Friday, January 18, 2008

This is a portrayal of two Venetian courtesans by Vittore Carpaccio, complete with pet dogs and birds. The portrait does not idealize their lives, for they do not look happy. Note in particular the richness of their clothing and surroundings. While our readings today have to do with women and work, prostitution was the fate of many women who could not support themselves in any other way. These ladies are at the high end of the profession, but most were of the sort you have read about in the selection from Bartlett on poor and marginal women. My first questions concern that reading:

• According ot the lord priors of Florence, what was the purpose of public brothels?
• What seems to be the concern of the courts with the married women who engaged in prostitution described on pgs. 196-201? Note in particular the vocabulary used to describe the women and their activities.
• What do we learn about slavery in Renaissance households from the account of the slave girl?
• Finally, pay attention to the vocabulary used to describe the activities of the woman charged with witchcraft. What are the beliefs about women, men, and witchcraft underlying this account?

Wiesner's chapter on women's economic role opens with a discussion of the terms of economic analysis; how does a consideration of women's work expand our understanding of productive labor? What is our understanding of productive vs. unproductive labor today?

More questions:

• What are the general trends during the early modern period that affected women's work? How do economic historians typically view the effect of capitalism? (p. 105).
• What kinds of work did women do in the countryside?
• What kinds of work did women do in urban areas? What stories do both King and Wiesner have to tell about changes in the conditions for such work, especially where guilds are concerned, during this period?
• How did conditions for men in guilds change during the early modern period? What things did men do to try to prevent women from competing with them?
• On pg. 127, Wiesner refers to guild honor. What does this mean, and what role did it play in changes that occurred during this period?
• Why did women go into domestic service? What special dangers beset them there? Look at Wiesner, pp. 114-115; how does the story of Nencia in the Bartlett selection illustrate some of the things we learn here?
• Finally, what aspects of today's world continue to reflect the beliefs and developments that occurred during the early modern period, in relation to women and work?

Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: January 17, 2008

Disclaimer