The Inquisitor in the Hat Shop: Inquisition, Forbidden Books and Unbelief in Early Modern Venice

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Federico Barbierato

The Inquisitor in the Hat Shop

Inquisition, Forbidden Books and Unbelief in Early Modern Venice

Federico Barbierato

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English

Routledge
21 February 2012

Humanities

Early modern Venice was an exceptional city. Located at the intersection of trade routes and cultural borders, it teemed with visitors, traders, refugees and intellectuals. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that such a city should foster groups and individuals of unorthodox beliefs, whose views and life styles would bring them into conflict with the secular and religious authorities. Drawing on a vast store of primary sources - particularly those of the Inquisition - this book recreates the social fabric of Venice between 1640 and 1740. It brings back to life a wealth of minor figures who inhabited the city, and fostered ideas of dissent, unbelief and atheism in the teeth of the Counter-Reformation.

The book vividly paints a scene filled with craftsmen, friars and priests, booksellers, apothecaries and barbers, bustling about the city spaces of sociability, between coffee-houses and workshops, apothecaries' and barbers' shops, from the pulpit and drawing rooms, or simply publicly speaking about their ideas. To give depth to the cases identified, the author overlays a number of contextual themes, such as the survival of Protestant (or crypto-Protestant) doctrines, the political situation at any given time, and the networks of dissenting groups that flourished within the city, such as the 'free metaphysicists' who gathered in the premises of the hatter Bortolo Zorzi.

In so doing this rich and thought provoking book provides a systematic overview of how Venetian ecclesiastical institutions dealt with the sheer diffusion of heterodox and atheistical ideas at different social levels. It will be of interest not only to scholars of Venice, but all those with an interest in the intellectual, cultural and religious history of early-modern Europe.

By: Federico Barbierato
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 929g
ISBN: 9781409435471
ISBN 10: 1409435474
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 21 February 2012
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Primary , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents: Foreword; Preface; Inside Venice; Reassembling fragmentary voices; Paths of scepticism; The danger from within; Books, readers and a hatter's library; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Federico Barbierato is Lecturer in Early Modern History (University of Verona - Italy)

Reviews for The Inquisitor in the Hat Shop: Inquisition, Forbidden Books and Unbelief in Early Modern Venice

'In bringing to light the diversity of participants in and places and forms of everyday religious and philosophical debates, Barbierato has made a useful contribution to scholarship on Venice and on belief and unbelief more generally.' Renaissance Quarterly 'The book is based on much archival material and wide reading in secondary sources. The prose is clear, vigorous, and sometimes verbose. Barbierato provides numerous colorful quotations of people appearing before the Inquisition in lively English translations... This is a good book about unbelief in Venice.' Catholic Historical Review 'In this fascinating book, Federico Barbierato charts the rapid expansion of unbelief, irreligiousness, and scepticism in Venice ca. 1640-1740.' American Historical Review '... combine[s] fascinating case studies with a great breadth of vision and a Europe-wide perspective.' European History Quarterly 'Barbierato provides us with a fascinatingly rich account and analyses of a whole variety of people and publications challenging orthodoxies - religious, political, moral and social.' Ecclesiastical History 'Barbierato's book is an important study that redirects attention to an overlooked period of Italian religious history and successfully draws out its interest and complexity.' English Historical Review