Dr Guido Alfani's Books

Fathers and Godfathers

Spiritual Kinship in Early-Modern Italy

By: Dr Guido Alfani

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Fathers and Godfathers

Spiritual Kinship in Early-Modern Italy

By: Dr Guido Alfani

In medieval Europe baptism did not merely represent a solemn and public recognition of the 'natural' birth of a child, but was regarded as a second, 'spiritual birth', within a social group often different from the child's blood relations: a spiritual family, composed of godfathers and godmothers. By analyzing the changing theological and social nature of spiritual kinship and godparenthood between 1450 and 1650, this book explores how these medieval concepts were developed and utilised by the Catholic Church in an era of reform and challenge. It demonstrates how such ties continued to be of major social importance throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but were often used in ways not always coherent with their original religious meaning, and which could have unexpected social consequences. In particular, the book analyzes in detail the phase of transition from the traditional model of godparenthood which allowed for multiple godparents, to the new couple model (one godfather and one godmother) imposed by Tridentine law. Drawing upon a large database of archival data taken from parish books of baptisms and marriages, pastoral visitations, diocesan statutes, synods and provincial councils, it is shown how attempts were made to resist or to compromise with the Church, thus providing a better understanding of the often contested meaning given to godparenthood by early modern society. Whilst the Church was ultimately successful in imposing its will, the book concludes that this was to have unexpected results that were to eventually weaken the role of godparents. Rather than persuading parents to choose real 'spiritual tutors' to act as godparents, the choice of godparents became increasingly influenced with social status, so that godparenthood began to resemble a pure clientele system, something it had never been before. Through this long-term exploration of Catholic spiritual kinship, much is revealed, not only about godparenthood, but about the wider social and religious networks. Comparison with Protestant reactions to the same issues provides further insight into the importance of this subject to early modern European society.

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Page Count

292

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Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409480402

ISBN 13

9781409480402

The Divisions of French Catholicism, 1629–1645

'The Parting of the Ways'

By: Dr Anthony D Wright

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The Divisions of French Catholicism, 1629–1645

'The Parting of the Ways'

By: Dr Anthony D Wright

For much of the sixteenth-century, France was wracked with religious strife, as the Wars of Religion pitted Catholic against Protestant. Whilst the conversion of Henri IV to Catholicism ended much of the conflict, the ensuing peace highlighted the fractious nature of French Catholicism and the many competing threads that ran through it. This book investigates the gradual division of the French Catholic reform movement, often associated with those known as the 'devots' during the first half of the seventeenth century. Such division, it is argued, was emerging before the publication in France (1641) of the posthumous 'Augustinus' of Jansenius, not simply as a sequel to that. Those who were already distinguishing themselves from other 'devots' before that date were thus not yet identifiable as 'Jansenists'. Rather, the initial defining sentiment was increasing French hostility towards Jesuit involvement in Catholic Reform, both at home and abroad. Drawing on sources from the Jesuit archives in Rome and on Port-Royal material in Paris, the book begins with an investigation into the development of Catholic Reform in France, showing the problems that emerged before 1629 and the degree to which these were or were not resolved. The second half of the book contrasts the fragmentation of the movement in the years beyond 1629, and the context of Richelieu's new directions in French foreign policy. Covering a crucial period in the lead up to the establishment of an absolute monarchy in France, this book provides a rich new explanation of the development of French political and ecclesiastical history. It will be of interest not only to those studying the early modern period, but to anyone wishing to understand the roots of French secular society.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409482243

ISBN 13

9781409482246

Plague Hospitals

Public Health for the City in Early Modern Venice

By: Dr Jane L Stevens Crawshaw

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Plague Hospitals

Public Health for the City in Early Modern Venice

By: Dr Jane L Stevens Crawshaw

Developed throughout early modern Europe, lazaretti, or plague hospitals, took on a central role in early modern responses to epidemic disease, in particular the prevention and treatment of plague. The lazaretti served as isolation hospitals, quarantine centres, convalescent homes, cemeteries, and depots for the disinfection or destruction of infected goods. The first permanent example of this institution was established in Venice in 1423 and between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries tens of thousands of patients passed through the doors. Founded on lagoon islands, the lazaretti tell us about the relationship between the city and its natural environment. The plague hospitals also illustrate the way in which medical structures in Venice intersected with those of piety and poor relief and provided a model for public health which was influential across Europe. This is the first detailed study of how these plague hospitals functioned, where they were situated, who worked there, what it was like to stay there, and how many people survived. Comparisons are made between the Venetian lazaretti and similar institutions in Padua, Verona and other Italian and European cities. Centred on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, during which time there were both serious plague outbreaks in Europe and periods of relative calm, the book explores what the lazaretti can tell us about early modern medicine and society and makes a significant contribution to both Venetian history and our understanding of public health in early modern Europe, engaging with ideas of infection and isolation, charity and cure, dirt, disease and death.

