Family and Gender in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy New York University in Florence Fall 2010

Instructor: Rita Maria Comanducci [email protected]

Class time: Tuesday, 9-11.45am Office hours: Tuesday, 11.45am-12.45pm (or by arrangement)

Course Description In the history of western culture, the late medieval and early Renaissance period has traditionally been interpreted as the beginning of a new civilisation. In Italy the growth of the city-states from the second half of the thirteenth century was accompanied by the rise of a mercantile class which, in a republic such as Florence, created the conditions for great achievements in politics, culture, philosophy and art. The most important social institution on which the rise of urban élites was based was the family. But what was the structure of the family? What was the position of women inside it? And did women have a role outside of it? Drawing on a rich range of written and visual material, this course aims to explore the role of women and family in medieval and early Renaissance society. After an overview of political, institutional, economic and cultural aspects of Italian society in this period, the course will look at the structures of family life. It will then explore contemporary expectations of women's social roles, and investigate whether the available evidence suggests that women in fact remained within those roles or transcended them. By looking at secondary sources and at extracts from primary sources such as marriage contracts, letters or treatises (many of them relating to Florence in particular), the course will examine the crucial moment at which a newly married woman entered the household of her husband; her role in the house; women's education; women's position in the world of work; the position of widows, religious women and nuns; women’s relationship to the world of Renaissance art and culture; and 'marginalized' women such as witches and prostitutes. Course Objectives The objective of this course is to investigate the social constructions at the heart of the Renaissance world, above all the patriarchal family and gender roles. By the end of the course students should have acquired: a) a broad understanding of the nature of the family and of the dynamics of gender interaction in Italian Renaissance society; b) the ability to trace back to their late medieval and Renaissance origins those social formations which are still recognizable in the western world today; c) the ability to analyse and interpret primary sources, both visual and written; d) the ability to elaborate through personal research an independent and critical vision on some of the specific topics dealt with during the course.

Course Structure The course will consist of lectures, seminars, the viewing of a movie and site visits. Each lecture will be followed by a seminar discussion on weekly topics and by the analysis of documents in translation. Assessment Students will be evaluated on the basis of the following: participation in seminars (15%); two written assignments up to five pages in length each (25%); a mid-term exam consisting of a take-home essay of up to eight pages (25%); a final exam consisting of an oral presentation and a written essay of up to ten pages on a piece of individual research (35%).

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Attendance Policy Students are expected to attend all classes. Absences will affect the final grade. All students are expected to be on time for class and to switch off their cell phones, laptops and blackberry systems before joining the class. Chapters 1 and 2 of the short text book Giovanni and Lusanna should be read by the fourth class. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 should be completed by the seventh class.

Some Guidelines for Writing Essays 1. Plan your essay carefully: before beginning to write it, draw up a one-page plan of its structure and argument. 2. Structure your essay rationally: include a short introduction in which you identify the main issues to be discussed, a central part in which you develop those issues, a conclusion, and a complete bibliography. 3. Privilege an interpretative analysis over a merely descriptive one. 4. Take care to follow a clear and logical line of argument. 5. Make use of quotations from primary and secondary sources to emphasize your points, but do not exaggerate the use of those from secondary sources: it is always important to have the argument of the essay in your own words. 6. Whenever you quote from a primary or secondary source, be sure to give the correct citation: author, title, page numbers etc. 7. Deepen your understanding of the topic and your ability to bring an original perspective to it by wide reading. Exploring the ‘recommended readings’, or other readings in the Library relevant to your topic, will enhance the quality of your essay and is essential for your exam papers. 8. Do not use more than three sources from the internet, and if you decide to use them, do so with extreme care as not all material on the web is of high quality! 9. Give yourself enough time to research, plan, write and print your essay. 10. Submit it by the deadline in typewritten form!

Bibliography Course Books available at Feltrinelli International, Via Cavour 12-20r: G. Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna. Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence, Berkeley, 1986 G. Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence: a Documentary Study, Toronto, 1998 Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy, ed. J. C. Brown and R. C. Davis, London and New York, 1998

