Abandoned Children of the Italian Renaissance : Orphan Care in Florence and Bologna Hardback
by Nicholas (Associate Professor of History, University of Toronto) Terpstra
Part of the The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science series
Hardback
Description
Nearly half of the children who lived in the cities of the late Italian Renaissance were under fifteen years of age.
Grinding poverty, unstable families, and the death of a parent could make caring for these young children a burden.
Many were abandoned, others orphaned. At a time when political rulers fashioned themselves as the "fathers" of society, these cast-off children presented a very immediate challenge and opportunity. In Bologna and Florence, government and private institutions pioneered orphanages to care for the growing number of homeless children.
Nicholas Terpstra discusses the founding and management of these institutions, the procedures for placing children into them, the children's daily routine and education, and finally their departure from these homes.
He explores the role of the city-state and considers why Bologna and Florence took different paths in operating the orphanages.
Terpstra finds that Bologna's orphanages were better run, looked after the children more effectively, and were more successful in returning their wards to society as productive members of the city's economy. Florence's orphanages were larger and harsher, and made little attempt to reintegrate children into society. Based on extensive archival research and individual stories, Abandoned Children of the Italian Renaissance demonstrates how gender and class shaped individual orphanages in each city's network, and how politics, charity, and economics intertwined in the development of the early modern state.
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:368 pages, 8 Line drawings, black and white; 4 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication Date:10/03/2006
- Category:
- ISBN:9780801881848
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:368 pages, 8 Line drawings, black and white; 4 Halftones, black and white
- Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication Date:10/03/2006
- Category:
- ISBN:9780801881848