Lives Uncovered: A Sourcebook of Early Modern Europe

303 Pages·2019·8.373 MB·English

by  Nicholas Terpstra

LIVES
UNCOVERED
A SOURCEBOOK OF
EARLY MODERN EUROPE

LIVES
UNCOVERED
A SOURCEBOOK OF
EARLY MODERN EUROPE
EDITED BY NICHOLAS TERPSTRA
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Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
TIditelen: tGifiloebrasl :e Ccoapnoalidtiicas n: acr 2is0is1, 9go0v0e9rn10an9c6e , |a InSdB juNst i9ce7 8/1 P4e4t2er6 J0. 7St3o2e3tt (wsoitfth cSohvaneer )M | uISlliBgaNn .9781487594510
Nam(hesa: rSdtoceottv, ePre)ter J. (Peter John), 1965–, author. | Mulligan, Shane, 1970–, author.
DSuesbcrjeipcttios:n L: SCecSoHnd: Leidfieti ocny.c |le I,n Hcluudmesa bnib –li oHgriasptohircya l– re Sfeoruenrcceess a. n|d L iCndSeHx.: Europe – Social conditions –
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Contents
List of Figures xi
Acknowledgements xiii
I How to Read a Primary Source 1
II Lives Uncovered: Life Cycles in the Early Modern Period 5
III B ody and Spirit, Sickness and Health 9
3.1 The Cosmic Human (1531) 9
3.2 The Human Animal (1561) 11
3.3 You Are What You Eat, or You Eat What You Are? (1656) 14
3.4 Cooking Comfort Foods (1570) 18
3.5 A Balanced Diet (1587) 19
3.6 New Food: Tomato (1692) 20
3.7 Depression as a Spiritual Imbalance (1643) 21
3.8 Combatting Inner Demons (1653) 22
3.9 Self-Medicating with Alcohol (1682) 23
3.10 A New Addiction: Coffee (1732–34) 25
3.11 A New Vice: Tobacco (1605) 27
Reading Questions 27
IV Conception, Contraception, and Birth 29
4.1 A Woman’s Advice on Conceiving a Child (1671) 29
4.2 A Man’s Advice on Conceiving a Child (1612) 30
4.3 Menstruation (1671) 32
4.4 How to Have a Healthy Childbirth (1513) 33
4.5 Boys and Girls in the Womb (1587; 1669) 35
4.6 One Sex or Two? Women and Men as Mirrors of Each Other (1671) 37
4.7 How to Prevent Miscarriage (1656; 1671) 37
4.8 Diary of a Dutch Midwife (1693–1702) 38
4.9 Diary of a Florentine Father (1404–31) 42
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Contents
4.10 Diary of an English Mother (1648–68) 44
4.11 Penalties for Abortion and Infanticide (1555) 45
4.12 Miscarriage and Abortion (1671) 46
4.13 Trials for Infanticide (1677; 1679) 47
4.14 Trying to Understand Birth Defects (1575) 48
4.15 The Business of Wet Nursing (1420s) 49
4.16 Wet Nursing Carnival Songs (1400s) 50
4.17 Breastfeeding Is Good, and Mother’s Milk Is Best (1622) 51
4.18 A Jewish Circumcision (1580–81) 52
Reading Questions 54
V Childhood and Adolescence 55
5.1 What Boys and Girls Need to Learn (c. 1654) 55
5.2 Bad Dreams and Bedwetting (1653) 57
5.3 Training of a Renaissance Feminist (1488) 58
5.4 A Man’s Idea of a School for Girls (1671) 60
5.5 A Woman’s Idea of a School for Girls (1694) 62
5.6 A Feminist Instructs Her Brothers (1485) 63
5.7 Raising Muslim and Jewish Children in Algiers—A Portuguese Priest’s View (1612) 64
5.8 Writing Home: An Obedient Son (1578) 66
5.9 Writing Home: A Wily Son (1629–36) 68
5.10 Youth Rules the Night (c. 1670) 72
5.11 Life of a University Student (1550s) 73
Reading Questions 77
VI Working Life 79
6.1 Instructions for the Ideal Servant—An Employer’s View (1681) 79
6.2 Learning a Trade on the Job (1525) 80
6.3 The Apprentice’s Overseer (1795) 82