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Prescribed Readings a) available as electronic version via Bobst Library (e.v.): G. Boccaccio, Decameron, “The story of Jancofiore and Salabaetto”, eighth day, tenth story; “The story of Griselda”, tenth day, tenth story; G. Brucker, ‘Sorcery in Renaissance Florence’, Studies in the Renaissance, X, pp. 7-24; C. Fedele, Letters and Orations, ed. D. Robin, Chicago and London, 2000, pp. vii-xxv, 2-15, 18-20, 90-92; D. V. and F. V. Kent, ‘Manno Temperani and his Country Cousins’ in ‘Two Vignettes of Florentine Society in the Fifteenth Century’, Rinascimento, XXIII, 1983, pp. 237-51; J. Kirshner and A. Molho, ‘The Dowry Fund and the Marriage Market in Early Quattrocento Florence’, The Journal of Modern History, L, 1978, pp. 403-438; I. Origo, ‘The Domestic Enemy: the Eastern Slaves in Tuscany in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Speculum, XXX, 1955, pp. 321-366; N. Tomas, ‘Alfonsina Orsini de’Medici and the “Problem” of a Female Ruler in Early Sixteenth-Century Florence’, Renaissance Studies, XIV, 2000, pp. 70-90;

b) available in Villa Ulivi Library Collection (VUL coll.): K. Bartlett, The Civilisation of the Italian Renaissance, Lexington, Mass. and Toronto,1992, pp. 108-16;, 129-34; 160-74, 292-95; J. Brown, ‘A Woman's Place was in the Home: Women's Work in Renaissance Tuscany’, in Rewriting the Renaissance, ed. M. W. Ferguson, M. Quilligan, and N. J. Vickers, Chicago and London, 1986, pp. 206-24; 363-70; A. Crabb, The Strozzi of Florence, Ann Arbor, pp. 180-203; K. Gouwens, The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Readings, Oxford, 2003, pp. 187 -96; P. Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy, Baltimore and London, 1985, pp. 87-102; J. Kelly-Gadol, ‘Did Women have a Renaissance?’, in Becoming Visible. Women in European History, ed. R. Bridenthal, C. Koonz and S. Stuard, Boston, etc., 1987, pp. 175-199; C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 68-93, 117-131, 178-212; C. de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. by E. J. Richards, New York, 1998, pp. xxiii-xvi, 3-14; B. Prayer, ‘The Florentine Casa’ in At Home in Renaissance Italy, ed. M. AjmarWollheim, F. Dennis, London, 2006 pp. 34-49, 370-371. R. C. Trexler, ‘Celibacy in the Renaissance: the Nuns of Florence’ and ‘Florentine Prostitution in the Fifteenth Century: Patrons and Clients’, in The Women of Renaissance Florence, II, New York, 1993, pp. 6-34, 35-65; E. B. Weaver, ‘Gender’, in A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance, ed. G. Ruggiero, Oxford, 2002, pp. 188-204.

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c) available in Villa Ulivi Library as reserved readings (VUL r.r.): I. Chabod, ‘Lineage Strategies and the Control of Widows in Renaissance Florence’, in Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. S. Cavallo and L. Warner, London, 1999, pp. 127-44; D. S. Chambers, ‘Spas in the Italian Renaissance’, in Reconsidering the Renaissance, ed. M. Di Cesare, Binghamton, NY, 1992, pp. 3-27; G. Duby, A History of Private Life, II, Revelations of the Medieval World, Cambridge, Mass., London, 2003, pp. 603-06; A. Grafton and L. Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities, Cambridge, Mass., 1986, pp. 29-57; M. L. King, ‘Book-lined Cells: Women and Humanism in the Early Italian Renaissance’, in Renaissance Humanism, ed. A. Rabil, Philad., 1988, pp. 434-453; D. Mammoli, The Record of the Trial and Condemnation of a Witch, Matteuccia di Francesco, at Todi, 20 March 1428, Roma, 1972, pp. 3-52. Suor Plautilla Nelli (1523-1588), The First Woman Painter of Florence, ed. J. Nelson, Fiesole, 2000, pp. 57-65.

Schedule of Classes and Readings NOTE: In the following schedule ‘prescribed readings’ (both primary and secondary sources) refer to material that students are required to read before each session for class discussion. ‘Recommended readings’ (all of which are available in the Villa Ulivi Library) refer to other material which students are advised to read for further study. The questions listed under each class are intended to help students to reflect on issues which will be discussed in the relevant meetings. Students will also select one of them to write their first two written assignments (first assignment: one of the questions listed under Class 3; second assignment: one of the questions listed under Class 4). Make sure you always bring in class the primary sources prescribed for the day.

Class 1 - September 7 Introduction. Renaissance Society and its Paradoxes: Florence and Italy. Sources, methodology and some historical background. Recommended readings: • A. Brown, The Renaissance, London-New York, 1999; • J. Hale, The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance, London, 1994; • Feminism and Renaissance Studies, ed. L. Hutson, Oxford, 1999; • C. G. Nauert, Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe, Cambridge and New York, 1995.

