Abstract
This study is at its best in its discussion of late medieval Florence, the author’s area of specialization, which allows her to make use of archival materials that offer a fine-grained view of the life experiences of women involved in the trade. The book makes broad statements about medieval prostitution generally; although the Italian emphasis is obvious, the geographical and chronological focus are never stated (a book written largely about Italy is perfectly all right, but it should be identified as such). In fact, the arguments, based largely on Italian material with some French and Spanish examples, are of general applicability. Payment for sex was simultaneously condemned and tolerated: “The aim of the condemnation was not necessarily to eliminate the phenomenon but rather to distance oneself from it while immediately attesting that prostitution was impossible to thwart” (3–4). The church’s attitude “was neither static nor exempt from internal contradictions but one which remained fundamentally unified” (14). Prostitution was treated as a lesser evil than the other forms of sexual disorder that might result if it were removed. Sexual insults were the most common ones directed at women. Medieval writers attributed women’s involvement in sex work as a character defect rather than a result of circumstance. The poor and vulnerable, especially poor women, were at a disadvantage before the law. Domestic service, sometimes involving rape by an employer, was a significant pathway into sex work, as was trafficking. None of these ideas are new, but they are well synthesized in this book.The book is divided into four sections. “The Words for It” focuses on the ideals about female sexual behavior articulated by the Church and public authorities. “The Reality” attempts to approach the lived experience of those involved in the trade, whether as sex workers, customers, or authorities, largely from Italian records. “The Places and the Rules” talks about brothels. The final section, “The Business Itself,” deals with economic and demographic aspects, while also having a good deal to say about the violence involved. The most original section is that on the brothels, which has numerous insights about the spread of municipal brothels as institutions, and about the quasi-servitude of the women within them. The more original portions, however, are the least general ones. Municipal brothels were common in the German lands as well as in Italy, but Mazzi cites only one article about Germany, a 1977 one written in Italian, missing out on important scholarly work.1 She is wrong about the absence of municipal brothels in England outside London (30); even leaving aside the fact that the famous Southwark stews (brothels) were not in London proper, at least two other towns had them. The book would be more useful for Anglophone readers if the notes cited English versions of works by Anglophone or Francophone scholars that Mazzi cites in Italian translation.
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