ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst

Domestic Violence in the Home of Jacob Lumbrozo

This essay examines the incidents of domestic violence in the home of Dr. Joseph Lombroso.  The threat and use of force to intimidate, visceral language, sexual coercion, murder, and contestations over power were all a part of this household to one degree or another. Centered on the incident of coerced sex between Elizabeth Wilde and Joseph Lumbrozo, this essay addresses the themes of patriarchal power, authority, “otherness” and the contentious nature of colonial households.  Analysis of the Wilde—Lumbrozo case suggests that while Lumbrozo was in many ways an outsider, “otherness” could be overcome, even to the point where the community accepted him as a citizen despite multiple criminal accusations. His status as a wealthy, landed property owner helped to insulate him from these accusations not once, not twice, but three times, thus signalizing a lack of reprisal from his peers for his lusty behavior.  The Wilde—Lumbrozo case also shows a second aspect of the power dynamic: the people at the bottom of the social hierarchy helped to define the limits and nature of patriarchal privilege. Thus this case illustrates the variety of clashes with authority, both within and outside of the household the variety of ways people successfully usurped power from the rising elite, and the successful and not-so-successful responses of the holders of “legitimate” power. Thus together, the courts, the elite, and the “rabble” in colonial Maryland negotiated the limits of agency and authority.