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Class 2 - September 14 Walking Tour in Town Center: A visual discovery of the Renaissance city. Meeting Point: 9.00am, main door of the Baptistry, in front of the Cathedral.

Class 3 - September 21 Fathers, Family and Society: Male Strategies for Building Honor Questions: In what ways were honour and gender mutually related in Renaissance society? How was the Renaissance family different from today’s family? How can we describe the roles that the family had in Renaissance society? What different kinds of sources can be used to understand Renaissance society and what are the problems of interpreting these sources? Prescribed Readings: A. Crabb, The Strozzi of Florence, Ann Arbor, pp. 180-203 (A. Crabb, The Strozzi of Florence, Ann Arbor, pp. 180-203 (VUL coll.); • Gender and Society, pp. 19-38 (course book); • D. V. and F. V. Kent, ‘Manno Temperani and his Country Cousins’ in ‘Two Vignettes of Florentine Society in the Fifteenth Century’, Rinascimento, XXIII, 1983, pp. 237-51 (e.v.); Primary sources: • Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, document nos 2, 8, 14, 20 (course book). •

Recommended Readings: Art, Memory and Family in Renaissance Florence, ed. G. Ciappelli and P. Rubin, Cambridge, 2000; • C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 1-35, 68-93; • Renaissance Characters, ed. E. Garin, Chicago and London, 1991; • R. C. Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, New York, London, Toronto, Sydney and San Francisco, 1980. •

FIRST WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE - September 24 (Friday!) Drop your essay in my mailbox in Villa Ulivi by 1 pm!

Class 4 - September 28 Marriage, Dowry and Ideal Wives: Visit of the Exposition “Virtù d’Amore”, at the Galleria dell’Accademia Meeting Point: 9.00am, main door of the Galleria dell’Accademia, Via Ricasoli Questions:

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How was women’s status shaped by the law? Why did Alberti address his advice on ideal wives to men? How and why did the Florentine government intervene in the dowry mechanism and in the marriage market? What was the significance of the public rituals which marked a woman’s progress to married life? Why did wealthy Florentine aristocrates prefer to be married by a notary rather than by a priest? Prescribed Readings: • Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna, chapters 1 and 2 (course book); • Gender and Society, pp. 87-106 (course book); • J. Kirshner and A. Molho, ‘The Dowry Fund and the Marriage Market in Early Quattrocento Florence’, The Journal of Modern History, L, 1978, pp. 403-438 (e.v.); • C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 178-212 (VUL coll.); Primary sources: • K.Bartlett, The Civilisation of the Italian Renaissance, Lexington, Mass. and Toronto, 1992, pp. 140-59, 160-74 (VUL coll); • G. Boccaccio, Decameron, “The story of Griselda”, tenth day, tenth story (e.v.); • Brucker, The Society of Renaisssance Florence, document no. 18 (course book). Recommended Readings: C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 94-116, 213-46, 247-60; • T. Kuehn, Law, Family and Women: Towards a Legal Anthropology of Renaissance Italy, Chicago, 1991 •

FIELD TRIP – October 1st (Friday!) Women and Men at the Spa: The Breaking of the Taboo. Visit to Bagno Vignoni and Pienza. Meeting Point: 8.00am, Santa Maria Novella Central Train Station, main entrance to the Pharmacy. Prescribed Readings: • G. Boccaccio, Decameron, “The story of Jancofiore and Salabaetto”, eighth day, tenth story (e.v.); • D. S. Chambers, ‘Spas in the Italian Renaissance’in Reconsidering the Renaissance, ed. M. Di Cesare, Binghamton, NY, 1992, pp. 3-27 (VUL r.r.); Primary sources: • G. Duby, A History of Private Life, II, Revelations of the Medieval World, Cambridge, Mass., London, 2003, pp. 603-06 (VUL r.r.).

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Recommended Reading: • M. de Montaigne, Essays, Travel Journal, Letters, ed. D. M. Frame, Stanford, 1958, pp. 983-1002, 1016-21.

Class 5 - October 5 - SECOND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE Visit to the Fondazione Horne Museum Meeting Point: 9.00am, Piazza Signoria, main entrance to Palazzo Vecchio, next to the David. See http://www.museohorne.it Prescribed Readings: B. Prayer, ‘The Florentine Casa’ in At Home in Renaissance Italy, ed. M. Ajmar-Wollheim, F. Dennis, London, 2006 pp. 34-49, 370-371 (VUL coll.). •

Recommended Reading: • At Home in Renaissance Italy, ed. M. Ajmar-Wollheim, F. Dennis, London • R.Goldthwaithe, Wealth and the Demand for Art in Italy, 1300-1600, Baltimore and London, 1993; • E. Welch, Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500, Oxford, 1997. • L. Syson, D. Thornton, Objects of Virtue. Art in Renaissance Italy, London, 2001.

