Abandoned Children of the Italian Renaissance: Orphan Care in Florence and Bologna by

Nicholas Terpstra
Review by: Margaret L. King
The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 1 (Feb., 2007), pp. 301-302
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association
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 Europe: Early Modern and Modern 301

pect of nuptialoratory.Unlikemedievalsermons,hu- of interestto a broad rangeof scholarsand studentsof

manistweddingorationsused ancientLatinand Greek the Renaissance and Reformation.
modelsand were laudatoryratherthanadmonitory in JoANN CAVALLO
nature.These orationsbecame a fundamentalpartof Columbia University
increasingly magnificent and complexweddingceremo-
nies,corresponding tothemorechivalricand regaltone NICHOLAS TERPSTRA. Abandoned Children oftheItalian
of courtfestivitiesafter1450 (p. 44). Examplesof the Renaissance: Orphan Care in Florenceand Bologna.
extravagantwedding festivities,such as those for (The JohnsHopkins UniversityStudies in Historical
Eleanor of Aragonand Ercole d'Este in 1473 and for and PoliticalScience, 123rdseries,number4.) Balti-
LucreziaBorgiaandAlfonsod'Este in 1502,vividly ren- more: JohnsHopkins UniversityPress. 2005. Pp. xii,
der the politicalimportanceof marriagealliances. 349. $50.00.
In the thirdchapter,"Weddings as Propaganda:
Rhetoricand CourtCulture,"D'Elia considersepith- Hospital-shelter-foundling home-orphanage-
alamia as encomia thatreveal how rulersand aristo- convent-guild-factory-confraternity: these are pro-
cratswishedto be perceivedbya foreignand domestic tean entitiesthatmorphinto each other,exchanging
courtly audience(p. 52). In thisvein,someweddingora- organizationalmodels,sharingideals and vision. Al-
tionsincludeddiscussionsof politicalphilosophy, par- thoughthe orphanage(forboys) and its siblingcon-
ticularlyquestions associated with the monarchical servatory(forgirls)are the main concernof Nicholas
formofgovernment thattheyinevitably favored.In the Terpstra'ssuperblyexecutedstudy,authorand reader
over these cognate institutions in pursuitof the
following chapter,"The CultureofMarriageand Sex in trip
ItalianCourts,"D'Elia notesthatin revivingthe clas- quarry.All wereself-starting and autonomous,imposed
sical epithalamium'sfunctionas an eroticprelude to byneitherstatenorchurch;theytestify to the struggle
the wedding night,humanists"celebrated physical byconscientiousItalianCatholicsoftheRenaissanceto
beauty,companionship, andthejoysofsexualpleasure" manage social crises.They did so not at all badly,we
concludefromtherichlydetaileddescriptionof
(p. 83). In tunewith the Epicureanthoughtof Lorenzo mighttheir thatTerpstraprovides,minedfromthe
Valla and thechivalricromancespopularin thecourts, operation
humanistwedding orations defended sexual inter- archivesof multipleinstitutions, establishinga pattern
coursealongwithotherpleasuresofthematerialworld. for the provision of welfare servicesthatother early
