Violence, arms and criminal justice in papal Rome, 1560–1600

The Roman historian Irene Polverini Fosi published some years ago a study in the ideology and reality of papal justice under Sixtus V (1585–1590). 1 One of her main conclusions, accepted by most historians of papal Rome, was that there was a striking difference between the ideological significance the pope attached to justice in general, and especially to the relentless prosecution of evil-doers on one hand, and the true results of the work of his legal administration on the other. 2 Let us leave aside here the causes and circumstances of this failure; they were fully and competently analysed by Professor Fosi as far as the immanent problems and mistakes of papal justice under Sixtus V were concerned. But as soon as we contemplate the results of the daily work of papal justice in broader chronological terms and concentrate on violent delinquency in the city of Rome where source material is particularly plentiful and good, 3