- Universiteit Leiden, Economic and Social History, Graduate StudentVrije Universiteit Amsterdam, History Department, Alumnusadd
- History of Daily Life, Household Studies, Social History, Economic History, Crime History, History of Crime, and 43 moreCultural History, European History, Consumption and Material Culture, Material Culture Studies, Early Modern economic and social history, Economic and Social History, Criminal Justice History, HISTORY OF CRIME AND LAW, Gender Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Criminology, Demography, Sociology of Crime and Deviance, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Early Modern Europe, Italian (European History), Early Modern Italy, Italian Studies, Early Modern History, History of Crime and Criminal Justice, History of Violence, History of Crime and Punishment, Storia Della Criminalità, Gender History, Storia Sociale, Storia Della Giustizia, Storia moderna, Seventeenth Century, 17th-Century Studies, 18th & 19th Centuries, Work and Labour, Poverty and Poor Relief, Women's History, Women and Gender Studies, Family history, Urban History, Historical Demography, Dutch History, Amsterdam, History of The Netherlands, History from Below, History of Everyday Life, and History of Epidemics(Cultural History, European History, Consumption and Material Culture, Material Culture Studies, Early Modern economic and social history, Economic and Social History, Criminal Justice History, HISTORY OF CRIME AND LAW, Gender Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Criminology, Demography, Sociology of Crime and Deviance, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Early Modern Europe, Italian (European History), Early Modern Italy, Italian Studies, Early Modern History, History of Crime and Criminal Justice, History of Violence, History of Crime and Punishment, Storia Della Criminalità, Gender History, Storia Sociale, Storia Della Giustizia, Storia moderna, Seventeenth Century, 17th-Century Studies, 18th & 19th Centuries, Work and Labour, Poverty and Poor Relief, Women's History, Women and Gender Studies, Family history, Urban History, Historical Demography, Dutch History, Amsterdam, History of The Netherlands, History from Below, History of Everyday Life, and History of Epidemics)edit
- Sanne Muurling is an Assistant Professor in Social History at Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands). Her re... moreSanne Muurling is an Assistant Professor in Social History at Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands).
Her research focuses on the social history of everyday life in early modern and modern Europe, scrutinizing facets thereof such as gender dynamics in crime and deviance, and social and economic inequalities in the lives and deaths of both commoners and those on the seamy side of society.
In 2019 she received her PhD from Leiden University with a dissertation on crime and gender in early modern Bologna, concentrating on the agency of women in the urban setting as protagonists in crime (and violence in particular) and as litigants before the criminal court.
Her current project deals with social inequalities in the spatial distributions of (infectious) diseases and death in 19th and early 20th-century Amsterdam.(Sanne Muurling is an Assistant Professor in Social History at Radboud University, Nijmegen (the Netherlands).<br /><br />Her research focuses on the social history of everyday life in early modern and modern Europe, scrutinizing facets thereof such as gender dynamics in crime and deviance, and social and economic inequalities in the lives and deaths of both commoners and those on the seamy side of society. <br /><br />In 2019 she received her PhD from Leiden University with a dissertation on crime and gender in early modern Bologna, concentrating on the agency of women in the urban setting as protagonists in crime (and violence in particular) and as litigants before the criminal court. <br /><br />Her current project deals with social inequalities in the spatial distributions of (infectious) diseases and death in 19th and early 20th-century Amsterdam.)edit
Available in Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/58987 Female protagonists are commonly overlooked in the history of crime; especially in early modern Italy, where women's scope of action is o en portrayed as heavily restricted.... more
Available in Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/58987
Female protagonists are commonly overlooked in the history of crime; especially in early modern Italy, where women's scope of action is o en portrayed as heavily restricted. This book redresses the notion of Italian women's passivity, arguing that women's crimes were far too common to be viewed as an anomaly. Based on over two thousand criminal complaints and investigation dossiers, Sanne Muurling charts the multifaceted impact of gender on pa erns of recorded crime in early modern Bologna. While various socioeconomic and legal mechanisms withdrew women from the criminal justice process, the casebooks also reveal that womenas criminal o enders and savvy litigants-had an active hand in keeping the wheels of the court spinning. Sanne Muurling, Ph.D. (), Leiden University, is a postdoctoral researcher at Radboud University. She has published on the social history of daily life, crime and deviance, gender, disease, poverty and welfare arrangements.
