Heirs, Kin, and Creditors in Renaissance Florence

A previously unexamined serial registry of repudiations of inheritance provides a greater understanding of law and society in Renaissance Florence.

Thomas Kuehn (Author)

9780521178471, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 March 2011

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

"A strength of Kuehn's study is the constant attention paid to the dynamic of family and individual purposes, to the complexities of generational transmission of wealth, and to how family property played into the commercial development of Renaissance Florence." -Susan Mosher Stuard, American Historical Review

This study, based on Florentine repudiations of inheritance, reveals that inheritance was not simply an automatic process where the recipients were passive, if grateful. In influential European societies of the past, it was in fact a process that continued long after the deceased's death. Heirs also had options: at the least, to reject a burdensome patrimony, but also to manoeuvre property to others and to avoid (at times deceptively, if not fraudulently) the claims of others to portions of the estate. Repudiation was a vestige of Roman law that once again became a viable legal institution with the revival of Roman law in the Middle Ages. Florentines incorporated repudiation into their strategies of adjustment after death, showing that they were not merely passive recipients of what came their way. Further, these strategies fostered family goals, including continuity across the generations.

Preface: the ambivalence of inheritance
Introduction: inheritance and kinship
1. Family and inheritance
2. Florentine laws regulating inheritance and repudiation
3. Repudiation and inheritance
4. Profile of Florentine repudiation and inheritance
5. Repudiations and household wealth
6. Repudiation as an inheritance practice
7. Repudiations in dispute.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]