The Barberini butchers : meat, murder, and warfare in early modern Italy / Bradford A. Bouley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bouley, Bradford A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Barberini family--Political activity--Italy--History--17th century.

Barberini family.

Urban VIII, Pope, 1568-1644.

Urban.

Meat industry and trade--Italy--History--17th century.

Meat industry and trade.

Food supply--Italy--History--17th century.

Food supply.

Castro, War of, 1642-1644.

Rome (Italy)--Politics and government--1420-1798.

Rome (Italy).

Papal States--History--1605-1799.

Papal States.

Europe--Papal States.

Italy--Rome.

Italy.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

illustration

monochrome

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2026]

Summary:

An examination of how the unsustainable consumption of meat in seventeenth-century Rome both symbolized the extent of papal power and sparked the outbreak of civil war In 1644 four norcini or pork butchers were accused of killing not pigs, but seven of their fellow citizens, stripping the meat from the bones, then combining it with pig to make sausages, which were then sold to Romans from their shop behind the Pantheon. In the multiple pamphlets describing this supposed crime, the authors of this accusation blamed residents of Rome themselves, who had become so obsessed with meat that they turned a blind eye to such horrendous acts. This fabricated story points to an underlying reality--that in the early seventeenth century, a series of popes dramatically increased the amount of food and wine consumed by Romans, culminating in a per capita consumption of over a pound of meat per day during the reign of Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644). The Barberini Butchers traces the efforts and activities of a range of actors who strove to bring meat to the Roman table. Bradford A. Bouley shows how Rome's preoccupation with food was the result of papal policy in the aftermath of the Reformation; food, and especially meat, served as religious and political propaganda, symbolizing the correctness of the Catholic faith and demonstrating the extent of papal power. Bouley details the dramatic reorganization of Roman foodways needed to satisfy this demand for meat, as large herds of animals had to be funneled from the countryside to the city. This consumption was ultimately not sustainable, triggering a crisis that fueled sensational rumors of murder and cannibalism and eventually, Bouley contends, sparked the outbreak of civil war, as vassals rebelled against papal oversight. The Barberini Butchers recovers this significant episode in food, environmental, and cultural history, one that brings early modern politics and history into conversation with concerns over human use of natural resources and consumption of animal products that continue to resonate clearly today.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Bringing Meat to Rome

Chapter 2. At the Food Court: Regulating Meat and Supply in Early Modern Rome

Chapter 3. Butchers and the Meaning of Meat in Early Modern Rome

Chapter 4. Medicalizing the Meat Moment

Chapter 5. Meat on Display: The Santo Spirito Hospital

Chapter 6. Castro: A War of Nutrition

Chapter 7. The Cannibal Butchers of Rome

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from digital title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed October 12, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Bouley, Bradford. Barberini butchers.Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2026]

ISBN:

9781512829440

1512829447

OCLC:

1599554610

Publisher Number:

CIPO000367093

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license