Class 6 - October 12 Crossing the Boundary: Women Intellectuals Questions: What was the point of an education for women in the Renaissance? How do you think women felt about the possibility of choosing a life of study? How would you account for the relationship between female learning and (real or imagined) sexual transgression? Which of the ideas fostered by intellectual women of the Renaissance were most innovative compared with the common cultural assumptions of the time? Prescribed Readings: • C. Fedele, Letters and Orations, ed. D. Robin, Chicago and London, 2000, pp. vii-xxv, 2-15, 18-20, 90-92 (e.v.); • M. L. King, ‘Book-lined Cells: Women and Humanism in the Early Italian Renaissance’, in Renaissance Humanism, ed. A. Rabil, Philad., 1988, pp. 434-453 (VUL r.r.); • A. Grafton and L. Jardine, ‘Women Humanists’, in From Humanism to the Humanities, Cambridge, Mass., 1986 pp. 29-57 (VUL r.r.); Primary sources: • K. Bartlett, The Civilisation of the Italian Renaissance, Lexington, Mass. and Toronto,1992, pp. 108-116, 129-34, 192, 292-295 (VUL coll.); • C. Fedele, Letters and Orations, ed. D. Robin, Chicago and London, 2000, pp. 18-20, 90-92 (e.v.);

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• C. de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. by E. J. Richards, New York, 1998, pp. xxiii-xvi, 3-14 (VUL coll.).

Recommended Readings: • Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist, ed. D. Robin, Chicago, 1997; • Her Immaculate Hand: Selected Works by and about Women Humanists of Quattrocento Italy, ed. L. King and A. Rabil, Ashville, 1992; • Moderata Fonte (Modesta dal Pozzo), The Worth of Women: wherein is clearly revealed their Nobility and their Superiority to Men, ed. V. Cox, Chicago, 1997; • Women’s Education in Early Modern Europe: a History, 1500-1800, ed. B. Whitehead, New York, 1999.

Class 7 - October 19 – MID TERM EXAM DUE Difficult Choices: The Cases of Lusanna and Veronica Viewing of the film The Honest Courtesan (Marshall Herskovitz, 1998). Questions: What were the social and economic obstacles that Lusanna facing, first in her relationship with, and then in her lawsuit against Giovanni? Why Lusanna got the support of Archbishop Antoninus? Prescribed Readings: • Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna, chapters 3, 4 and 5 (course book). Recommended Readings: • Marriage in Italy, 1300-1600, ed. T. Dean and K. Lowe, Cambridge, 1998, pp. 66-82, 107-115; • Rewriting the Renaissance: The Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe, ed. M. W. Ferguson, M. Quillingan, N. J. Vickers, Chicago, 1986, pp. 299-316. FALL BREAK

Class 8 – November 2 Power and Creativity: Widows and Nuns A listening session of Renaissance music will be integral part of this class Questions: What level of autonomy was allowed to a Florentine widow? What was the relevant importance of status, wealth and age in determining the future of a widow? Why did women have more opportunities to exercise power in principalities than in republics? Could a life as a nun offer more opportunities than the life as a wife?

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In what way the “historically conditioned status of things as ‘works of art’” has determined our understanding of Renaissance women’s creativity? Prescribed Readings: • I. Chabot, ‘Lineage Strategies and the Control of Widows in Renaissance Florence’, in Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. S. Cavallo and L. Warner, London, 1999, pp. 127-44 (VUL r.r.); • Gender and Society, pp. 213-33 (course book); • Suor Plautilla Nelli (1523-1588), The First Woman Painter of Florence, ed. J. Nelson, Fiesole, 2000, pp. 57-65 (VUL r.r.); • N. Tomas, ‘Alfonsina Orsini de’Medici and the “Problem” of a Female Ruler in Early Sixteenth-Century Florence’, Renaissance Studies, XIV, 2000, pp. 70-90 (e.v.); Primary sources: • Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, document nos 25, 97, 99, 101 (course book). Recommended Readings: • Rewriting the Renaissance, ed. M. W. Ferguson, M. Quilligan, and N. J. Vickers, Chicago and London, 1986, pp. 227-241; • M. Roberts, ‘Chiara Gambacorta of Pisa as Patroness of the Arts’, in Creative Women in Medieval and Early Modern Italy, ed. E. A. Matter, Philadelphia, pp. 120-154; • J. C. Brown, Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, New York and Oxford, 1986; • C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 311-329; • M. Laven, Virgins of Venice, New York, 2003; • Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi, ed. H. Gregory, Berkeley, 1997; • A. Crabb, ‘How Typical was Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi of Fifteenth-century Florentine Widows?’ in Upon my Husband's Death. Widows in the Literature and Histories of Medieval Europe, ed. L. Mirrer, Ann Arbor, 1992, pp. 47-68.

