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E-book
Author Terpstra, Nicholas.

Title Abandoned Children of the Italian Renaissance : Orphan Care in Florence and Bologna / Nicholas Terpstra
Published Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 349 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series The Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ; 123rd ser. 4
Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science ; 123rd ser. 4.
Contents Down and out and off the streets: sheltering Renaissance children -- Opening a home -- Entering a home: prescriptions and procedures -- Making a home with girls -- Making a home with boys -- Running a home -- Leaving home -- The politics of Renaissance orphanages
Summary In the early development of the modern Italian state, individual orphanages were a reflection of the intertwining of politics and charity.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
Analysis European history: Renaissance
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-341) and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
English
Print version record
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Orphanages -- Italy -- Bologna -- History -- 17th century
Orphanages -- Italy -- Bologna -- History -- 16th century
Orphanages -- Italy -- Florence -- History -- 17th century
Orphanages -- Italy -- Florence -- History -- 16th century
Orphanages
Italy -- Bologna
Italy -- Florence
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2005003707
ISBN 9781421429342
1421429349
1421429330
9781421429335