Violence, wine and everyday life: crimes in the taverns of the medieval Dubrovnik

In the busy Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, taverns were more than just places to enjoy a jug of wine. They were rooms of gossip, gambling and often violence. An exact examination of the city's records from the late Middle Ages offers insights into the crime in the later Middle Ages.

The historian Gordan Ravančić examined the court files from the archives of Dubrovnik (then known as Ragusa) – especially the Libri de Maleficiis And Lamenta de Foris-to explore what he calls “tavern life”, an often overlooked aspect of everyday medieval experience. His article “Crime in taverns of late medieval Dubrovnik“Shows how taverns not only acted as entertainment points, but also as phases for conflicts, crime and the performance of masculinity.

How Ravančić would discover was “a fight or a struggle was the most common” answer “in any kind of unpleasant” question “or remark” in this medieval city.

A space dominated by men

Taverns in Dubrovnik served a customer that consisted mostly of men from the city's workers: stonemasons, shoemakers, employees, workers, seafarers and indenient servants. Wine was the only drink served – no ale or beer – and the guests talked to dice, cards and conversations. According to the criminal records, 95% of Tavern visitors were men. Women rarely entered these rooms, often only to buy wine that they then brought home or accompany a husband.

This absence reflects broader social expectations of gender roles. As Ravančić explains:

The possible reason why women were rare guests in taverns is that the life of tavern life was very often quite violent and therefore dangerous for women. Men in taverns while they drank, they often joked with each other, often at the expense of women. An additional explanation could be the general attitude towards the role of women in family and society, which still exists in some parts of the Mediterranean today – the tavern was a public place and women should be part of the domestic sphere. This perfectly corresponds to the fact that even the female tavern keepers who had to spend a lot of time in taverns because of their job did not have the best reputation.

When things got ugly

Violence was the most common form of tavern. In Ravančić's study, fights or swallowed 57% of the documented crimes. These conflicts can often be triggered by poisoning, disputes about payment or insults.

Some of the insults recorded in the test documents are alive and vulgar. A man was accused of looking for “Tua Mater Est Meretrix et Magiça“(” Your mother is a whore and witch “), while another one called someone” Tu it bastardus “. The beard of a person was also seen as a serious provocation.

While it seems that the Tavern keeper was often the victim, they were often the instigators. In a case of 1374, a tavern named Siedan accused a patron of a patron to attack him, but unveiled statements from another Tavernenersfachfer that Siedan had started the fight after he refused to accept the payment for a broken jug. Overall, Ravančić notes that tavern guards “were very often the main sponsors and perpetrators of Tavernkärts”.

Profession, crime and social hierarchies

The article reveals important insights into the social structure of Dubrovnik. Dealers and nobles in general avoid taverns, and if they were nearby nearby, the scribes have tried very hard to consider their removal of any difficulties. In one case, a patrician was “described as” described “as” described “Qui transibate per viam” – he just passed.

When examining the professions of visitors who got into difficulties in taverns, the three best groups were indisted servants, stonemasons and government officials. You could also find seafarers, butchers, Tanner and shoemakers among those who are charged with crimes in Taverns.

Overall, women committed far fewer crimes, and when they did it, they were more likely to be involved in theft and verbal insults than physical violence. A striking detail, however, is that 6% of female crimes were classified as robbery – surprisingly high in view of the risk of violent confrontation.

When did people go in Taverns?

Tavern visits followed the seasonal rhythm of agricultural work. In January there was a climb that was probably reduced in winter, while July was also popular, a doldrum between vineyards and the grape harvest. In August and November there were fewer people than the work requirements were the highest.

Weekends also brought more tavern visitors. Ravančić found that Saturdays and Sundays had significantly higher crime rates than weekdays and strengthened the role of the tavern as an important leisure room in the late medieval city.

A common European pattern

Ravančić finds that his results are similar with other studies from medieval Europe and attract comparisons with Tavern culture in England, Sweden and Germany. Dubrovnik fits a broader European pattern: Taverns were spaces of male leisure, which often contradict civil regulation and often crime scenes.

“Crime must be seen as one of the basic social activities,” argues Ravančić, “and … The patterns of crime can tell us important features of the cultural environment in which people have lived.”

Far from being peripheral or marginal, taverns were in the center of urban life. They were places of laughter and violence, the community and the conflict – and as this study shows, they reveal a lot about the social structure of the medieval Dubrovnik.

Gordan Ravančić's article “Crimes in Taucerne of late medieval Dubrovniks” was published in Medium aevum quotidianumVol. 38 (1998). You can Read it on Ravančić's academies.edu page.

Gordan Ravančić is a faculty member at the Croatian Institute of History in Zagreb.

Top image: 'A fight in front of an Ale -Haus' by Alexander Carse (1770–1843)