Nuns & Nunneries In Renaissance Florence

The book is a valuable text for students and scholars in early modern European history, religion, women's studies, and economic history. Winner, Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize, American Catholic Historical Association The 15th century was a time of dramatic and decisive change for nuns and nunneries in Florence. During the course of that century, the city’s convents evolved from small, semiautonomous communities to large civic institutions. By 1552, roughly one in eight Florentine women lived in a religious community. Historian Sharon T. Strocchia analyzes this stunning growth of female monasticism, revealing the important roles these women and institutions played in the social, economic, and political history of Renaissance Florence. "Strocchia performs a service both to convent studies and to historians of Renaissance Florence by bringing these two fields together . . . Convents, long a hazy presence on the rich scholarly map of Renaissance Florence, now have their political and economic contours there clearly charted."—Renaissance Quarterly "Strocchia makes a significant contribution to the developing body of work on women's religious life in the Renaissance . . . providing a plethora of research avenues for the interested scholar and an interesting glimpse of Renaissance life for the general reader."—American Historical Review "In this brilliant study, Strocchia brings us a deftly crafted analysis of Florentine convents and life within them . . . The combination of Strocchia’s scholarship and engaging narrative sets a new standard for future studies of nunneries in other Italian cities. This is a superb book!"—Church History "Strocchia has written a judicious, balanced, and meticulously researched book, one that is drawn from a splendid breadth of archival sources and that makes a major contribution to our understanding of the complex and changing relationships between ecclesiastical institutions, family strategy, and civic consciousness."—Speculum "Strocchia convincingly moves the history of nuns and nunneries to the center of our understanding of Renaissance urban geography."—Enterprise and Society The 15th century was a time of dramatic and decisive change for nuns and nunneries in Florence. In the course of that century, the city's convents evolved from small, semiautonomous communities to large civic institutions. By 1552, roughly one in eight Florentine women lived in a religious community. Historian Sharon T. Strocchia analyzes this stunning growth of female monasticism, revealing the important roles these women and institutions played in the social, economic, and political history of Renaissance Florence. It became common practice during this time for unmarried women in elite society to enter convents. This unprecedented concentration of highly educated and well-connected women transformed convents into sites of great patronage and social and political influence. As their economic influence also grew, convents found new ways of supporting themselves; they established schools, produced manuscripts, and manufactured textiles. Strocchia has mined previously untapped archival materials to uncover how convents shaped one of the principal cities of Renaissance Europe. She demonstrates the importance of nuns and nunneries to the booming Florentine textile industry and shows the contributions that ordinary nuns made to Florentine life in their roles as scribes, stewards, artisans, teachers, and community leaders. In doing so, Strocchia argues that the ideals and institutions that defined Florence were influenced in great part by the city's powerful female monastics. Nuns and Nunneries in Renaissance Florence shows for the first time how religious women effected broad historical change and helped write the grand narrative of medieval and Renaissance Europe. The book is a valuable text for students and scholars in early modern European history, religion, women's studies, and economic history.