Rosa Salzberg
University of Warwick, History, Faculty Member
- European University Institute, History and Civilization, Department Memberadd
- Migration and Diaspora Studies, Early Modern Venice, Immigration history, Imperialism and Identity, Mobility/Mobilities, History of Communication, Censorship of literary and popular culture texts, Cosmopolitanism, and 36 moreRenaissance History esp Venice, Veneto and empires, Print Culture, Italian (European History), History of the Book, Popular Literature, History, 16th century Venice, Cultural History, Early Modern print culture, Ballads, Space and Place, Early Modern History, Global cities, Early Modern European History; Jewish History; Global History, Social Networks, Social Capital, Cultural Capital, New Media, Social Mobility, Intergenerational mobility, Neighbourhood Networks, Elite Networks, Leisure Networks, Network Capital, Time Use, Housing) etc, Gated Communities, Gentrification, Urban Renewal, Poverty, Cultural and Spatial Representations of the Urban Poor, History of pubs, inns and taverns, Taverns, Archaeology Of Casual And Non Sympotic Wine Consumption, Peddling, Street Culture, and Food Historyedit
- My major research interests are urban history and the history of migration and mobility in Renaissance and early mode... moreMy major research interests are urban history and the history of migration and mobility in Renaissance and early modern Europe. My current project (MIGROPOLIS, financed by a Marie Sklowdowska Curie Fellowship at the European University Institute, 2016-18) looks at spaces of first arrival for migrants and travellers in Renaissance Venice, such as inns, lodging houses and ferry stations, and examines how they acted as sites of orientation, social and cultural interaction and surveillance points for the local authorities. The first fruits of this research are forthcoming in a journal article in the Revue d'historie moderne e contemporaine and various book chapters, detailed below.
I also have an enduring interest in the history of communication, and particularly the production and circulation of ephemeral print. A monograph based on my PhD dissertation, entitled Ephemeral City: Cheap Print and Urban Culture in Renaissance Venice, was published by Manchester University Press in 2014. It investigates the way in which the new technology of print infiltrated the lives of people across the entire spectrum of society in the form of cheap printed pamphlets, broadsheets, and fliers, which were sold for very little, posted up and proclaimed, or given out for free. My research suggests how, within the unique cityscape of Venice, print quickly became woven into the matrix of oral and written communication that underpinned urban life.
A key focus of my earlier research - the role of itinerant pedlars and performers who published, performed and sold cheap works in public spaces, acting as disseminators of news, information and entertainment at the intersections of print and orality - has led to several publications in journals including the Italian Studies, The Italianist, Sixteenth Century Journal, Renaissance Studies and Social and Cultural History.edit
Recent research has stressed the highly mobile nature of late Medieval and Early Modern European life. All kinds of people were on the move for a huge variety of reasons, encouraged by longer-term processes such as urbanization,... more
Recent research has stressed the highly mobile nature of late Medieval and Early Modern European life. All kinds of people were on the move for a huge variety of reasons, encouraged by longer-term processes such as urbanization, colonization and improvements in transport and communications infrastructures. This mobility was absolutely fundamental to the cultural, political, economic and religious changes that characterized the Renaissance period.
However, there is still much to know about the practical experience – the physicality and materiality - of mobility in this period; for instance, about the spaces through which mobile people passed (which became important sites of encounter and exchange), the forms of transport they used, the physical, mental and emotional ‘baggage’ that they carried with them. How was access to and experience of mobility shaped by the traveller’s class, gender, religion and age? How did Renaissance authorities, both at city and state level, respond to this mobility, attempting to enable, harness or control it? How, exactly, did mobility facilitate communication and cultural exchange, across and beyond the continent? And how does studying people’s movements shed new light on the great changes of the period, from the transmission of Renaissance culture to Europe’s contact with the rest of the world?
