hie importance of the state in gender relations, evident in the wink of Davis and Strocchia, lieromes one of the primary themes in Pat i I'wo ol this volume, which focuses on the slate, the law, and the economy Stanley Chojnacki advances a new interpretation of the centrality of gentler for the lormation ol the Renaissance state. As elites throughout the Italian peninsula tried to sel ihemselves apart and to establish ihemselves above the rest of society, tile state developed as an instnimenl for the consolidation and regulation of ulinarchir hegemony. The slate both represented and disciplined their efforts, and in so doing, extended its regulatory tentacles into areas of social life lhat had previously been the province of the