This paper explains how a sanitized image of the late medieval German feud has come to predominate in contemporary German scholarship and explores its consequences for understanding the social implications of feuding violence. By tracing out the reception of Otto Brunner's seminal Land and Lordship (1939) in post-WWII German feud research, this paper shows how a complex interplay between democratic-liberal sensibilities, Brunner's feud as legal institution model, and his own historical vision of violence resulted in the sanitized model of feuding violence. This model divides feuding violence into categories of rational–functional violence and dysfunctional violence, which, as this article argues, do not map onto the empirical evidence for feuding violence. A series of case studies elucidates the limitations of this model, providing a de-sanitized and de-domesticated image of feuding by vividly demonstrating some overlooked realities of feuding violence: from high rates of interpersonal violence between elites to sexual violence against female non-combatants among others. On the basis of these case studies, this article argues for a fundamental revision of how medieval historians have hitherto approached the topic of violence more broadly.

本文解释了中世纪晚期德国世仇的净化形象如何在当代德国学术中占据主导地位，并探讨了其对理解世仇暴力的社会影响的影响。通过追溯奥托·布伦纳的开创性著作《土地与主权》（1939）在二战后德国世仇研究中的接受情况，本文展示了民主自由主义情感、布伦纳作为法律制度模式的世仇以及他自己的暴力历史观之间的复杂相互作用。导致了争斗暴力的净化模式。该模型将争斗暴力分为理性功能性暴力和功能失调暴力，正如本文所述，这些类别并未映射到争斗暴力的经验证据。一系列案例研究阐明了这一模型的局限性，通过生动地展示一些被忽视的争吵暴力现实，提供了一个去净化和去驯化的争吵形象：从精英之间的高发人际暴力到针对女性非战斗人员的性暴力除其他外。在这些案例研究的基础上，本文主张对中世纪历史学家迄今为止更广泛地探讨暴力主题的方式进行根本性修改。