However, there is still much to know about the practical experience – the physicality and materiality - of mobility in this period; for instance, about the spaces through which mobile people passed (which became important sites of encounter and exchange), the forms of transport they used, the physical, mental and emotional ‘baggage’ that they carried with them. How was access to and experience of mobility shaped by the traveller’s class, gender, religion and age? How did Renaissance authorities, both at city and state level, respond to this mobility, attempting to enable, harness or control it? How, exactly, did mobility facilitate communication and cultural exchange, across and beyond the continent? And how does studying people’s movements shed new light on the great changes of the period, from the transmission of Renaissance culture to Europe’s contact with the rest of the world?
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This book unravels the complex interaction of the paradigms of luxury and greed which lie at the origins of modern consumption practices. In the Western world, the phenomenon of luxury and the ethical dilemmas it raised appeared, for the... more
This book unravels the complex interaction of the paradigms of luxury and greed which lie at the origins of modern consumption practices. In the Western world, the phenomenon of luxury and the ethical dilemmas it raised appeared, for the first time since antiquity, in early modern Italy. Here, luxury emerged as a core idea in the conceptualization of consumption. Simultaneously, greed — which manifested in new and unrestrained consumption practices — came under close ethical scrutiny. As the buying power of new classes gained pace, these paradigms evolved as they continued both to influence, and be influenced by, other emerging global cultures through the early modern period.
After defining luxury and greed in their historical contexts, the volume’s chapters elucidate new consumptive goods, from chocolate to official robes of state; they examine how ideas about, and objects of, luxury and greed were disseminated through print, diplomacy, and gift-giving; and they reveal how even the most elite of consumers could fake their luxury objects. A group of international scholars from a range of disciplines thereby provide a new appraisal and vision of luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy.
After defining luxury and greed in their historical contexts, the volume’s chapters elucidate new consumptive goods, from chocolate to official robes of state; they examine how ideas about, and objects of, luxury and greed were disseminated through print, diplomacy, and gift-giving; and they reveal how even the most elite of consumers could fake their luxury objects. A group of international scholars from a range of disciplines thereby provide a new appraisal and vision of luxury and the ethics of greed in early modern Italy.
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This article examines the thriving lodging house sector in early modern Venice, arguing that such spaces of temporary accommodation offer a valuable key to understanding how mobility and migration shaped the daily lived experience of the... more
This article examines the thriving lodging house sector in early modern Venice, arguing that such spaces of temporary accommodation offer a valuable key to understanding how mobility and migration shaped the daily lived experience of the city. Lodging houses were important both to the many Venetian residents who profited from renting out rooms, and to the people who stayed in them, and found there companionship, conversation, access to social and professional networks. Considering the kinds of encounters, conflicts and exchanges that unfolded in these shared spaces, the article offers new insight into the functioning of a pre-modern multicultural metropolis.
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How to be Venetian? Identification of migrants and the “right to reside” in sixteenth-century Venice In the sixteenth century, Venice was a dynamic and cosmopolitan city, attracting tens of thousands of migrants who came to stay for... more
How to be Venetian? Identification of migrants and the “right to reside” in sixteenth-century Venice
In the sixteenth century, Venice was a dynamic and cosmopolitan city, attracting tens of thousands of migrants who came to stay for shorter or longer periods. In order to settle in the lagoon, newcomers had to obtain the “right to reside”, a right determined by social and community practice as much as by a legal framework. This article explores how the practice and the right changed over the course of the sixteenth century, in a context of political and economic tensions. It analyses what it meant to be “Venetian”, a “resident” or a “foreigner” as one found one’s place within the community of ordinary people who populated the city. It seeks to ascertain how immigrants were identified, individually and collectively, as they settled in the city and sought to access rights, in the context of the establishment of new standardized forms of identification and written procedures of registration adopted by the Venetian government in the period.
In the sixteenth century, Venice was a dynamic and cosmopolitan city, attracting tens of thousands of migrants who came to stay for shorter or longer periods. In order to settle in the lagoon, newcomers had to obtain the “right to reside”, a right determined by social and community practice as much as by a legal framework. This article explores how the practice and the right changed over the course of the sixteenth century, in a context of political and economic tensions. It analyses what it meant to be “Venetian”, a “resident” or a “foreigner” as one found one’s place within the community of ordinary people who populated the city. It seeks to ascertain how immigrants were identified, individually and collectively, as they settled in the city and sought to access rights, in the context of the establishment of new standardized forms of identification and written procedures of registration adopted by the Venetian government in the period.
