Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France

Suzanne Desan

ISBN 10: 0271034696 / ISBN 13: 9780271034690

Published by Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009

New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. A collection of essays that examine intimacy and power in early modern French households, and explore how families reinvented themselves in response to changes in law, gender ideology, political culture, or patterns of consumption. Seller Inventory # B9780271034690

Synopsis:

The essays in Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France explore how ordinary men and women negotiated power within early modern French households and continually reinvented their families in response to external forces. Larger processes, such as state building, religious reform, changing understandings of gender roles, and economic developments, influenced family practices in the areas of marriage, separation, guardianship, and illegitimacy. Relatives, gender, community, and the law imposed limits upon families but also provided opportunities for agency. Contributors investigate patterns of courtship and decisions about marriage; the financial power exercised by wives; marital conflict and related controversies about gender, sexuality, and social order; death and guardianship; and the legitimization of children born out of wedlock. While addressing a variety of topics, this volume focuses on family members as individuals with complicated agendas and strategies of their own.

About the Author:

Suzanne Desan is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Jeffrey Merrick is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern ...
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Publication Date: 2009
Binding: Hardback
Condition: New