Cultures of charity : women, politics, and the reform of poor relief in Renaissance Italy / Nicholas Terpstra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Terpstra, Nicholas.

Series:

I Tatti studies in Italian Renaissance history.

Villa I Tatti.

I Tatti Studies in Italian Renaissance History

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Charities--Italy--Bologna--History.

Charities.

Poor--Italy--Bologna--History.

Poor.

Women--Italy--Bologna--History.

Women.

Bologna (Italy)--Social conditions.

Bologna (Italy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 379 pages ) illustrations (black and white)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Women, politics, and the reform of poor relief in Renaissance Italy

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, c2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Renaissance Italians pioneered radical changes in ways of helping the poor, including orphanages, workhouses, pawnshops, and women's shelters. Nicholas Terpstra shows that gender was the key factor driving innovation. Most of the recipients of charity were women. The most creative new plans focused on features of women's poverty like illegitimate births, hunger, unemployment, and domestic violence. Signal features of the reforms, from forced labor to new instruments of saving and lending, were devised specifically to help young women get a start in life. Cultures of Charity is the first book to see women's poverty as the key factor driving changes to poor relief. These changes generated intense political debates as proponents of republican democracy challenged more elitist and authoritarian forms of government emerging at the time. Should taxes fund poor relief? Could forced labor help build local industry? Focusing on Bologna, Terpstra looks at how these fights around politics and gender generated pioneering forms of poor relief, including early examples of maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, food stamps, and credit union savings plans.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Figures and Tables

Introduction

Chapter 1: Showing the Poor a Good Time

Chapter 2: Worthy Poor, Worthy Rich

Chapter 3: Tightening Control

Chapter 4: Meeting the Bottom Line

Chapter 5: The Wheel Keeps Turning

Chapter 6: Baroque Piety and the Qualità of Mercy

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674071742

0674071743

9780674067929

0674067924

OCLC:

826895102