Civiliseringstendensen in het Spaanse stieregevecht

Samenvatting

The historical development of the formal corrida de toros in Spain is reviewed from the early Middle Ages to the present. The original form was the mounted aristocratic bullfight. At the start of the eighteenth century, mounted noblemen withdrew from the arena & were replaced by professional Lc bullfighters who fought on foot. Since the eighteenth century, bullfighting has developed increasingly toward professionalization, specialization, differentiation, sequestration in permanent bullrings, & regularization. All of these developments can be interpreted as part of the civilizing & state-formation processes. The present stylized form in which the bullfighter allows the bull's horns to pass close to his almost motionless body demands very great self-control. The cultural mechanism of ritualization plays an important role in this development. Urbanization has also influenced the formal bullfight's emergence. Modified HA.