In thiscontext,passionatelove is no longerviewedas modernsocietiescould imitate.
a dangerousand subversive Terpstra'sinvestigation of the orphanagesystemsof
forcebutratheras thevery
Florence and Bologna considerablyadvances the in-
foundationofthefamilyand thusofsocial harmony (p.
quiryinto abandonmentin the Renaissance that has
93). been pursuedbyPhilipGavitt,RichardTrexler,Volker
The finalchapter,"HumanistCriticismsof Celibacy
and FrancescoBianchi,lookingat thefound-
and the Reformation,"argues thatepithalamiacele- Hunecke,
linghomesof Florence,Milan,and Padua, whileAnne
bratedthe marriedstateas "the highestaffirmation of E. C.
McCants,Thomas Max Safley,Joan Sherwood,
... activepiety"(p. 131) and thatthisfamily-centeredC. K. and Ruth McClure have broughtthe
Manzione,
civicethicand anticelibatediscoursepaved thewayfor to Amsterdam,Augsburg,Madrid, and
investigation
debateson the topicby Erasmus,MartinLuther,and London.The book relatesas well to the
otherreformers. D'Elia notesthatErasmus,although confraternities Konrad Eisenbichler studyofyouth
by and Lorenzo
moreconservative thanItalianhumanists, composedat Polizzotto,and ofwomen'scommunities SherrillCo-
least one humanistweddingorationand cited Italian by
hen,JuttaSperling,and SharonStrocchia,as well as to
humanistsin his marriageworks(pp. 131-132). thehistoryofchildhooddissectedin a streamofbooks
The proseis readerfriendly and,althoughsometimes flowingfromthespringofPhilippeAries'sCenturies of
repetitive,engagingthroughout. Given thatthe study Childhood:A Social
Historyof theFamily(1962).
itselfis limitedto only137 pages,thisreviewerwould Afteran introductory chapterthatadmirably sumsup
have appreciatedmore close readingsof noteworthy whatis knownabout Renaissance
demographiccrises
orations,like theones inwhichGiovanniMarlianiand and theirimpacton families,Terpstrawalksthereader
LudovicoCarbone discussthe Huns and the Ottoman throughthe manyaspects of
orphanagecreationand
Turksrespectively (pp. 66-72). D'Elia completesthe operationin Florenceand Bologna over the sixteenth
volumewitha usefultoolforfurther study,a forty-page and seventeenth centuries.A firstchapteron "Opening
"Finding-List forWeddingOrationsin the ItalianRe- A Home" showshow,inbothcities,outbreaksofplague
naissance,"registering 336 extanthumanistwedding and accompanying disastersstimulatedthecreationby
orationsfound in manuscriptsand incunabula,pam- the 1550sof a networkof multipleformsof houses to
phlets,and printededitions. accommodatethe childrenleft "orphaned"-a term
In sum,the authorarguesconvincingly thatthe re- thatincludesthoseabandonedbytheirfamilies,or be-
vivedgenreof theweddingorationprovidesa window reftof one parent,as well as the "true orphans"who
intoItalian Renaissancecourtcultureand at thesame had lost both.
timesets forthideas thatwould shake up the restof The nextchapterexplainshowa childenteredone of
Europe in thefollowingcentury. This studyshouldbe thesehomes,a processthatofteninvolvedfilling outan

