Letters from Sodom: ‘Emotional’ Agency and Evidence of Sexual Crime in the Early Modern Courts of Italy and Spain

Abstract

In the judicial system of the Ancien Régime, some crimes were notoriously difficult to prove. It was essential for the prosecution to properly argue the case and, to this end, it was necessary to develop a hierarchical system of evidential means that would allow any hint of suspicion to yield results. The goal of the essay is to carry out a detailed study of the written documents confiscated in judicial proceedings for sodomy in civil courts of the Mediterranean area during the early modern period. The objective is to understand the ‘expressiveness’ that this judicial evidence contributed to the process of signalling criminal practices within the judicial system of Spanish and Italian courts. In addition, by studying love letters between men, missives from their relatives and friends commenting on disagreements, the popular literature consumed by the defendants, certificates and other official documents, and their demands for employment, the essay will shed light on their everyday life and forms of dissidence, with the aim of understanding the particular ‘emotional’ agency of these individuals.