6.4 Peasant Protest and Rebellion (1502; 1525) 83
6.5 Workers and Employers at Odds (c. 1465) 86
6.6 Women and the Guilds: Gold Spinners in Germany (1500s) 88
6.7 Apprenticeship Contract for a Daughter in France (1610) 89
6.8 Apprenticeship Contract for a Female Orphan (1700) 90
6.9 Protecting Local Industry (1687) 92
6.10 The Rural Woman’s Guide to Hard Work (1550) 93
Reading Questions 94
VII Marriage: Making and Ending It 95
7.1 A Contested Marriage in Court: Richard Tymond vs. Margery Sheppard (1487) 95
7.2 A Contested Marriage in Court: Alice Parker vs. Richard Tenwinter (1488) 96
7.3 Marrying Your Own (1540) 97
7.4 A Man Describes the Perfect Wife (1583) 98
7.5 Domestic Assault (1598) 99
7.6 Marrying to Breed (1654) 100
7.7 Italian Marriage Negotiations (1400s) 100
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Contents
7.8 German Marriage Negotiations (1533) 104
7.9 English Marriage Negotiations (1680–81) 106
7.10 Marriage Night Conversation (1699) 107
7.11 Fertility Curses and Cures (1500s) 108
7.12 French Marriage Negotiations: Contract for a Second Marriage (1540) 109
7.13 A Woman’s Critique of Married Life (1600) 110
7.14 “Happy the Woman without a Man” (1500s) 112
7.15 A Man’s Critique of Married Life (1682) 114
7.16 Calculating Adultery (1700) 116
7.17 Marriage and Divorce in Muslim Spain (1438; 1474) 117
7.18 A Woman’s Response to Bigamy—Recovering Independence (1539) 119
7.19 Impotence and Divorce (1635) 120
7.20 Muslim Marriage Ceremonies in Algiers—A Portuguese Priest’s View (1612) 121
7.21 Marriage without Rituals—The Quaker Option (1685) 123
7.22 A Woman Reflects on Marriage (1703) 124
Reading Questions 125
VIII Sex, Gender, and Prostitution 127
8.1 A Morisca Prostitute in Valencia (1491) 127
8.2 A Catalogue of London Prostitutes (1691) 128
8.3 City Government Establishing a Brothel (1460) 131
8.4 Same-Sex Relations and Cross-Dressing (1477) 133
8.5 Warning Parents about Same-Sex Relations among Girls (1771) 134
8.6 A Transvestite Prostitute (1385) 134
8.7 Prosecuting a Priest for Same-Sex Relations (1651) 135
8.8 Socially Acceptable—and Unacceptable—Same-Sex Relations among Men (1509) 137
8.9 Sex and the Convent (1661) 138
8.10 Prosecuting Rape (1675) 140
Reading Questions 140
IX Poverty and Poor Relief 141
9.1 Rural Poverty in France (1484) 141
9.2 Poor Consumers Protesting Adulterated Food (1484; 1494) 143
9.3 Unworthy Poor and Worthy Rich (1524) 145
9.4 Chasing the Deadbeat Dad (1696) 146
9.5 Civic Help = Self Help (1526) 147
9.6 The Common Chest and the Common Good (1522) 149
9.7 Women in the Economy of Makeshifts (1600s) 150
9.8 Urban Poverty in France (1530s) 151
9.9 Sheltering and “Improving” Orphans and Abandoned Children (1686) 154
9.10 The Challenge of Keeping an Orphanage Open (1600s) 156
9.11 Better Schools for “Better” Children (1683–84) 156
9.12 Getting the Poor Out of Sight (1608) 158
Reading Questions 159
vii
Contents
X Crime and Punishment 161
10.1 Selling Murder and Mayhem (1661) 161
10.2 Punishing Women Who Brawl (1690) 163
10.3 Deception, Social Climbing, ... and Death (1697) 163
10.4 Frustrated Lovers Separated by Convent Walls (1585) 165
10.5 Close Call: A Near-Execution for Sodomy (1667) 166
10.6 Preparing for Execution (1400s–1500s) 168
10.7 The Execution of Two Nobles (1568) 172
