Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France
Jeffrey Merrick editor Suzanne Desan editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Pennsylvania State University Press
Published:15th Oct '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£55.95(9780271034690)
Understanding the untold stories of men who desired men in eighteenth-century Paris.
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.
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.
“Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France is a very well-conceptualized and extremely coherent volume, offering an excellent introduction to recent trends and new directions in the field of family history in early modern France.”
—Michael Breen, Reed College
“This is an important and timely collection that opens new lines of inquiry into the history of the family in early modern Europe.”
—Mary Trouille American Historical Review
“An excellent primer for those new to the field of family history in early modern France. . . . For those teaching a French culture and civilization course, Family, Gender, and Law in Early Modern France is a worthy resource. It helps to set the stage for understanding what occurred in France before and after the Old Regime, and fosters a greater appreciation for what predecessors desired in a civil society.”
—Eileen M. Angelini French Review
“This is a superb collection of essays which sheds important new light on the ever-growing field of the history of the family.”
—Jeffrey R. Watt English Historical Review
“This is one of those rare edited volumes greater than the sum of its parts. Each chapter is a fine work of historical synthesis, document analysis or close archival research. Yet, together, the essays paint a rich picture of marriage and family life in early modern France, uncovering startling new facets beneath old assumptions.”
—Jennifer J. Davis European History Quarterly
ISBN: 9780271034720
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 21mm
Weight: 454g
304 pages