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Page Count

518

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409471101

ISBN 13

9781409471103

Clerical Celibacy in the West: c.1100-1700

By: Dr Helen Parish

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Clerical Celibacy in the West: c.1100-1700

By: Dr Helen Parish

The debate over clerical celibacy and marriage had its origins in the early Christian centuries, and is still very much alive in the modern church. The content and form of controversy have remained remarkably consistent, but each era has selected and shaped the sources that underpin its narrative, and imbued an ancient issue with an immediacy and relevance. The basic question of whether, and why, continence should be demanded of those who serve at the altar has never gone away, but the implications of that question, and of the answers given, have changed with each generation. In this reassessment of the history of sacerdotal celibacy, Helen Parish examines the emergence and evolution of the celibate priesthood in the Latin church, and the challenges posed to this model of the ministry in the era of the Protestant Reformation. Celibacy was, and is, intensely personal, but also polemical, institutional, and historical. Clerical celibacy acquired theological, moral, and confessional meanings in the writings of its critics and defenders, and its place in the life of the church continues to be defined in relation to broader debates over Scripture, apostolic tradition, ecclesiastical history, and papal authority. Highlighting continuity and change in attitudes to priestly celibacy, Helen Parish reveals that the implications of celibacy and marriage for the priesthood reach deep into the history, traditions, and understanding of the church.

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Page Count

302

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409480879

ISBN 13

9781409480877

The Wealth of Communities

War, Resources and Cooperation in Renaissance Lombardy

By: Dr Matteo Di Tullio

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The Wealth of Communities

War, Resources and Cooperation in Renaissance Lombardy

By: Dr Matteo Di Tullio

The early-sixteenth century was a turbulent time for the Italian peninsula as competing centres of power struggled for political control. Nowhere was this more true than the area contested by Milan and Venice, an area constantly crossed and occupied by rival armies. Investigating the impact of successive crises upon the inhabitants of the Po Valley, this book challenges many fundamental assumptions about the relationship between war and economic development and draws conclusion that have implications for early-modern Europe as a whole.

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Page Count

235

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472442466

ISBN 13

9781472442468

Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court

By: Dr Sarah D P Cockram

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Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Power Sharing at the Italian Renaissance Court

By: Dr Sarah D P Cockram

In the first book systematically to give evidence of conjugal co-rule at an Italian Renaissance court, and the first full length scholarly study of Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga, Sarah Cockram shows their relationship in an entirely new light. The book draws on (and presents) a large amount of unpublished archival material, including almost unprecedented surviving correspondence between and around these Renaissance princely rulers. Using these sources, Cockram shows Isabella and Francesco's strategic teamwork in action, illuminating tactics of collaboration and dissimulation. She also reveals behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity; court procedures; sexual politics and seduction; gift-giving and network-building; rivalries, intrigues and assassinations. Several epistolary themes emerge: insights into the couple's communication practices and double-dealing, their use of intermediaries, and attention to security matters. This book's analysis of Isabella's co-rule with her husband, supported by other members of the Gonzaga dynasty, sees her sometimes in the role of subordinate partner, sometimes guiding the couple's actions. It shows how, despite appearances at times, the couple shared common diplomatic policy as well as human, material, and cultural resources; joint administration; and the exercise of authority and justice. Thus emerges a three-dimensional picture of the mechanisms of power and power sharing in the age of Machiavelli.

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Page Count

407

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1472406370

ISBN 13

9781472406378

From Oikonomia to Political Economy

Constructing Economic Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution

By: Dr Germano Maifreda

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From Oikonomia to Political Economy

Constructing Economic Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Scientific Revolution

By: Dr Germano Maifreda

Renaissance Europe witnessed a surge of interest in new scientific ideas and theories. Whilst the study of this 'Scientific Revolution' has dramatically shifted our appreciation of many facets of the early-modern world, remarkably little attention has been paid to its influence upon one key area; that of economics. Through an interrogation of the relationship between economic and scientific developments in early-modern Western Europe, this book demonstrates how a new economic epistemology appeared that was to have profound consequences both at the time, and for subsequent generations. Dr Maifreda argues that the new attention shown by astronomers, physicians, aristocrats, men of letters, travellers and merchants for the functioning of economic life and markets, laid the ground for a radically new discourse that envisioned 'economics' as an independent field of scientific knowledge. By researching the historical context surrounding this new field of knowledge, he identifies three key factors that contributed to the cultural construction of economics. Firstly, Italian Humanism and Renaissance, which promoted new subjects, methods and quantitative analysis. Secondly, European overseas expansion, which revealed the existence of economic cultures previously unknown to Europeans. Thirdly factor identified is the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century crisis of traditional epistemologies, which increasingly valued empirical scientific knowledge over long-held beliefs. Based on a wide range of published and archival sources, the book illuminates new economic sensibilities within a range of established and more novel scientific disciplines (including astronomy, physics, ethnography, geology, and chemistry/alchemy). By tracing these developments within the wider social and cultural fields of everyday commercial life, the study offers a fascinating insight into the relationship between economic knowledge and science during the early-modern period.

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Page Count

451

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409471241

ISBN 13

9781409471240

Fathers and Godfathers

Spiritual Kinship in Early-Modern Italy

By: Dr Guido Alfani

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Fathers and Godfathers

Spiritual Kinship in Early-Modern Italy

By: Dr Guido Alfani

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

292

Publisher

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1409480402

ISBN 13

9781409480402

Book's by Dr Guido Alfani

Fathers and Godfathers

Fathers and Godfathers

The Divisions of French Catholicism, 1629–1645

The Divisions of French Catholicism, 1629–1645

Plague Hospitals

Plague Hospitals

Clerical Celibacy in the West: c.1100-1700

Clerical Celibacy in the West: c.1100-1700

The Wealth of Communities

The Wealth of Communities

Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga

Isabella d'Este and Francesco Gonzaga

From Oikonomia to Political Economy

From Oikonomia to Political Economy

Fathers and Godfathers

Fathers and Godfathers

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