MARRIAGE, DOWRY, AND CITIZENSHIP IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE ITALY Through his research on the status of women in Florence and other Italian cities, Julius Kirshner helped to establish the cross-disciplinary study of social and legal history in late medieval and Renaissance Italy, and chal- lenged the idea that Florentine women had an inferior legal position and civic status. In Marriage, Dowry, and Citizenship in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy, Kirshner collects nine of his most important essays that address these issues in Florence and the cities of northern and central Italy. Using a cross-disciplinary approach that draws on the methodologies of both so- cial and legal history, Kirshner’s research presents a wealth of examples of daughters, wives, and widows acting as fully fledged members of society. Revised and updated to reflect current scholarship, the essays in Mar- riage, Dowry, and Citizenship in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy ap- pear alongside an extended introduction which situates them within the broader field of Renaissance legal history. (Toronto Studies in Medieval Law) julius kirshner is a professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. This page intentionally left blank Marriage, Dowry, and Citizenship in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy JULIUS KIRSHNER UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2015 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4426-1421-5 Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. Toronto Studies in Medieval Law Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Kirshner, Julius, author Marriage, dowry, and citizenship in late medieval and Renaissance Italy / Julius Kirshner. (Toronto studies in medieval law) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4426-1421-5 (pbk.) 1. Marriage law – Italy – Florence – History – Medieval, 500–1500. 2. Dowry – Italy – Florence – History – Medieval, 500–1500. 3. Citizenship – Italy – Florence – History – Medieval, 500-1500. 4. Real property – Italy – Florence – History – Medieval, 500–1500. 5. Women – Legal status, laws, etc. – Italy – Florence – History – Medieval, 500–1500. 6. Law, Medieval – Italy – Florence. 7. Renaissance – Italy – Florence. I. Title. II. Series: Toronto studies in medieval law KKH542.K57 2015 346.4501′60902 C2014-908167-7 University of Toronto Press gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, in the publication of this book. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing activities. Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 3 1 Making and Breaking Betrothal Contracts (Sponsalia) in Late Trecento Florence 20 with osvaldo cavallar 2 Li Emergenti Bisogni Matrimoniali in Renaissance Florence 55 3 Materials for a Gilded Cage: Nondotal Assets in Florence, 1300–1500 74 4 The Morning After: Collecting Monte Dowries in Renaissance Florence 94 5 The Seven Percent Fund of Renaissance Florence 114 with jacob klerman 6 Wives’ Claims against Insolvent Husbands in Late Medieval Italy 131 7 Women Married Elsewhere: Gender and Citizenship in Medieval Italy 161 8 Dowry, Domicile, and Citizenship in Late Medieval Florence 189 vvii MCoanrrtieangtes, Dowry, and Citizenship 9 Pisa’s “Long-Arm” Gabella Dotis (1420–1525): Issues, Cases, Legal Opinions 197 Original Publication Information 215 Appendix 1 Ricordanze of Paolo d’Alessandro Sassetti 217 Appendix 2 Formulario of Iacopo di ser Francesco Toschanelli 219 Appendix 3 Two Consilia of Angelus de Ubaldis 221 Appendix 4 Confessio dotis of Chirico di Giovanni of Florence 230 Appendix 5 The Seven Percent Account of Lorenzo di Bonaccorso Pitti 232 Appendix 6 Selected Jurists and Theologians 235 Abbreviations 239 Notes 241 References 383 Index 453 Acknowledgments In researching and writing the studies in this volume, I have benefited from the innumerable acts of generosity – smoothing the way for me to gain access to local archives, providing archival and manuscript references, sending copies and scans of texts that were unavailable in Chicago, provid- ing bibliographic leads, and commenting on drafts of early versions of the studies – of friends and colleagues. Warm thanks to all: Harvey Adelstein, Lawrin Armstrong, Mario Ascheri, Nicola Lorenzo Barile, Gabriella Bat- tista, Kees Bezemer, John Cochrane, Vincenzo Colli, Gino Corti, Angela De Benedictis, Constantin Fasolt, Robert Fredona, Orsola Gori, Maria Teresa Guerra Medici, Linda Guzzetti, David Herlihy, Alexander Kirsh- ner, Susanne Lepsius, Michele Luzzati, Christine Meek, Sara Menzinger, Maria Grazia Nico, Diana Robin, Rodolfo Savelli, Justin Steinberg, Clau- dia Storti Storchi, Francesca Trivellato, and Alan Watson. Special thanks are due to Elena Brizio of the Medici Archive Proj- ect, who verified archival and manuscript references in Florence; Daniel Jamison, who skillfully transformed the PDF files of the published studies into clean MS Word files and compiled the first draft of the comprehensive bibliography; Erik Carlson, who meticulously edited the manuscript; and my coauthors Osvaldo Cavallar and Jacob Klerman, who agreed to the republication of chapters 1 and 5, respectively, in this volume. The research on the records of the Monte delle doti and Monte delle Graticole, which supplies the basis for the findings in chapters 4 and 5, was undertaken in collaboration with Tony Molho. Our collaboration has been fruitful, resulting in a number of publications, written together as well as individually. I want to express my appreciation for Tony’s hospi- tality, first in Providence and then in Florence, intellectual engagement, vviiiiii MAcakrrnioagwel,e Ddgomwernyt, sand Citizenship and readiness to share his incomparable knowledge of Florentine public finance in the Renaissance. Tom Kuehn and I have been commenting on each other’s drafts and exchanging ideas since the 1970s. I have come to rely on his sound judgment and have profited immensely from his sub- stantial and farsighted sociolegal contributions. I am beholden to Osvaldo Cavallar, friend, coauthor, and indefatigable decipherer of medieval legal texts, who over the past twenty-five years has patiently read and critically commented on draft after draft of my work. It was Lauro Martines who urged me to publish a volume of my studies. I hope the volume measures up to his high scholarly standards. I am indebted to Paolo Grossi for his welcoming friendship and for making available the resources of the Centro di Studi per la Storia del Pensiero Giuridico Moderno at the University of Florence, when he was its director and before his appointment to Italy’s Constitutional Court. Many of the legal works cited in the volume are found at the remarkable Robbins Religious and Civil Law Collection, School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California at Berkeley. I am grateful to its director, Laurent Mayali, and staff for making my visits to the “Robbins” both pleasurable and productive. I am also grateful to the personnel of the Archivio di Stato and Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence and the Biblioteca del Senato in Rome for their efficient and courteous assistance. I wish to acknowledge the support of the Centre for Medieval Stud- ies, University of Toronto, and particularly its sometime director, John Magee, who generously allocated a subsidy from the departmental publi- cation fund for the production of this volume; and Lawrin Armstrong for his abiding enthusiasm for this project and encouraging me to publish the volume in the Toronto Studies in Medieval Law, of which he is the editor. Much more than formal acknowledgment can express, my deepest debt is to my family, and above all to Judith, whose loving support sustained me during the years of research and writing, and finally and happily I dedicate the book to her.