Female protagonists are commonly overlooked in the history of crime; especially in early modern Italy, where women's scope of action is o en portrayed as heavily restricted. This book redresses the notion of Italian women's passivity, arguing that women's crimes were far too common to be viewed as an anomaly. Based on over two thousand criminal complaints and investigation dossiers, Sanne Muurling charts the multifaceted impact of gender on pa erns of recorded crime in early modern Bologna. While various socioeconomic and legal mechanisms withdrew women from the criminal justice process, the casebooks also reveal that womenas criminal o enders and savvy litigants-had an active hand in keeping the wheels of the court spinning. Sanne Muurling, Ph.D. (), Leiden University, is a postdoctoral researcher at Radboud University. She has published on the social history of daily life, crime and deviance, gender, disease, poverty and welfare arrangements.
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The full working paper can be read here: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/szjp5/ The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far... more
The full working paper can be read here: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/szjp5/
The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far largely escaped this revived scholarly scrutiny, despite its century-long status as one of the deadliest and widespread of all infectious diseases. Literature has demonstrated that important differences between rural and urban communities, and between cities, but has so far failed to address disparities within cities due to varying living conditions and disease environments. This article examines the last nationwide upsurge of smallpox in the Netherlands through the lens of Amsterdam’s 50 neighbourhoods in the period 1870-1872. We use a mixed methods approach combining qualitative spatial analysis and OLS regression to investigate which part of the population was affected most by this epidemic in terms of age and sex, geographic distribution across the city, and underlying socio-demographic neighbourhood characteristics such as relative wealth, house density, crude death rate, and birth rate. Our analyses reveal a significant spatial patterning of smallpox mortality that can largely be explained by existing socio-demographic neighbourhood characteristics. The smallpox epidemic was not socially neutral, but lays bare some of the deep-seated social and health inequalities across the city.
The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far largely escaped this revived scholarly scrutiny, despite its century-long status as one of the deadliest and widespread of all infectious diseases. Literature has demonstrated that important differences between rural and urban communities, and between cities, but has so far failed to address disparities within cities due to varying living conditions and disease environments. This article examines the last nationwide upsurge of smallpox in the Netherlands through the lens of Amsterdam’s 50 neighbourhoods in the period 1870-1872. We use a mixed methods approach combining qualitative spatial analysis and OLS regression to investigate which part of the population was affected most by this epidemic in terms of age and sex, geographic distribution across the city, and underlying socio-demographic neighbourhood characteristics such as relative wealth, house density, crude death rate, and birth rate. Our analyses reveal a significant spatial patterning of smallpox mortality that can largely be explained by existing socio-demographic neighbourhood characteristics. The smallpox epidemic was not socially neutral, but lays bare some of the deep-seated social and health inequalities across the city.
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Pluskota, M. & Muurling, S. (2023). Street crimes. In D. van den Heuvel (Ed.), Early modern streets. A European perspective (pp. 185-209). London: Routledge doi: 10.4324/9781003202103
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Read the full paper (Open Access) here: https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2022.31 The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far largely... more
Read the full paper (Open Access) here: https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2022.31
The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far largely escaped this revived scholarly scrutiny, despite its century-long status as one of the deadliest and widespread of all infectious diseases. Literature has demonstrated important differences between rural and urban communities, and between cities, but has so far failed to address intra-urban disparities due to varying living conditions and disease environments. This article examines the last nationwide upsurge of smallpox in the Netherlands through the lens of Amsterdam’s 50 neighborhoods in the period 1870–72. We use a mixed methods approach combining qualitative spatial analysis and OLS regression to investigate which part of the population was affected most by this epidemic in terms of age and sex, geographic distribution across the city, and underlying sociodemographic neighborhood characteristics such as relative wealth, housing density, crude death rate, and birth rate. Our analyses reveal a significant spatial patterning of smallpox mortality that can largely be explained by the existing social environment. Lacking universal vaccination, the smallpox epidemic was not socially neutral, but laid bare some of the deep-seated social and health inequalities across the city.
