ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to tracing the relations between remissions, other legal practices and social life. Remissions of crimes did not remain private arrangements but were central to the 'transaction' or 'composition' of crime, for which settlement with the offended party was often regarded as an indispensable precursor. The chapter argues that in order to understand the Neapolitan state's attitude towards high rates of violence in the Kingdom and investigates the relationship between victims and offending parties on a number of different levels. The legal arrangements surrounding peace and pardon in the Kingdom could both empower and expose those who could provide legal forgiveness. The chapter considers peacemaking as both from the plural centres of the Neapolitan state and in local contexts. The institutional frameworks of remission and composition also created challenges for the government of Naples throughout the early modern period.