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Throughout the Renaissance, there was a long tradition of popular street performance concerning poverty. Sometimes the singer lamented his own hardship; sometimes he voiced the plight of the poor in general. In the sixteenth century, in... more
Throughout the Renaissance, there was a long tradition of popular street performance concerning poverty. Sometimes the singer lamented his own hardship; sometimes he voiced the plight of the poor in general. In the sixteenth century, in the face of dearth and economic decline, a number of such works were printed in cheap pamphlets, sometimes commissioned by the
performer himself to sell after his show to the public assembled in the piazza or street. This article examines how such themes were expressed in oral and printed forms by looking at a number of popular works from this period that commented on or complained about the growing inequality of Italian society,
the careless prodigality of the rich and the suffering of the poor.
performer himself to sell after his show to the public assembled in the piazza or street. This article examines how such themes were expressed in oral and printed forms by looking at a number of popular works from this period that commented on or complained about the growing inequality of Italian society,
the careless prodigality of the rich and the suffering of the poor.
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From well before the introduction of print, street performers had competed with preachers and prophets for the attention of audiences in the piazzas of Italian cities. Once the press appeared in Italy, these performers (cantastorie,... more
From well before the introduction of print, street performers had competed with preachers and prophets for the attention of audiences in the piazzas of Italian cities. Once the press appeared in Italy, these performers (cantastorie, cantimbanchi, cerretani, ciarlatani) quickly began to channel this activity into the new medium, publishing and selling a great range of cheap texts, among them religious and devotional works which they would also have performed publicly. This essay surveys the kinds of religious texts that street performers composed, published, and sold in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and how these printed texts continued to interact closely with traditions of oral performance and recitation. It also considers how this aspect of their repertoires fared in the era of Catholic Reformation when tighter control began to be exercised over religious practice, popular performance, and the use of public spaces.
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Street singers were crucial figures in Italian Renaissance urban culture, mediating between printed, written and oral forms of communication. Performing in the central piazza,they offered entertainment, news, satire and commentary on... more
Street singers were crucial figures in Italian Renaissance urban culture, mediating between printed, written and oral forms of communication. Performing in the central piazza,they offered entertainment, news, satire and commentary on current events to heterogeneous publics. But as the communicative capacities of the singers reached their peak, increasingly their presence in the city was seen as threatening and disruptive. The struggle for control of the piazza became particularly bitter in the later sixteenth century, when civic and ecclesiastical authorities strove to render public urban spaces more orderly and magnificent and to police the borders between sacred and profane spaces, times and ideas.
Keywords: orality, print culture, street performance, news, control
Keywords: orality, print culture, street performance, news, control
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""‘The People are Chattering’: Spaces, Publics, Voices in Venice during the Italian Wars During the War of the League of Cambrai (1509-1517), Venice lost (and regained) most of its mainland territory while foreign armies threatened the... more
""‘The People are Chattering’: Spaces, Publics, Voices in Venice during the Italian Wars
During the War of the League of Cambrai (1509-1517), Venice lost (and regained) most of its mainland territory while foreign armies threatened the edge of the lagoon. The crisis spurred vigorous city-wide debate, an “evanescent public sphere” composed of printed and oral communication, unfolding in a variety of public and private urban spaces, and including members of all classes. After surveying the historiography of the Habermasian and post-Habermasian public sphere, this article aims to provide a new definition of public political space by examining this critical historical moment.""
During the War of the League of Cambrai (1509-1517), Venice lost (and regained) most of its mainland territory while foreign armies threatened the edge of the lagoon. The crisis spurred vigorous city-wide debate, an “evanescent public sphere” composed of printed and oral communication, unfolding in a variety of public and private urban spaces, and including members of all classes. After surveying the historiography of the Habermasian and post-Habermasian public sphere, this article aims to provide a new definition of public political space by examining this critical historical moment.""
Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Communication, Public Opinion, Propaganda, and 12 moreOrality-Literacy Studies, Political communication, Italian Wars, Public Sphere, Venetian History, Renaissance History esp Venice, Veneto and empires, Early Modern Italy, Orality, Public Space, Spatial Turn, 16th century Venice, and History of Venice
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This article examines the Rialto area of Venice in the sixteenth century in order to investigate the interplay of centrality and marginality, both spatial and social, in the early modern urban metropolis. Focusing on pedlars who worked in... more
This article examines the Rialto area of Venice in the sixteenth century in order to investigate the interplay of centrality and marginality, both spatial and social, in the early modern urban metropolis. Focusing on pedlars who worked in the area, documented in a trial of the Venetian Holy Office, it argues that factors such as poverty, mobility, foreignness and even religious heterodoxy did not simply make a person marginal, but also suggests how the city’s complex social geographies were shifting at a time of upheaval and change.
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The articles in this issue study the uses and importance of orality in a range of contexts: the sung performance of poems in the piazza, language varieties on stage, the presentation of women’s speech in literary works, spoken and sung... more
The articles in this issue study the uses and importance of orality in a range of contexts: the sung performance of poems in the piazza, language varieties on stage, the presentation of women’s speech in literary works, spoken and sung devotions, and preaching in the age of the Counter-Reformation.
The essays derive from a project, funded by the European Research Council, on Oral Culture, Manuscript and Print in Early Modern Italy.
The essays derive from a project, funded by the European Research Council, on Oral Culture, Manuscript and Print in Early Modern Italy.
Research Interests: Religion, Improvisation, Censorship, Women's Studies, Comedy, and 46 moreItalian Studies, Performance Studies, Book History, Renaissance Studies, Gesture, Orality-Literacy Studies, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Reformation Studies, Lutheranism, Preaching, Inquisition, Prayer, Political communication, Italian Literature, Memory Studies, Italian Renaissance Art, Early Modern Italy, Italian Renaissance literature, Artists' Writings, Orality, Social Class, Translation, History of music, Censorship of literary and popular culture texts, Renaissance Lyric Poetry, Leonardo da Vinci, Early Modern Sermons, Early Modern print culture, Plautus, Meditation, Lauda, Chivalric literature, Italian Poetry, Street Performers, Oral Poetry, Cantari, Counter-Reformation, Pietro Aretino, Confraternities studies, Affectation, Canterino, Invocation, Verse Narrative, Street Singers, Niccolò Zoppino, and L'Altissimo (Cristoforo Fiorentino)
European cities have always been places of arrival and transit for migrants coming from both near and far, with a diverse range of motives. These movements shape the urban environment and are in turn shaped by it; the movement of people... more
European cities have always been places of arrival and transit for migrants coming from both near and far, with a diverse range of motives. These movements shape the urban environment and are in turn shaped by it; the movement of people necessitating an infrastructure of more or less permanent spaces to receive and accommodate them, to facilitate their permanence or encourage their departure. These spaces might be quite different in nature as well as appearance, they might be on the peripheries of the city or absolutely central; officially designated and constructed or created in a more ad hoc manner by locals or migrants themselves. They all, however, played a crucial role in migrants' journeys as points of encounter with local authorities and the urban community, places to access information, sociability and resources, facilitating paths towards integration or marginalisation.
Looking at and beyond city gates and their modern equivalents, this panel aims to analyse urban spaces of arrival and transit around transport nodes and accommodation sites to understand their role in the itineraries and experiences of migrants in European cities from the early modern period to the twentieth century. We encourage the submission of abstracts for papers examining sites such as city gates, ferry stations, train stations, ports, airports, inns, hostels, lodging houses, reception centres, and considering their political, social, cultural, economic and/or architectural significance.
Looking at and beyond city gates and their modern equivalents, this panel aims to analyse urban spaces of arrival and transit around transport nodes and accommodation sites to understand their role in the itineraries and experiences of migrants in European cities from the early modern period to the twentieth century. We encourage the submission of abstracts for papers examining sites such as city gates, ferry stations, train stations, ports, airports, inns, hostels, lodging houses, reception centres, and considering their political, social, cultural, economic and/or architectural significance.
