Search results for " History of Childhood"

Orphaned siblings and noble families in baroque Rome

2010

The essay investigates the impact of the premature death of the father on brother and sister groups in noble Roman families of the seventeenth century. More specifically, it explores how this loss reflected on the biographical itineraries of individual members of the sibling unit; how adelphic relations between the orphans were reformulated according to order of birth and first born or cadet status, age, and sex; and what forms of solidarity and competition were engendered by the loss of a father. Since demographic historians have shown that orphanage at an early age is an important variable, the author argues that it cannot be overlooked – as historians have done so far – in studies on fam…