Legittime forzature e maschilità ideali. Fra teoria giuridico-morale del matrimonio e prassi giudiziarie (secoli XVI-XIX)

This article deals with the legitimization of marital violence in Christian marriage. The first part analyzes the legal discourse produced after the Council of Trent, showing how doctrine defined and organized the ideal relationship based on gender inequality. The second observes the procedure followed in early modern marriage courts in relation to male impotence, a condition that belies the normative idea of a potent and leading masculinity. The outcome of the first trial lays bare that the priority of safeguarding marriage and protecting the husband’s honor is what led to a verdict against the wife, who was urged to take charge of the situation. The second trial provides a medical report illustrating the ideas that circulated on male sexual physiology, deemed as necessarily powerful and difficult to restrain.