Research Interests:
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The dynamism of Renaissance cultural, economic and political life was created in large part by the movement of people and objects through space and across distance. While certain forms of mobility such as pilgrimage and élite travel have... more
The dynamism of Renaissance cultural, economic and political life was created in large part by the movement of people and objects through space and across distance. While certain forms of mobility such as pilgrimage and élite travel have received some scholarly attention, we still understand relatively little about more everyday forms and experiences of mobility in the early modern world. And while recently long-distance and global mobility have been studied, there remains a great deal to know about the micro-practices that facilitated movement at the regional and trans-regional levels. We are seeking papers from across the disciplines which demonstrate how the 'mobility turn' is influencing Renaissance history, by exploring practices, social and material mechanisms, and sites of mobility. How did people move in the Renaissance world? Not just artists, artisans, musicians and writers, scholars and pilgrims, merchants, clerics and courtiers, but also peasants, labourers, soldiers, sailors, domestic servants, prostitutes, pedlars, vagabonds and many others. How did mobile objects (materials, manufactured goods, books and letters, devotional objects) intersect with other forms of mobility? What spaces, places and policies facilitated or impeded movement? We are also interested to consider methodological issues associated with the study of Renaissance mobilities and new analytical tools that can allow scholars to work with sources created mostly from the point of view of the static and settled. Potential themes might include: • mobility within and between cities • sites of mobility (e.g. inns, taverns, lodging houses, customs houses, ports, gates and ferry stations) • experiences of transport and the road • itinerancy and vagabondage • communications mechanisms and postal systems • state and civic policies regarding mobile people (e.g. identification, border control, expulsion/deportation) Please send a brief abstract (max. 150 words) and a brief narrative CV (max. 250 words) to the panel organizers, Rosa Salzberg (r.salzberg@warwick.ac.uk) and Paul Nelles (PaulNelles@cunet.carleton.ca), by 20 May 2016.
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Call for Papers: Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting Boston, 31 March-2 April For many years, the classical historiography of Venice claimed that the most Serene Republic knew no noble factions, no popular revolts, no uprisings,... more
Call for Papers: Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting Boston, 31 March-2 April
For many years, the classical historiography of Venice claimed that the most Serene Republic knew no noble factions, no popular revolts, no uprisings, and no real resistance against
patrician authority. As a consequence, it has also been suggested that popolani were excluded from political power, which was strictly reserved to patricians and to a lesser extent citizens.
For our panel(s), we welcome papers that explore, from different disciplinary perspectives, 1) the various ways that ordinary people could intervene in the political sphere in Venice 2) the ways the political roles of popolani/ordinary people were represented in Venetian arts, theatre and literature of the Renaissance. We understand “popular politics” in the broadest sense of the word, including participation in political communication, rituals and 'patriotism'; involvement with government offices and enforcement of laws (eg. participation in police forces); social control in the neighbourhood; popolani participation in scuole/brotherhoods; forms of (hidden) protest, resistance and rioting. We are especially interested in contributions that address the relation between protest and
gender/the role of women; resistance to patrician authority and patrician responses; the way critical opinions were voiced; collective protests and/or dissent by immigrants and minorities.
After a first workshop held in Amsterdam (27-28 February 2015) about popular political protest in late medieval and early modern Venice, we wish to continue exploring the question
of popular political action and representation in Renaissance Venice.
Deadline for submission : 4 June 2015
Please send an abstract (150 words) and a short cv (max. 300 words) to Maartje van Gelder (M.vanGelder@uva.nl) or/and Claire Judde de Larivière
(judde@univ-tlse2.fr)
For many years, the classical historiography of Venice claimed that the most Serene Republic knew no noble factions, no popular revolts, no uprisings, and no real resistance against
patrician authority. As a consequence, it has also been suggested that popolani were excluded from political power, which was strictly reserved to patricians and to a lesser extent citizens.
