Sumptuary Law in Italy 1200-1500 [Hardcover]

Although the luxurious spending habits of Italians in the Renaissance are well known, this is the first comprehensive study of the sumptuary laws that attempted to regulate the consumption of luxuries. Catherine Kovesi Killerby provides a chronological, geographical, and thematic survey of more than three hundred laws enacted in over forty cities throughout Italy, and sets them in their social context.

Introduction
1. Ancient and Early Medieval Precedents
2. The Origins and Characteristics of Italian Sumptuary Law
3. Money and People
4. Ambition and Social Order
5. The Church and Sumptuary Law
6. Mulieris delinquentis: Women and Sumptuary law
7. Problems of Enforcement and the Failure of Sumptuary Law
Bibliography
Index

[A] thorough and convincing book... --Renaissance Quarterly