Class 9 – November 9 Visit to the ex-Nunnery of S. Apollonia and to the Monastery of S. Marco Meeting Point: 9.00am, Via 27 Aprile no. 1. Bring your Museum card!

Class 10 – November 16 The Hidden Economy: Women and Work Questions: Can we interpret women’s work in the Renaissance as an indication of their growing emancipation? Why was slavery perceived as acceptable in Renaissance society?

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How important was women’s work to the Florentine economy and what kinds of obstacles do we encounter in trying to evaluate its real extent?

Prescribed Readings: • C. Klapisch Zuber, Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, Chicago and London, 1987, pp. 165-77 (VUL coll.); • J. Brown, ‘A Woman's Place was in the Home’, in Renaissance Tuscany’, in Rewriting the Renaissance, ed. M. W. Ferguson, M. Quilligan, and N. J. Vickers, Chicago and London, 1986pp. 206-224; 363-370 (VUL coll.); • I. Origo, ‘The Domestic Enemy’, the Eastern Slaves in Tuscany in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Speculum, XXX, 1955, pp. 321-366 (e.v.); Primary sources: • Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, document nos 105, 106, 107, 109 (course book). Recommended Readings: S. Epstein, Speaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity and Human Bondage in Italy, Ithaca and New York, 2001; • D. Herlihy, Opera Muliebria: Women and Work in Medieval Europe, New York, 1990; • Rewriting the Renaissance, pp. 191-205. •

Class 11 – November 23 Visit to the Magi Chapel and to Fondazione Lisio – Arte della Seta Meeting Point: 9.00am, Via Cavour no. 3. See http://www.palazzo-medici.it and http://www.fondazionelisio.org/

Class 12 – November 30 Witches and Prostitutes Questions: Why was homosexuality regarded as less socially desirable than prostitution? How could witchcraft beliefs coexist with the new emphasis on rationality of the Renaissance age? Were women or men more vulnerable to prosecution for witchcraft and why? Why in Florence were only a few women prosecuted for witchcraft? Prescribed Readings: • G. Brucker, ‘Sorcery in Renaissance Florence’, Studies in the Renaissance, X, pp. 7-24 (e.v.); • Gender and Society, pp. 129-149, 150-170 (course book);

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• R. C. Trexler, ‘Florentine Prostitution Prostitution in the Fifteenth Century: Patrons and Clients’, in The Women of Renaissance Florence, II, New York, 1993, pp. 31-65 (VUL coll.);

Primary sources: • Brucker, The Society of Renaissance Florence, document nos 88, 89, 90, 95, 96 (course book); • D. Mammoli, The Record of the Trial and Condemnation of a Witch, Matteuccia di Francesco, at Todi, 20 March 1428, Roma, 1972, pp. 3-52 (VUL r.r.); • K. Gouwens, The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Readings, Oxford, 2003, pp. 187-96 (VUL coll.). Recommended Readings: • Languages of Witchcraft: Narrative, Ideology and Meaning in Early Modern Culture, ed. S. Clark, Houndmills, 2001; • H. Kramer and J. Sprenger, Malleus Maleficarum, New York, 1971; • Witchcraft in Europe, 1100-1700, ed. A. C. Kors and E. Peters, Philadelphia, 1972; • M. Rocke, Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence, New York, 1996.

Class 13 – December 7 Summing up Question: Having read Joan Kelly-Gadol’s article and having completed this course, do you think women had a Renaissance? Prescribed Reading: J. Kelly-Gadol, ‘Did Women have a Renaissance?’ Becoming Visible. Women in European History, ed. R. Bridenthal, C. Koonz and S. Stuard, Boston, etc., 1987, pp. 175-199 (VUL coll.); • E. B. Weaver, ‘Gender’, in A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance, ed. G. Ruggiero, Oxford, 2002, pp. 188-204 (VUL coll.). •

Recommended Readings: I. Maclean, The Renaissance Notion of Woman, Cambridge, 1980.

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December 14 PRESENTATIONS – FINAL ESSAY DUE

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