Cultures of charity: women, politics, and the reform of poor relief in Renaissance Italy 9780674067097, 9780674067929

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I ‘Tatti Studies in

Italian Renaissance History

Sponsored by Villa I Tatti

Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Florence, Italy

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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

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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

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