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW FEBRUARY 2007

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302 Reviewsof Books

applicationand beinginterviewed bytheboard forcli- religious,theirmotivecompassion,but theirfunction

entswerenotfoundlings abandonedatbirthbutintheir was political,especiallyin Florence,an absolutiststate
middleor laterchildhood.The nexttwochapterssurvey thatoutsourceditswelfareobligationsto a freemarket
theexperiencerespectively ofgirlsandboysintheirdif- of faith-basedorganizations.
ferentsettings.The fifthchapterexploreshow these The storyof the Florentineand Bolognese orphan-
homes were managed,and the sixthconsidersto what ages continueto stirup the question that has been
destiniesthe formerorphanswere released,at around raisedabout foundlinghomesin general:does institu-
fourteenforboysand sixteenforgirls(not a fewdied tionalization createthebehaviorthatis thenaccommo-
in the orphanage still young, while others stayed dated by increasingly complexand expensiveinstitu-
throughold age), intothe world. tions? Do foundlinghomes create foundlings?The
Across this gracefullywrittenand well-developed numberof espostiseems to increasewiththe multipli-
narrative,some keypointsemerge.The firstconcerns cationofhomesto receivethem.Do orphanagescreate
gender. Girls enteredorphanageslater-generallyat orphans,byprovidingan incentiveforparentsto aban-
theonsetofpuberty-thandidboys,whowereenrolled don theirchildrento institutional care, thusrelieving
in middlechildhood(seven,eight,or nine). The prin- themselves ofcostand anxiety? Terpstrapresentssome
cipal missioninrearingorphangirlswas preparationfor evidencethatthisis the case.
marriageor, failingthat,domesticservice;onlya few On the whole,we mustadmirethe achievementof
entereda formalconvent(thepreserveofthedaughters these two Renaissancecitiesin meetingthe needs of
of patriciansand professionals).The goal in rearing vulnerablechildren,especiallywhenthe currentU.S.
boys was to release them,withgraduallydiminishing fostercare systemfaresunevenlyin preparingourown
levelsofsupervision, infulladolescence,intotheworld. abbandonatito be responsibleand productiveadults.
During theirstay in the orphanage,moreover,boys MARGARETL. KING
were schooled,in somecases up throughthesecondary BrooklynCollegeand theGraduateCenter,
curriculum,to the extentthat an orphan boy had a CityUniversityof New York
greaterchance of gainingan educationthanpoor boys
outside the orphanage.Girls,in contrast,were trained STEFANIE B. SIEGMUND. TheMediciStateand theGhetto
in religiousobservances,domestictasks,and textile ofFlorence:TheConstruction ofan EarlyModernJewish
skills,to the extentthatsome orphanagesbecame fac- Community. (StanfordStudies in JewishHistoryand
toriesreputedforspecializedtextileproduction-lace, Culture.) Stanford,Calif.: StanfordUniversity Press.
for instance,or brocade. 2006. Pp. xxiv,624. $70.00.
Class is another prominenttheme. The multiple
formsof orphan homes that evolved were generally This book's centralargumentis thattheghettoof Flo-
class-specific:certainkindsof institutions were desig- renceis to be perceivedas an instrument ofearlymod-
nated forthe unfortunate (but legitimate)childrenof ern statebuilding.This squareswiththe argumental-
respectableparents;othersforthepoor,othersstillfor readymade thatthe Romanghettorespondedto both
the offspring of beggars.Bologna was fussierabout so- thecivicand religiousneedsofthepapal domains.Yet,
cial originthanFlorence,whosegranddukecoaxed the as presentedbyStefanieB. Siegmund,thethesislinking
various organizationsthat supervisedorphanagesto ghettoandstateis forcefully articulatedand thusmerits
serveall of his subjects,and notjust theinnercircleof carefulattention.
Florentines. The problemsixteenth-century rulersfaced,as has
This differencebetweenthe two cities in termsof been explainedwithrespectto the Roman ghetto,is
stratification by class is seen elsewhereas well: Bo- thatthe old medievalstructures no longerworked.In
lognese caretakers supervised their charges more a unifiedCatholicworld,ithad been possible"to retain
closelythan did the Florentines,while the charitable and restrain"Jewsbyapplyingcanon law withoutiso-
outreachof the Florentineswas more systematicand latingthemphysically. The new,divided,post-Lutheran
comprehensive.In bothcities,it was assumedthatthe world,wherereligiouslineshad becomecommensurate
whole community was responsiblefor the welfareof withpoliticalones,requireda moreradicalsolution.In
vulnerablechildren,and both cities,by the earlysev- the papal state,thiswas as part of a policythatper-
enteenthcentury, had developedmassive,complex,and ceived the ghettoas a limbountiltheJewsconverted.
largelysuccessfulsystemsforexecutingthatresponsi- But Florencewas not the papal state,and Cosimo de
bility. Medici,thisnewbookargues,had no needfullytoiden-
These Renaissance welfaresystemsare strikingfor tify withpapal aims,allowinghimto bendpapal policies
their pluralismand fungibility. There were not only to suitpoliticalends. In Venice,fearsof divineretri-
homesforboysand forgirls,forrichand forpoor,but bution,and the perceptionof the state as a religious
also smallhomesand largeones; homesrunbywomen, body,weremoreevidentin thedecision,in 1516,to use
by clerics,and by whole confraternities; homes that thelocalelongknownas the"ghetto"as a holdingspace.
looked a lot like conventsor like factories.Theywere Yet Siegmundadmitsthatreligiousissuesshapedthe
scatteredacrossthelandscape:distributed fairlyevenly earlymodernstate.Althoughshe cogentlypressesher
throughall the sectorsof Bologna, arrayedin a wheel case aboutthecivilstate,herargument hesitatesto say
around the centralcore of Florence.Their originwas exactlyhowreligiouselementsfitin.Similarly, thechal-

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