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This research explores the manifestation of private violence in the daily life of the Western Sephardic Diaspora in the early seventeenth century, examining inquisitorial sources from Portugal and notarial records from the Netherlands. These sources indicate that as much as group members expected mutual responsibility, trustworthiness and compliance with social norms from their fellow group members. Yet when they felt disappointed, they expressed their resentment aggressively. Aggression took shape of offenses and beating with hands, sticks and various other objects, including cold steel. The body of sources suggests that the Western Sephardic Diaspora involved a significantly fervid environment. Studies in social network analysis, anthropology and new institutional economics predict that the attributes of the Western Sephardic Diaspora in the turn of the seventeenth century would make its members highly susceptible to gossip. The diaspora’s social network comprised a high proportion of lasting and strong ties, and involved frequent and significant interactions among many of their members. The latter shared a relative consensus about what constituted proper behavior in trade, gambling, sex life and decorum. Hence, information about misbehavior flowed rapidly and intensely within the group. Such attributes supported informal collective action in the form of social and economic estrangement, and ridicule. The same attributes also facilitated verification and sanction by the judicial system. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of both private and official mechanisms was imperfect. Group members married, socialized and conducted sensitive and …