Simone Lawson
Marriage in Renaissance Florence was a complex affair, with social, legal, and economic implications. Before 1563, the only requirement for a legitimate marriage was the mutual consent of a man and a woman who were not already married. However, marriages were often arranged by families to form political alliances and ensure economic prosperity. Weddings were elaborate affairs, with public processions, rituals, and the exchange of gifts, including dowry and groom gifts transported in specially prepared marriage chests or cassoni. These marriages were also a merger of families, and lavish festivities helped diffuse tensions that might arise over dowry arrangements and other disputes. Illegitimate children, though disadvantaged, were not uncommon, and legal cases reveal the complexities of their status in Florentine society. Overall, marriage in Renaissance Florence was a cultural, social, and economic institution that shaped family life and civic institutions.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Requirements | The mutual consent of a man and woman not already married to someone else |
| Involvement | Family, friends, associates, and political allies |
| Marriages | A currency of dynastic and diplomatic exchange |
| Wedding processions | More elaborate during the Renaissance period |
| Ritual actions | The father handing the daughter to the husband, expressed in the Latin phrase tradere filiam suam (to hand over his daughter) |
| Ritual actions | The husband taking the woman into his house, uxorem ducere (to lead a woman) |
| Wedding festivities | Lavish and public |
| Wedding festivities | Included parades, processions, spectacles, performances, games, and meals |
| Wedding festivities | Revived the ancient Roman practice of declaiming custom-written poems celebrating the union |
| Wedding festivities | Wedding poems, called epithalamia, are full of references to the purpose of marriage: to perpetuate the civic and political institutions that maintain a stable society |
| Wedding chests | Cassoni (known as forzieri in Renaissance Florence) were used to transport the wedding goods—dowry and groom gifts—during the wedding procession and to store them once the bride and groom had settled into their new home |
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What You'll Learn
Marriage as a civic institution
Marriage in Renaissance Florence was a civic institution that served as a crucial network of alliances underpinning a family's prosperity and prospects. It formed the fabric of loyalties, affection, and obligation that supported civic institutions. Arranging a suitable match involved the entire community, including family, friends, associates, and political allies.
Prior to 1563, the only requirement for a legitimate marriage was the mutual consent of a man and a woman who were not already married. Priests, ceremonies, and witnesses were not necessary. However, weddings were elaborate affairs, often involving lavish festivities, parades, processions, spectacles, performances, games, and meals that could last several days. The wedding procession was the most public part of the marriage, providing an opportunity for the community to share in the celebration and ratify the union. This public display encouraged spending and, at various times, prompted sumptuary laws to control expenses.
The ritual actions of the father handing over his daughter to the husband, expressed in the Latin phrase tradere filiam suam, and of the husband leading the woman into his house, uxorem ducere, were central to the ceremony. The bride was often viewed as an object exchanged between owners. The Renaissance saw a resurgence of the affirmative view of marriage, with humanists promoting the benefits of married life, robust families, and effective parenting. Weddings were also opportunities to showcase artistic expressions related to love and marriage, such as marriage chests (cassoni) decorated with themes of love, conquests, moral duties, and imagery from ancient literature.
Marriage in Renaissance Florence was not without its complexities, as dowry arrangements and social tensions could lead to potentially explosive moments. Despite these challenges, marriages played a vital role in shaping the social and civic landscape of the time, contributing to the stability and prosperity of families and communities.
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Dowry and groom gifts
In Renaissance Florence, dowries were a significant financial obligation for families with daughters. The dowry was negotiated between the bride's father and the groom, and could include clothing, jewellery, money, property, or even vast estates. The dowry was considered part of a "trousseau", which also included gifts and clothing provided by the husband.
The groom's gifts to the bride served as a symbol of her integration into his family, and they remained his property. Among the wealthy, these gifts often included gems and luxurious clothing for the bride to wear during the wedding festivities.
The exchange of gifts was a central part of the wedding rituals in Renaissance Florence. During the arraglia, the most legally binding ritual, the bride was presented with three rings, one of which bore the arms of the groom's family. Other gifts exchanged during this ritual included a silver dish and a jug displaying the arms of both families.
The wedding procession also included the transport of dowry and groom gifts in specially prepared marriage chests, known as cassoni (or forzieri in Renaissance Florence). These chests were often decorated with the coats of arms of the bride and groom, and were used to store the wedding goods once the couple settled into their new home.
In addition to the gifts exchanged between the bride and groom, various sponsors, or "compari", also offered gifts to the couple. These gifts could include silver tableware and furs.
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Illegitimate children
In Renaissance Florence, illegitimate children were considered to have an ambiguous status. While they were disadvantaged in legal and social terms, not sharing fully in the personhood of a legitimate adult male Florentine citizen, they were also seen as advantaged due to their lack of family obligations. This ambiguity of status could be exploited by those with sufficient wealth and social standing. Illegitimacy was a permanent status in Florence, and most illegitimate children, especially girls, were abandoned. Even those who were raised by their fathers and granted legitimation remained "legitimatus" and not "legitimus".
