165 76 76MB
English Pages [398] Year 2013
Table of contents :
Frontmatter
List of Figures and Tables (page ix)
Introduction (page 1)
1. Showing the Poor a Good Time: Gender, Class, and Charitable Cultures (page 19)
Two Cultures of Charity (page 21)
"Good Mothers of the Family" (page 42)
2. Worthy Poor, Worthy Rich: Women's Poverty and Charitable Institutions (page 55)
The Turning Wheel: Charitable Institutions and Life Cycle Poverty (page 62)
The Critical Decade (page 78)
Nights and Days at the Opera (page 85)
3. Tightening Control: The Narrowing Politics of Charity (page 99)
Making It Work (page 104)
People versus Patricians: Civil Society and Controlling Charity (page 119)
4. Meeting the Bottom Line: Alms, Taxes, Work, and Legacies (page 138)
Begging for Beggars: Keeping the Opera Pia dei Poveri Mendicanti Afloat (page 142)
Taxation by Other Means (page 153)
Making a Workhouse (page 166)
Deeper in Debt and Richer all the Time: Building a Legacy (page 183)
5. The Wheel Keeps Turning: Moving Beyond the Opera (page 195)
Enclosing the Circle: Shelters and the Reform of Poor Women (page 199)
Credit Where Credit Was Due: Investing in Marriage (page 217)
Beyond Charity: Mutual Assistance and the Working Poor (page 233)
6. Baroque Piety and the Qualità of Mercy (page 245)
Bringing Discipline to Practical Clarity (page 250)
The Aesthetics of Poverty and the Qualità of Mercy (page 263)
Notes (page 287)
Bibliography (page 347)
Acknowledgments (page 367)
Index (page 371)
I ‘Tatti Studies in
Italian Renaissance History
Sponsored by Villa I Tatti
Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Florence, Italy
Blank page
Charit Women, Politics, and the Reform of Poor Relief in Renaissance Italy
NICHOLAS TERPSTRA
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts - London, England 2013
Copyright © 2013 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Terpstra, Nicholas. Cultures of charity : women, politics, and the reform of poor relief in Renaissance Italy / Nicholas Terpstra. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-06709-7 (alk. paper) 1. Charities—Italy—Bologna—History. 2. Poor—Italy—Bologna—History. 3. Bologna (Italy)—Social conditions. 4. Women—Italy—
Bologna—History. I. Title. HV295.B6147 2013
362.5'57094541109031—dc23 2012018083
Ai colleght ed amici bolognesi
Blank page
Contents
List of Figures and ‘Tables 1x
Introduction 1 1. Showing the Poor a Good Time: Gender, Class,
and Charitable Cultures 19
Two Cultures of Charity 21 “Good Mothers of the Family” 42
2. Worthy Poor, Worthy Rich: Women’s Poverty and
Charitable Institutions 55
The Turning Wheel: Charitable Institutions and
Life Cycle Poverty 62 The Critical Decade 78 Nights and Days at the Opera 85
3. Tightening Control: The Narrowing Politics of Charity 99 Making It Work 104 People versus Patricians: Civil Society and Controlling Charity 119
and Legacies 138
4. Meeting the Bottom Line: Alms, ‘Taxes, Work, Begging for Beggars: Keeping the Opera Pia dei Poveri
Mendicanti Afloat 142 Taxation by Other Means 153 Making a Workhouse 166 Deeper in Debt and Richer all the Time: Building a Legacy 183
vue Contents 5. ‘The Wheel Keeps Turning: Moving Beyond the Opera 195 Enclosing the Circle: Shelters and the Reform of Poor Women 199 Credit Where Credit Was Due: Investing in Marriage 217 Beyond Charity: Mutual Assistance and the Working Poor 233
6. Baroque Piety and the Qualita of Mercy 245 Bringing Discipline to Practical Charity 250 The Aesthetics of Poverty and the Qualita of Mercy 263
Notes 287 Bibliography 347 Acknowledgments 367 Index 371
Figures and ‘Tables
Figures 1. The First Shelter of the Opera Pia dei Poveri Mendicanti: the
Ospedale di S. Maria della Misericordia (later S. Gregorio) 77 2. The Three Shelters of the Opera Pia dei Poveri Mendicanti
(1674) 96 3. Income and Expense at the Opera Pia dei Poveri Mendicanti,
1570-1600 146 4. Food Expenses at the Opera Pia dei Pover1 Mendicanti,
1570-1600 147 5. Traditional Alms Gathering by the OPM, 1570-1600 151 6. Public Subsidies for the OPM, 1570-1600—Total 158 7. Public Subsidies for the OPM, 1570-1600—by Source 159 8. Income from Textile Piecework at the OPM, 1570-1600 177 g. Forms of Silk Piecework at the OPM, 1570-1600 178 10. Income Earned by Males in the OPM, 1570-1600 179
u. Work-Related Earnings at OPM, 1570-1600 180 12. Work-Related Earnings as Percentage of ‘Total Income at OPM,
1570-1600 180 13. Surpluses and Deficits at the OPM, 1570-1600 185
ax
x