10.8 The Theater of Execution in Rome (1581) 174
10.9 Ritual Execution of an Alleged Rapist and Robber in Venice (1513) 175
10.10 A Burning for Heresy (1553) 175
10.11 The Galleys in Marseilles (late 1500s) 177
10.12 Appointment of an Executioner: Charles Sanson in Paris (1700s) 178
10.13 Diary of an Executioner: Franz Schmidt of Nuremberg (1500s) 180
10.14 Public Penance and Punishment in Spain—Heresy and Inquisition (1486) 182
10.15 Confessions on the Scaffold (1700) 183
Reading Questions 184
XI Holy and Unholy: Mystics, Nuns, and Witches 185
11.1 Men Enclosing Women behind Convent Walls (1654) 185
11.2 Nuns in the Reformation (1547) 186
11.3 Trials of an Educated Nun (1682) 188
11.4 Nuns Possessed in Loudon (1643) 188
11.5 Nuns and Demons: Possession or Pretension? (1643) 189
11.6 Authorizing the Witch Hunt (1484) 191
11.7 Why Become a Witch? (1486) 192
11.8 Husband and Wife Witch Team (c. 1437) 192
11.9 Judgment on the Witch Walpurga Hausmännin (1587) 194
11.10 Witchcraft as a Problem for Political Leaders (1580) 196
11.11 A Miller Faces the Inquisition (1584–86) 199
Reading Questions 203
XII Living Apart Together: Jews, Muslims, and Christians 205
12.1 Expelling the Jews from Spain: The Official Order (1492) 205
12.2 Going into Exile: Iberian Jews around the Mediterranean (1495) 208
12.3 A Jewish Ghetto in Southern France (late 1500s) 210
12.4 How to Be a Practicing Muslim in a Catholic Country (1400s) 211
12.5 Living Undercover (1504) 212
12.6 You Are What You Wear—Or Are You? (1567) 215
12.7 Conversion: A Jew in Italy Converts to Christianity (1569) 216
12.8 Doubting Conversion: The Spanish Inquisition Investigates a Morisco (1622) 217
12.9 A Jewish Woman in Germany (late 1600s– early 1700s) 221
12.10 Targeting Refugees: The Dutch Threat to London (1593) 222
12.11 Observing the Ottomans in Istanbul (1562) 223
12.12 In Awe and Fear of “The Great Turk” (1601) 225
viii
Contents
12.13 Allowing the Jews to Return to England (1649) 226
12.14 Toleration—Or Conversion? (c. 1650) 228
12.15 The Jewish Community in Algiers—A Portuguese Priest’s View (1612) 229
Reading Questions 230
XIII Other Worlds: Migration and Emigration 231
13.1 Black and White Enslaved Peoples in Africa (1600) 231
13.2 Into India: Making Unfamiliar Worlds Familiar (1497) 234
13.3 Into America—Unfamiliar Worlds and Peoples (1497) 238
13.4 Tense Encounters: Early Portuguese Travellers in China (1500s) 241
13.5 Protesting Exploitation of Indigenous People (1552) 243
13.6 An Immigrant Writes Home (1574) 245
13.7 Encouraging Migration from New England to Jamaica (1656) 247
13.8 A Portuguese Missionary’s First Impressions of Japan (1549) 248
13.9 A Young Black Nobleman in the British Empire (1734) 251
Reading Questions 255
XIV Danger, Disease, and Death 257
14.1 Death on the Road: The Dangers of Travel (1550s) 257
14.2 How to Survive into Old Age (1683) 258
14.3 Death of a Jewish Rabbi (1509) 260
14.4 Fighting Plague (1541) 261
14.5 Stealing Bodies from the Grave (1554) 263
14.6 Visitors from Beyond Death (1572) 265
14.7 Muslim and Jewish Rituals around Death and Burial in Algiers—A Portuguese Priest’s View
(1612) 265
14.8 Popular Burial Customs in Spain (1500s) 268
Reading Questions 269
Sources 271
Index 277
ix