The Florentine catasto, a fiscal survey of households taken in the fifteenth century, reveals the household circumstances and parentage of hundreds of illegitimate children. Notarial documents and family account books also provide insight into the legal context surrounding illegitimate children in Florence. Lawyers were often called upon to make legal sense of the actions and prejudices of Florentines towards their illegitimate kin.
The closest jurists came to defining illegitimacy was by stipulating what it was not, namely, legitimacy. For example, Bartolo da Sassoferrato defined a legitimate child as "born to a husband and wife capable of contracting matrimony and generating children while cohabiting together during the marriage." The bastard, or illegitimate child, was therefore defined by their lack of legitimacy and, as such, had a diminished personhood.
Celebrated Renaissance figures such as Petrarch, Boccaccio, Alberti, and da Vinci were born illegitimately, showing that it was possible for illegitimate children to achieve success despite the social and legal obstacles they faced. However, for most illegitimate children in Renaissance Florence, the disadvantages of their status were nearly impossible to overcome.
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Marital bliss and extramarital sex
Marriages in Renaissance Florence were not merely personal affairs; they were pivotal to the network of alliances that bolstered a family's success and prospects. The intricate process of arranging a suitable match involved family, friends, associates, and political allies. Before 1563, the sole requirement for a legitimate marriage was the mutual consent of a man and a woman who were both unmarried. However, couples rarely chose their partners, and weddings were often planned years in advance by brokers or influential family connections. The wedding procession, a highly public affair, served to ratify the marriage and ease tensions between families through lavish festivities.
While weddings were elaborate, couples typically had little opportunity to know each other beforehand. Despite this, many marriages seem to have evolved into companionable, if not loving, relationships. The values celebrated in wedding art and rituals—beauty, virtue, purity, duty, and fertility—were those most desired in the bride herself. Humanist thinkers of the time promoted the benefits of married life, robust families, and effective parenting, reflecting a positive view of marriage in Renaissance Florence.
However, this idyllic portrayal of marriage is counterbalanced by the prevalence of extramarital sex and illegitimate children. Illegitimacy was a permanent status in Florence, and illegitimate children faced legal and social disadvantages. While some were abandoned or victims of infanticide, others were raised by benevolent fathers and granted legitimation, though they still remained "legitimatus" rather than "legitimus." The ambiguous status of illegitimacy could be exploited by those with wealth and influence, and several celebrated Renaissance figures, including Petrarch, Boccaccio, Alberti, and da Vinci, were born out of wedlock.
The treatment of elite marriages in Renaissance art and literature further complicates the narrative of marital bliss. Cassoni, or marriage chests, often featured imagery of conquests and triumphs, moral messages about the duties of spouses, or scenes from ancient authors like Ovid, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. While these artworks emphasized the ideals of marriage, they also reflected the complex reality of Renaissance unions, where marriages were political alliances and the bride herself was considered a commodity exchanged between families.
In conclusion, while Renaissance Florence promoted an affirmative view of marriage, the presence of extramarital affairs and illegitimate children, as well as the political nature of unions, reveals a more nuanced picture of marital bliss. The idealized portrayal of marriage in art and literature coexisted with the practical considerations and social complexities of the time.
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Marriage rituals and festivities
The wedding procession was the most public part of the marriage and served to ratify the union. The father would hand over his daughter to her husband, expressing the Latin phrase tradere filiam suam (to hand over his daughter), and the husband would then lead the woman into his house, uxorem ducere (to lead a woman). The bride was essentially an object exchanged between owners. To protect the procession and the couple, a Florentine statute from 1415 forbade the throwing of stones or garbage.
The festivities surrounding the wedding could last several days and included parades, processions, spectacles, performances, games, and meals. The ancient Roman practice of reciting custom-written poems, or epithalamia, celebrating the union was also revived in the fifteenth century. These poems referenced the purpose of marriage: perpetuating the civic and political institutions that maintained a stable society.
The wedding procession was often compared to ancient triumphal processions, and this idea of the wedding as a triumph was reflected in the imagery on cassoni (marriage chests) panels. Cassoni were used to transport the wedding goods, including the dowry and groom gifts, during the procession and to store them in the couple's new home. They were decorated with scenes of conquests and triumphs, moral messages about the duties of husbands and wives, and imagery from ancient authors and Renaissance literature. The values celebrated in these paintings, such as beauty, virtue, purity, duty, and fertility, were those desired in the bride herself.
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Frequently asked questions
Before 1563, the only requirement for a legitimate marriage was the mutual consent of a man and a woman who were both unmarried. This meant that priests, ceremonies, and witnesses were not necessary.
In Renaissance Florence, marriages were not just personal matters, but crucial to the network of alliances that supported a family's prosperity and prospects. Arranging a suitable match involved family, friends, associates, and political allies. Marriage negotiations between families could be sealed once the bride reached puberty and a suitable dowry could be amassed.
The wedding procession was the most public part of the marriage, allowing the entire community to share in the celebration and ratify the marriage. The procession also served to diffuse any lingering dissatisfaction between the two families over dowry amounts or other disputes.
