La ville et le corps. La perception du corps blessé à Nuremberg à la fin du XVe siècle

Résumé En

Violence in the City : A Few Observations on the Perception of the Injured Body in Nuremberg at the End of the Fifteenth Century - The paper examines « every-day » violence in a large city during the late Middle Ages and how it was perceived in the chronicles, municipal ordinances, and private contracts dealing with damages and compensation — these last having been heretofore little known or explored. The compensations for injury and homicides represent considerable sums, yet neither the chroniclers nor the municipal authorities seemed to consider violence as a threat to the city, and still less as the symptom of a « crisis ». The perception of bodily injuries and homicide cases, and the laws regulating them, fall within the system of signs representing social and political order which distinguishes « just » violence from « unjust/false » violence. This rule of proceeding results in the dissembling of physical violence and its consequences behind order, and it is only through the momentary disruption caused by the violent occurrence itself that the wounded and suffering body becomes visible.