Monday, January 7, 2008

Note first of all the difference in titles between Wiesner's and King's textbooks. Wiesner adopts the language of women and gender, setting her story in early modern Europe, while King's book is about women of the Renaissance. The Renaissance for the most part encompasses Italy, although she also includes examples from northern Europe, but her story will differ from Wiesner's in a number of respects.

Questions on the King reading:

• What seems to be King's evaluation of the position of women in the Renaissance? Recall my discussion in class about how some historians focus on women's oppression while others focus on empowerment.
• Be prepared to d iscuss the relationship between chastity and honor for Renaissance women. What does King mean when she refers to the "calculus of honor" (p. 29)?
• Why were daughters disadvantageous to Renaissance families?
• What is your impression, based on the evidence King gives, of the potential for affection between spouses during this period? What about the potential for abuse?
• How did the professionalization of medicine result in the denigration of midwives?
• Yesterday I asked you to consider whether patriarchy inevitably leads to misogyny. King answers this question on p. 47. What is her evidence? Do you agree or disagree?
• Explain the paradox of property ownership for women.
• Sumptuary legislation (think of the terms "sumptuous" or "consumption") reflects communal authorities' efforts to limit the luxury of women's dress. How did a woman's apparel and jewelry reflect upon her husband and his family? Are there parallels today?
• How does King's evaluation of the status of widows compare to Wiesner's?
• What is your impression of the status of children, male and female, in the Renaissance? What were their sources of vulnerability? Of protection?

Questions on the documents concerning marriage:

• To what extent do these documents support King's conclusions about marriage?
• What do you note about the sizes of dowries? Note as well the dates of the various sources.
• In the account of the Del Bene negotiations, to what extent are the women's feelings taken into consideration? What seem to be the issues concerning the various women who appear in this document?
• The Strozzi family were exiled from Florence during the period of the document we have here. The women and children remained in the city, but the men were forced to remain in the countryside, and thus the women in the family had a more immediate role in conducting the family's business than they would have had otherwise. The story here and its outcome reflects the status of the family as in exile: they cannot command the same respect that they otherwise would. What seem to be the concerns of the family matriarch (the author of the letter) in these negotiations? What is your response to the way the letter-writer describes the girl?
• What does the story of the broken marriage tell us about power relations in Renaissance Italy?
• Finally, how does Dati's account of his children bear out the evidence from King's book about child mortality?

Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: January 4, 2008

Disclaimer