Three Behaim Boys – Growing up in Early Modern Germany

Through correspondence to mothers and guardians, the reader experiences the lives of three generations of German boys in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe

YA-- `` `Dear Mother, enclosed is Sebald Gruner's bill for my board. Would you send the money as soon as possible? . . . I owe the laundress. I have no more time to write, as I must study for exams.' Your Loving Son, Friederich Behaim.'' This letter, written by Friederich III Behaim in 1579, is just a sample of the delight that awaits readers as they peruse the letters that chronicle the lives of three boys, all members of a powerful merchant family in 16th- and 17th-century Nuremberg. Through their writings, which span the years from age 15 to 25, readers learn about the concerns of these teenagers as they attempt to deal successfully with their mother, guardians (who most often controlled monetary assets), teachers, and masters; leave home; and prepare themselves for the adult world. Ozment's meticulous selection of the 207 letters and his informative notes and commentary create an environment that brings Michael, Friederich, and Stephen Carl to life. The excellent maps and documents and the supplementary information in the six appendixes add scholarly documentation to this highly desirable primary source. --Dolores M. Steinhauer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA

Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This is a collection of the letters of three young men of the prominent Behaim family of Nuremberg written to their mothers or guardians while they were away as students or apprentices. Lucidly translated and informed by Ozment's useful social, biographical, and historical commentary, these letters spanning three generations (1523-1637) offer an invaluable chronicle of family and business history in early modern Europe; they also provide a fascinating picture of emotional and psychological growth (or their lack) from adolescence to adulthood. For an insight into economic and political ambition in Nuremberg, then one of the commercial capitals of Europe; the ways in which religion permeated everyday life; student life; military action in the Thirty Years War; early European impressions of Brazil; and many features of private life, students and scholars will want to consult this book. History Book Club alternate.
- Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.