Edward Wallace Muir

Specialist in the Italian Renaissance who pioneered using methods developed from models in ethnography to take advantage of the unparalleled richness of the Italian archives. Early work concerned the historical study of the now thriving field of public rituals. Established the concept of civic rituals as the principal form for constructing public order and expressing disorder in pre-modern Europe. Also identified the ritual revolution of the sixteenth century, which has become a standard concept in the field. Second body of work tested anthropological and sociological theories of feuding against the historical record of the longest and most violent feud in Renaissance Italy. More recently, showed how early opera became the primary medium for expressing dangerous social, religious, and political ideas.