Dr. Colin Rose

Biography

Colin Rose is an associate professor specializing in the study of early modern Europe, with a particular focus on northern Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As a social historian, he is concerned with how communities of ordinary Italians managed daily conflicts and crises and adapted to new forms of governance and power that emerged with the consolidation of ducal states in the region. His current research centers on homicide and everyday violence in the city and province of Bologna, particularly during the period of the resurgent papacy when it established its northern capital in the early sixteenth century. Bologna serves as a fascinating case study to explore how local populations reacted to the imposition of what was perceived as 'absolute' rule, and how both the city’s elite and ordinary people rejected, negotiated, or embraced the centralized justice system enforced by papal legates. Through examining homicide trials from the seventeenth century, he documents the sharp rise in violence among the local nobility as a response to the increasing pressures from papal rule, a process that he plans to delve into more deeply in his forthcoming manuscript.

Research Interests