The complex relationship between the history of infectious diseases and social inequalities has recently attracted renewed attention. Smallpox has so far largely escaped this revived scholarly scrutiny, despite its century-long status as one of the deadliest and widespread of all infectious diseases. Literature has demonstrated important differences between rural and urban communities, and between cities, but has so far failed to address intra-urban disparities due to varying living conditions and disease environments. This article examines the last nationwide upsurge of smallpox in the Netherlands through the lens of Amsterdam’s 50 neighborhoods in the period 1870–72. We use a mixed methods approach combining qualitative spatial analysis and OLS regression to investigate which part of the population was affected most by this epidemic in terms of age and sex, geographic distribution across the city, and underlying sociodemographic neighborhood characteristics such as relative wealth, housing density, crude death rate, and birth rate. Our analyses reveal a significant spatial patterning of smallpox mortality that can largely be explained by the existing social environment. Lacking universal vaccination, the smallpox epidemic was not socially neutral, but laid bare some of the deep-seated social and health inequalities across the city.
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Muurling, S. (2022). Diefstal en gender in vroegmodern Bologna. Leidschrift. Historisch Tijdschrift, 37 (1), 61-77.
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The future of the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) will certainly include the enrichment of the foundational database with additional, new sources of information. In general, the HSN would highly benefit from current mass... more
The future of the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) will certainly include the enrichment of the foundational database with additional, new sources of information. In general, the HSN would highly benefit from current mass digitization projects involving citizen science. This essay proposes a pilot in linking 19th- and early 20th-century criminal records to HSN. In spite of the extensive state and parish registration documenting individual and family lives in close systematic detail, life course approaches to historical crime are less common. The large datasets necessary to conduct longitudinal life course research into deviant behaviour will facilitate both the analysis of criminality as an event and the scrutiny of the trajectories of individuals' lives leading up to their involvement in crime.
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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1081602X.2020.1767677 Recent scholarship has exposed the complexity of the position of unwed mothers in early modern society. The traditional focus on their social marginalization is... more
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1081602X.2020.1767677
Recent scholarship has exposed the complexity of the position of unwed mothers in early modern society. The traditional focus on their social marginalization is complemented by a growing awareness and scrutiny of their agency in navigating the various social, cultural, economic and political constraints. The various formal and informal institutions that were available to them played significant roles in shaping the extent to which these women were able to exercise control and make meaningful decisions. The aim of this contribution is to assess how different institutional arrangements affected women's options in navigating unwed motherhood across seventeenth-and eighteenth-century cities in Holland, Germany and Italy. Based on an overview of existing literature, we compare the experiences of unwed mothers by focusing on their scope of action before criminal courts, in litigation for marriage or financial compensation , and in abandonment practices. Differences cannot be characterized solely by contrasting Catholic and Protestant regions, nor can a North-South divide capture all variations we found. Rather, we argue, the contours of urban unwed mothers' agency were shaped by a combination of women's socioeconomic status, the problematization of illegitimacy in societies, the availability of institutional arrangements relating to criminal prosecution, civil litigation, and welfare provisions, and the particular entanglements of these institutions in a given society.
Recent scholarship has exposed the complexity of the position of unwed mothers in early modern society. The traditional focus on their social marginalization is complemented by a growing awareness and scrutiny of their agency in navigating the various social, cultural, economic and political constraints. The various formal and informal institutions that were available to them played significant roles in shaping the extent to which these women were able to exercise control and make meaningful decisions. The aim of this contribution is to assess how different institutional arrangements affected women's options in navigating unwed motherhood across seventeenth-and eighteenth-century cities in Holland, Germany and Italy. Based on an overview of existing literature, we compare the experiences of unwed mothers by focusing on their scope of action before criminal courts, in litigation for marriage or financial compensation , and in abandonment practices. Differences cannot be characterized solely by contrasting Catholic and Protestant regions, nor can a North-South divide capture all variations we found. Rather, we argue, the contours of urban unwed mothers' agency were shaped by a combination of women's socioeconomic status, the problematization of illegitimacy in societies, the availability of institutional arrangements relating to criminal prosecution, civil litigation, and welfare provisions, and the particular entanglements of these institutions in a given society.
