Peter Sposato
I am an associate professor of History at Indiana University Kokomo. I earned my PhD in History from the University of Rochester, where I worked with Richard Kaeuper. Bill Caferro has been an invaluable mentor in all things Florentine, archival, and military. My first book, Forged In the Shadow of Mars: Chivalry and Violence in Late Medieval Florence (Cornell University Press, February 2022), focused on the intersection of chivalry, elite culture, and violence in Due- and Trecento Florence. For more information: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501761898/forged-in-the-shadow-of-mars/#bookTabs=2
My second book project focuses on identity formation among marginalized elites in fourteenth and fifteenth century Florence, a process which involved holding military offices in the contado, providing advice to the Florentine government on military matters, and, perhaps most importantly, cultivating military careers. It will also consider how these men asserted their claimed identities in perpetuity, mainly through the commissioning of tomb effigies and funerary monuments with clear knightly or military themes. While in other parts of Europe these martial activities and acts of commemoration were central pillars of the dominant brand of elite identity, in Florence they were often more closely associated with elites who found themselves at the margins of Florentine politics and economically disadvantaged.
Supervisors: Richard Kaeuper
My second book project focuses on identity formation among marginalized elites in fourteenth and fifteenth century Florence, a process which involved holding military offices in the contado, providing advice to the Florentine government on military matters, and, perhaps most importantly, cultivating military careers. It will also consider how these men asserted their claimed identities in perpetuity, mainly through the commissioning of tomb effigies and funerary monuments with clear knightly or military themes. While in other parts of Europe these martial activities and acts of commemoration were central pillars of the dominant brand of elite identity, in Florence they were often more closely associated with elites who found themselves at the margins of Florentine politics and economically disadvantaged.
Supervisors: Richard Kaeuper
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Monographs by Peter Sposato
As a result, in Forged in the Shadow of Mars, Sposato challenges the traditional scholarly view of chivalry as foreign to the social and cultural landscape of Florence and contests its reputation as a civilizing force. By reexamining the connection between chivalric literature and actual practice and identity formation among historical knights and men-at-arms, he likewise provides an important corrective to assumptions about the nature of elite violence and identity in medieval Italian cities.
Articles by Peter Sposato
coming of age in the late medieval Mediterranean, focusing
on elite violence as depicted in historical and literary narratives
from Florence and Castile. Highlighting the significant roles of
chivalric ideology and cultural norms, it examines how young
protagonists, such as Simone Donati and Rodrigo Ponce de
León, engaged in brutal vengeful acts as pathways to assert
their honor and solidify their identities within their community.
Through an analysis of chivalric literature, such as the romances
surrounding Amadis and El Cid, the article underscores the
cultural expectations placed upon young men from noble
backgrounds, who were compelled to demonstrate their valor
through violence. By situating these figures within a broader
context, it argues that such vengeful acts were not only common
but essential for the transformation from youth to manhood,
revealing how these themes resonated across the Mediterranean
as ideas of masculinity evolved during the transition from the
late medieval to the early modern era.
Conference Presentations by Peter Sposato
As a result, in Forged in the Shadow of Mars, Sposato challenges the traditional scholarly view of chivalry as foreign to the social and cultural landscape of Florence and contests its reputation as a civilizing force. By reexamining the connection between chivalric literature and actual practice and identity formation among historical knights and men-at-arms, he likewise provides an important corrective to assumptions about the nature of elite violence and identity in medieval Italian cities.
coming of age in the late medieval Mediterranean, focusing
on elite violence as depicted in historical and literary narratives
from Florence and Castile. Highlighting the significant roles of
chivalric ideology and cultural norms, it examines how young
protagonists, such as Simone Donati and Rodrigo Ponce de
León, engaged in brutal vengeful acts as pathways to assert
their honor and solidify their identities within their community.
Through an analysis of chivalric literature, such as the romances
surrounding Amadis and El Cid, the article underscores the
cultural expectations placed upon young men from noble
backgrounds, who were compelled to demonstrate their valor
through violence. By situating these figures within a broader
context, it argues that such vengeful acts were not only common
but essential for the transformation from youth to manhood,
revealing how these themes resonated across the Mediterranean
as ideas of masculinity evolved during the transition from the
late medieval to the early modern era.
Nuova Antologia Militare. NAM No. 13 Medieval Military History
Edited by Marco Merlo, Antonio Musarra, Fabio Romanoni, Peter Sposato