Suchergebnisse

L'analyse des anciens systèmes d'assistance aux pauvres est encore essentiellement fondé sur l'idée que le besoin est le critère clé pour identifier et mesurer la pauvreté. L'article critique cette approche et attire l'attention sur l'importance qu'il y a d'explorer les catégories de statut (celui-ci défini par les limites de protection et d'interdépendance entre riches et pauvres). Ce statut établit une distinction parmi les pauvres et différencie leur accés à l'assistance. Basé sur une abondante documentation provenant de plus importante institution charitable à Turin, l'article pose deux questions: qui reçoit du secours? Quels sont les critères de sélection? Ensuite il étudie la relation entre des différents types d'assistance que procure l'hôpital et les modes de survie adoptés par les pauvres. L'article démontre également que les définitions des pauvres dignes d'assistance ne reflètent que partiellement 'la structure de la pauvrete'. On les représente ici par des graphiques du pouvoir et par des types de relations verticales.

Conserving health in early modern culture explores the impact of ideas about healthy living in early modern England and Italy. The attention of medical historians has largely been focussed on the study of illness and medical treatment, yet prevention was one of the cornerstones of early modern medicine. According to Galenic-Hippocratic thought, the preservation of health depended on the careful management of the so-called six 'Non-Naturals': the air one breathed; food and drink; excretions; sleep; movement and rest; and emotions. Drawing on visual, material and textual sources, the contributors show the pervasiveness of the preventive paradigm in early modern culture and society. In particular it becomes apparent that concern for the non-naturals informed lay people's daily lives and routines as well as stimulating innovation in material culture and painting, and influencing discourses in fields as diverse as geology, natural philosophy and religion.

At the same time the volume challenges the common assumption that health advice was a uniform and stable body of knowledge, showing instead that models of healthy living were tailored to different genders, age-groups and categories of patients; they also varied over time and depended on the geographical context. In particular, significant differences emerge between what was regarded as beneficial or harmful to health in England and Italy.

As well as showing the value of a comparative perspective of study, this interdisciplinary volume will appeal to a wide readership, interested not just in health practices, but in print culture, histories of women, infancy, the environment and of art and material culture.

This new collection of essays brings together brand new research on widowhood in medieval and early modern Europe. The volume opens with an introductory chapter by the Editors which looks generally at the conditions and constructions of widowhood in this period. This is followed by a range of essays which illuminate different dimensions of widowhood across Europe - in England, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. A particular attraction of the volume is the attention given to widowers, and the comparisons made between the male and female experience of widowhood. It is an exciting reinterpretation