Research Interests:
Muurling, S. (2020). Women, Violence and the Uses of Justice Before the Criminal Court of Early Modern Bologna. In M. van der Heijden, M. Pluskota & S. Muurling (Eds.), Women's criminality in Europe, 1600-1914 (pp. 49-71). Cambridge, UK:... more
Muurling, S. (2020). Women, Violence and the Uses of Justice Before the Criminal Court of Early Modern Bologna. In M. van der Heijden, M. Pluskota & S. Muurling (Eds.), Women's criminality in Europe, 1600-1914 (pp. 49-71). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
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Muurling, S., Pluskota, M. & Heijden, M. van der (2020). Introduction. In M. van der Heijden, M. Pluskota & S. Muurling (Eds.), Women's criminality in Europe, 1600-1914 (pp. 1-25). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Pres
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https://www.rivista-incontri.nl/articles/abstract/10.18352/incontri.10289/ Quest’articolo indaga il rapporto tra affronto verbale, genere e agentività legale nella Bologna della prima età moderna. Per molto tempo gli studiosi hanno... more
https://www.rivista-incontri.nl/articles/abstract/10.18352/incontri.10289/
Quest’articolo indaga il rapporto tra affronto verbale, genere e agentività legale nella Bologna della prima età moderna. Per molto tempo gli studiosi hanno trascurato di considerare l’impegno delle donne nell’attività criminale, o ne hanno sottolineato la distinzione. In tale contesto l’insulto è spesso stato caratterizzato una forma criminale tipicamente femminile e considerato in rapporto all’incapacità delle donne di agire in altri ambiti sociali, economici e politici della vita. Il presente studio intende sottoporre a meditazione critica tale assunto, esaminando il linguaggio e la pratica dell’affronto verbale quale discorso deviante attraverso il casellario giudiziario del Tribunale del Torrone, la corte penale di Bologna nella prima età moderna. Mentre tale fonte conferma l’esistenza di un lessico altamente sessista degli insulti, si sostiene che l’insulto maschile e femminile non vadano trattati distintamente, dal momento che i protagonisti maschili e quelle femminili attinsero a un ampio spettro di convenzioni e pratiche culturali condivise che vale la pena di esplorare.
Quest’articolo indaga il rapporto tra affronto verbale, genere e agentività legale nella Bologna della prima età moderna. Per molto tempo gli studiosi hanno trascurato di considerare l’impegno delle donne nell’attività criminale, o ne hanno sottolineato la distinzione. In tale contesto l’insulto è spesso stato caratterizzato una forma criminale tipicamente femminile e considerato in rapporto all’incapacità delle donne di agire in altri ambiti sociali, economici e politici della vita. Il presente studio intende sottoporre a meditazione critica tale assunto, esaminando il linguaggio e la pratica dell’affronto verbale quale discorso deviante attraverso il casellario giudiziario del Tribunale del Torrone, la corte penale di Bologna nella prima età moderna. Mentre tale fonte conferma l’esistenza di un lessico altamente sessista degli insulti, si sostiene che l’insulto maschile e femminile non vadano trattati distintamente, dal momento che i protagonisti maschili e quelle femminili attinsero a un ampio spettro di convenzioni e pratiche culturali condivise che vale la pena di esplorare.
