Convents and the Body Politic in Late Renaissance Venice

by Jutta Gisela Sperling

Book Overview

In late sixteenth-century Venice, nearly 60 percent of all patrician women joined convents, and only a minority of these women did so voluntarily. In trying to explain why unprecedented numbers of patrician women did not marry, historians have claimed that dowries became too expensive. However, Jutta Gisela Sperling debunks this myth and argues that the rise of forced vocations happened within the context of aristocratic culture and society.

Sperling...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226769364
• ISBN13: 9780226769363
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 434 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"