From the Inside Flap
Winner, Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize, American Catholic Historical Association
The 15th century was a time of dramatic and decisive change for nuns and nunneries in Florence. During the course of that century, the city's convents evolved from small, semiautonomous communities to large civic institutions. By 1552, roughly one in eight Florentine women lived in a religious community. Historian Sharon T. Strocchia analyzes this stunning growth of female monasticism, revealing the important roles these women and institutions played in the social, economic, and political history of Renaissance Florence.
Strocchia performs a service both to convent studies and to historians of Renaissance Florence by bringing these two fields together . . . Convents, long a hazy presence on the rich scholarly map of Renaissance Florence, now have their political and economic contours there clearly charted.--Renaissance Quarterly
Strocchia makes a significant contribution to the developing body of work on women's religious life in the Renaissance . . . providing a plethora of research avenues for the interested scholar and an interesting glimpse of Renaissance life for the general reader.--American Historical Review
In this brilliant study, Strocchia brings us a deftly crafted analysis of Florentine convents and life within them . . . The combination of Strocchia's scholarship and engaging narrative sets a new standard for future studies of nunneries in other Italian cities. This is a superb book!--Church History
Strocchia has written a judicious, balanced, and meticulously researched book, one that is drawn from a splendid breadth of archival sources and that makes a major contribution to our understanding of the complex and changing relationships between ecclesiastical institutions, family strategy, and civic consciousness.--Speculum
Strocchia convincingly moves the history of nuns and nunneries to the center of our understanding of Renaissance urban geography.--Enterprise and Society
--Judith C. Brown, Wesleyan University "Speculum" From the Back Cover
Winner, Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize, American Catholic Historical Association
The 15th century was a time of dramatic and decisive change for nuns and nunneries in Florence. During the course of that century, the city’s convents evolved from small, semiautonomous communities to large civic institutions. By 1552, roughly one in eight Florentine women lived in a religious community. Historian Sharon T. Strocchia analyzes this stunning growth of female monasticism, revealing the important roles these women and institutions played in the social, economic, and political history of Renaissance Florence.
"Strocchia performs a service both to convent studies and to historians of Renaissance Florence by bringing these two fields together . . . Convents, long a hazy presence on the rich scholarly map of Renaissance Florence, now have their political and economic contours there clearly charted."―Renaissance Quarterly
"Strocchia makes a significant contribution to the developing body of work on women's religious life in the Renaissance . . . providing a plethora of research avenues for the interested scholar and an interesting glimpse of Renaissance life for the general reader."―American Historical Review
"In this brilliant study, Strocchia brings us a deftly crafted analysis of Florentine convents and life within them . . . The combination of Strocchia’s scholarship and engaging narrative sets a new standard for future studies of nunneries in other Italian cities. This is a superb book!"―Church History
"Strocchia has written a judicious, balanced, and meticulously researched book, one that is drawn from a splendid breadth of archival sources and that makes a major contribution to our understanding of the complex and changing relationships between ecclesiastical institutions, family strategy, and civic consciousness."―Speculum
"Strocchia convincingly moves the history of nuns and nunneries to the center of our understanding of Renaissance urban geography."―Enterprise and Society
About the Author
Sharon T. Strocchia is a professor of history at Emory University and author of Death and Ritual in Renaissance Florence, also published by Johns Hopkins.