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Smellscape management in Leiden 1581
Sanne Muurling and Marion Pluskota, 'The gendered geography of violence in Bologna, 17-19th centuries', in: Deborah Simonton (ed.), Routledge History Handbook of Gender and the Urban Experience (Abington: Routledge, 2017) 153-164
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Manon van der Heijden and Sanne Muurling, 'Violence and Gender in Eighteenth-Century Bologna and Rotterdam, Journal of Social History 51:4 (2018) 695-716 This article examines the violence committed by men and women that appeared before... more
Manon van der Heijden and Sanne Muurling, 'Violence and Gender in Eighteenth-Century Bologna and Rotterdam, Journal of Social History 51:4 (2018) 695-716
This article examines the violence committed by men and women that appeared before the eighteenth century criminal courts in two cities in Europe: one in the North (Rotterdam, Holland) and one in the South (Bologna, Italy). The results provide further evidence for the existence of a broader pattern of nonlethal violence in early modern Europe that shared many of its characteristics among men and women. The comparison between Rotterdam and Bologna also revealed significant differences with regard to the pattern of violence. First, domestic violence was regularly prosecuted by the criminal court of Rotterdam, though seldom by the criminal court of Bologna. Second, the Rotterdam women represent a much larger share as offenders in the category of fighting than the women of Bologna (41 percent compared to 17 percent). Finally, the urban geography of violence was much more gendered in Bologna. The article argues that this divergent pattern can be explained by the significant differences between Bologna and Rotterdam with regard to women's social and legal positions. Whereas in Bologna, women's free movement was limited because of various factors, women in Holland had more free, independent, and public lives.
This article examines the violence committed by men and women that appeared before the eighteenth century criminal courts in two cities in Europe: one in the North (Rotterdam, Holland) and one in the South (Bologna, Italy). The results provide further evidence for the existence of a broader pattern of nonlethal violence in early modern Europe that shared many of its characteristics among men and women. The comparison between Rotterdam and Bologna also revealed significant differences with regard to the pattern of violence. First, domestic violence was regularly prosecuted by the criminal court of Rotterdam, though seldom by the criminal court of Bologna. Second, the Rotterdam women represent a much larger share as offenders in the category of fighting than the women of Bologna (41 percent compared to 17 percent). Finally, the urban geography of violence was much more gendered in Bologna. The article argues that this divergent pattern can be explained by the significant differences between Bologna and Rotterdam with regard to women's social and legal positions. Whereas in Bologna, women's free movement was limited because of various factors, women in Holland had more free, independent, and public lives.
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https://journals.openedition.org/chs/2940
Sanne Muurling, « Colin Rose, A Renaissance of Violence: Homicide in Early Modern Italy », Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, vol. 25, n°1 | 2021, 144-146.
Sanne Muurling, « Colin Rose, A Renaissance of Violence: Homicide in Early Modern Italy », Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, vol. 25, n°1 | 2021, 144-146.
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How to Cite: Muurling, S., 2019. Katie Heyning, Turbulente tijden: zorg en materiële cultuur in Zierikzee in de zestiende eeuw.. TSEG/ Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, 15(4), pp.124–125. DOI:... more
How to Cite: Muurling, S., 2019. Katie Heyning, Turbulente tijden: zorg en materiële cultuur in Zierikzee in de zestiende eeuw.. TSEG/ Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, 15(4), pp.124–125. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/tseg.1044
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Muurling, S., (2017). Anna Bellavitis, Il lavoro delle donne nelle città dell’Europa moderna.. TSEG/ Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History. 14(4), pp.141–142.
https://www.tseg.nl/articles/abstract/998/
https://www.tseg.nl/articles/abstract/998/
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The 600th anniversary of the inauguration of the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence provides an opportunity to reexamine the contexts for foundling care both within and beyond this pioneering institution. This conference will examine... more
The 600th anniversary of the inauguration of the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence provides an opportunity to reexamine the contexts for foundling care both within and beyond this pioneering institution. This conference will examine the spaces and artworks of the institution itself, literary and legal fashioning of illegitimacy by humanists and magistrates, the care taken with the formation of youths in the broadest sense, and the ways in which other Europeans learned from the example of Florence as they aimed to address the challenge of foundling care in their own urban, national, and imperial settings.