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- Title
Agonale Ökonomien. Städtische Sportkulturen des 15. Jahrhunderts am Beispiel der Florentiner Palio-Pferderennen.
- Authors
Jaser, Christian
- Abstract
Within the series of horse races that many cities of Northern and Central Italy organised since the thirteenth century, the Florentine palio in honour of San Giovanni, the city's patron saint, took an eminent position during the Quattrocento. This annual race was not only manifoldly interwoven with the spatial, social and economic fabric of the city. Moreover, as a stage for political and dynastic competition its significance spread well beyond the city boundaries. In contrast to previous studies concentrating on festive and representational aspects, this contribution highlights the sportive competition of performance and prestige as the core of this palio race. Its competitive patterns are taken into consideration on three different fields: Firstly, the focus lies on the spatial arrangement of the race-course and its civic semantics; secondly, the contribution discusses the relationship between noble and civic patrons and their racehorses that were objects of transcultural trade and of a stud policy requiring huge investments; finally, the third section concerns the performance of the racehorses that created a specified memoria and, through betting, could be transformed into monetary profits and losses. In sum, this contribution reveals some key points of a fifteenth-century urban sport culture, as well as the guidelines of a redefined history of pre-modern sport.
- Subjects
HORSE racing -- History; HORSE racing; SPORTS competitions; SPORTS &; society; RACE horses as an investment; HORSE race betting; HISTORY of Florence, Italy; FIFTEENTH century; ECONOMICS; HISTORY
- Publication
Historische Zeitschrift, 2014, Vol 298, Issue 3, p593
- ISSN
0018-2613
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1515/hzhz-2014-0216