For our panel(s), we welcome papers that explore, from different disciplinary perspectives, 1) the various ways that ordinary people could intervene in the political sphere in Venice 2) the ways the political roles of popolani/ordinary people were represented in Venetian arts, theatre and literature of the Renaissance. We understand “popular politics” in the broadest sense of the word, including participation in political communication, rituals and 'patriotism'; involvement with government offices and enforcement of laws (eg. participation in police forces); social control in the neighbourhood; popolani participation in scuole/brotherhoods; forms of (hidden) protest, resistance and rioting. We are especially interested in contributions that address the relation between protest and
gender/the role of women; resistance to patrician authority and patrician responses; the way critical opinions were voiced; collective protests and/or dissent by immigrants and minorities.
After a first workshop held in Amsterdam (27-28 February 2015) about popular political protest in late medieval and early modern Venice, we wish to continue exploring the question
of popular political action and representation in Renaissance Venice.
Deadline for submission : 4 June 2015
Please send an abstract (150 words) and a short cv (max. 300 words) to Maartje van Gelder (M.vanGelder@uva.nl) or/and Claire Judde de Larivière
(judde@univ-tlse2.fr)
Research Interests:
'Bridges and Boundaries: Theories, Concepts and Sources in Communication History' ECREA Conference Programme. An International Conference in Venice, Italy September 16-18, 2015. Organizer: Communication History Section of the European... more
'Bridges and Boundaries: Theories, Concepts and Sources in Communication History' ECREA Conference Programme. An International Conference in Venice, Italy September 16-18, 2015. Organizer: Communication History Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
Co-Sponsor: Centre for Early Modern Mapping, News and Networks (CEMMN.net) Queen Mary University of London
Co-Sponsor: Centre for Early Modern Mapping, News and Networks (CEMMN.net) Queen Mary University of London
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Celebrino Frontspeice The biography of Eustachio Celebrino must be pieced together from his own (not necessarily trustworthy) admissions, and from the numerous works he published in the early decades of the sixteenth century. A prolific... more
Celebrino Frontspeice The biography of Eustachio Celebrino must be pieced together from his own (not necessarily trustworthy) admissions, and from the numerous works he published in the early decades of the sixteenth century. A prolific hack writer (poligrafo) ...
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Luoghi di accoglienza e di transito in area alpina al tempo del Concilio Tavola ovale di storia moderna 6 aprile 2018 Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via S. Croce, 77—Trento Il seminario intende inserire il case study della citta di Trento nel... more
Luoghi di accoglienza e di transito in area alpina al tempo del Concilio
Tavola ovale di storia moderna
6 aprile 2018
Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via S. Croce, 77—Trento
Il seminario intende inserire il case study della citta di Trento
nel contesto di un piu ampio dibattito storiografico italiano ed
europeo sulle tematiche della storia urbana nella prima età
moderna.
La città di confine tra impero e stati italiani, divenuta sede del
Concilio, vide infatti nascere e rimodellarsi spazi pubblici e
luoghi della socialità, dinamiche sociali ed economiche tipiche
dei luoghi di transito di area alpina.
Nel corso di un pomeriggio di studi, indagini diverse di storia
del cibo, ricerche sulle rappresentazioni della socialità, sulle
politiche dell'approvvigionamento, sulla gestione delle strutture
dell'ospitalita e sulla mobilita degli individui andranno a
comporre una prima geografia urbana dell'accoglienza nella
città del Cinquecento.
Tavola ovale di storia moderna
6 aprile 2018
Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via S. Croce, 77—Trento
Il seminario intende inserire il case study della citta di Trento
nel contesto di un piu ampio dibattito storiografico italiano ed
europeo sulle tematiche della storia urbana nella prima età
moderna.
La città di confine tra impero e stati italiani, divenuta sede del
Concilio, vide infatti nascere e rimodellarsi spazi pubblici e
luoghi della socialità, dinamiche sociali ed economiche tipiche
dei luoghi di transito di area alpina.
Nel corso di un pomeriggio di studi, indagini diverse di storia
del cibo, ricerche sulle rappresentazioni della socialità, sulle
politiche dell'approvvigionamento, sulla gestione delle strutture
dell'ospitalita e sulla mobilita degli individui andranno a
comporre una prima geografia urbana dell'accoglienza nella
città del Cinquecento.