Household and Family

Question 1

What source material is used to construct the model of the household?

Answer 1

“Family Reconstitution”
Collection from parish records of data on baptisms, marriages and deaths to paint the full familial picture
Letters and wills
Prescriptive literature such as sermons and advice manuals
Love letters and diaries

Question 2

How many people in Western Europe never married?

Answer 2

Kumin estimates around 20% of women never married, a figure that is likely similar for men. This was likely due to disease, poverty or religious reasoning

Question 3

Which rules forbade marrying within 4 degrees of relationship? Why was this difficult?

Answer 3

Within “canon law”, rules of consanguinity prohibited marriage within 4 or more degrees of relationship. Made more difficult due to spiritual relationships such as those with godparents

Question 4

Why did young people in Western Europe have more of a say whom they married?

Answer 4

In Spain, France and England, men fro the lower classes were usually employed, out of the family home and had probably lost at least one parent to mortality and so were freer to choose

Question 5

Why did peasants take a more informal approach to sex and marriage?

Answer 5

Because they could not afford privacy and often shared communal beds
Social custom outside the aristocracy allowed a greater degree of courting and sexual freedom which Kamen argues was greater than we think

Question 6

What does Aries (accent) argue about the make-up of households?

Answer 6

Aries argued that the multiple family household gave way to the emergent nuclear family (two parents and their children) by the seventeenth century and this in turn encouraged more love and affection

Question 7

In Northern France, what percentage of households were nuclear compared to extended?

Answer 7

85% Nuclear

7% Extended

Question 8

Why were familial units smaller in England and France?

Answer 8

Because landholdings tended to be smaller and therefore so were familial units

Question 9

Where were households likely to be extended or larger?

Answer 9

In Southern France and some parts of the Mediterranean, farms were larger and family life concentrated around a large house - here larger families were more common

Question 10

What was the percentage split of households in Tuscany in 1684?

Answer 10

58% simple

36% multiple

Question 11

What does Kamen argue the persistence of larger estates allowed? What took over?

Answer 11

Larger estates of Southern Europe helped the survival of communal living/forms of exploitation
The procession of property division and changing inheritance laws meant the nuclear family took over

Question 12

What was peculiar about Austria?

Answer 12

In Austrian records, each household was indicated to have 4 members but each house 12 inhabitants, demonstrating that household was not a universal term at this point

Question 13

What does Kamen believe was most important for aristocratic marriages?

Answer 13

“Property considerations were uppermost.” As were dowries and jointures

Question 14

How did France attempt to prevent the gentry from marrying below their station?

Answer 14

In order to avoid family conflict, France banned marriage without parental consent in 1556

Question 15

Kumin believes the husband and wife’s role was what? Why?

Answer 15

“Different but complementary”

Emphasis on the conjugal pair because relationships were not only based on affection but also labour and survival

Question 16

Why was kinship important to the gentry?

Answer 16

For upper class families, kinship based on lineage was very important as it ensured land was passed down from father to son. Marriage was of equal importance as it ensured the survival and ownership of property.

Question 17

New marriage laws in Zurich allowed what?

Answer 17

For husbands and wives to sue for divorce and remarry if their parents had committed serious faults such as adultery and their relationship was irreconcilable

Question 18

What role did women play within the household?

Answer 18

• Domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning and washing
• Child care
• Care of small, domestic animals such as chickens
• Looking after the dairy farm

Question 19

Why did some women hire help?

Answer 19

All domestic chores were left to the wife an so some urban and some rural families hired young maidservants as domestic labour was cheap. A maidservant could expect to make around £2 a year including accommodation and food.

Question 20

What was the average size of a nuclear family in Western Europe?

Answer 20

4-6

Question 21

In parts of France, Switzerland and Spain why were prenuptial births common?

Answer 21

Because couples were allowed to sleep in the same bed in the family home before they could afford to move out

Question 22

Where did the nobility gain last names from? What about the common people?

Answer 22

From around the 16th century, they began to adopt names from their land
Last names were adopted by common people looking to improve their status
This was encouraged by the church and state as they recognised the ease this would provide them with
They then slowly became heritable

Question 23

Why were toddlers at risk during the harvest?

Answer 23

Because they had been weened by two and were eating harmful bacteria active at this time

Question 24

In what movements did women play key roles?

Answer 24

In the early Quaker and Methodist movements but women who posed direct threats were silenced

Question 25

What do historians dispute about childhood and adolescence?

Answer 25

Wiesner-Hanks asks whether these existed as concepts

Question 26

What was childhood like?

Answer 26

Boys and girls began their training at around 4-5.
Girls trained in domestic chores whereas boys were more likely to receive some form of education or learn to read. They were also trained in their station for life.
In poorer families, children were set tasks from about 5-6 to boost the family income

Question 27

What could happen to poor teens?

Answer 27

They could sent out as live-in servants to guarantee food and shelter while making way for younger siblings

Question 28

What was the role of the male?

Answer 28

Head of the household.
Represented the family in communal politics
Owed obedience by women, children and servants
The father’s authority was always emphasized

Question 29

What happened in England in 1776?

Answer 29

Parental consent was now needed for those who wished to marry under the age of 25

Question 30

The church recognised all marriages…

Answer 30

… validly agreed between the two contracting parties

Question 31

What did the Protestant Reformation do for marriage?

Answer 31

• Justification by faith alone made men and women equal (in theory)
• Elevated the status of marriage, removing celibacy as the superior state
• Promoted the values of love and mutual responsibilities and mutual right

Question 32

According to Kamen, marriage was less of a private affair and more of what?

Answer 32

Less of a private affair based on connection and more of a considered contract affected by kinship and other community values

Question 33

How was freedom to marry affected by the wider community?

Answer 33

Elements were restricted by the head of the family, local community and even the feudal seigneur
Rights of individuals to make inheritance donations restricted by the church for example

Question 34

How did the perception of women change throughout the period?

Answer 34

They were seen to be frailer and less of a threat. They now required protection rather than control. This reinforced patriarchal authority

Question 35

Why was Shakespeare important?

Answer 35

Because he helped amplify the debate on gender by including several female heroines in his works such as Lady Macbeth

Question 36

Which groups provided strong kin ties?

Answer 36

Religious and occupational groups.
Occupational guilds or journeymens guilds 0 by the 16th century a good percentage of the urban population belonged to fraternities to associate with their “brothers”. This took over some roles kinship previously provided

Question 37

What did religious groups do for women?

Answer 37

Removed women’s option of religious vocation and stopped them from achieving positions of authority

Question 38

Who were the most common godparents?

Answer 38

Peasants in England and France often chose a local notable as godparent in the hopes of patronage or protection in later life

Question 39

What were some of the growing labour opportunities for rwomen?

Answer 39

Proto-industrialisation cloth and silk industries- ill-paid work at home as spinners or weavers
Burgeoning retail sector

Question 40

The Catholic Reformation did what for women?

Answer 40

Inspired a burst of religious female activity in caring for the sick

Question 41

What did Protestants emphasize?

Answer 41

The consent of parents in marriage

Question 42

What did Lutherans demand?

Answer 42

Previously, Catholic practice required all procedures for marriage take place outside of the church but Lutherans demanded contracts only be validated with a blessing in church

Question 43

In 1539, what did King Francis I of France order?

Answer 43

That all subjects living under his rule adopt a permanent surname

Question 44

What was the economic relationship with household and the family?

Answer 44

Home was frequently the workplace and therefore contained employees as well as family members

Question 45

What were the connotations of the word “family”?

Answer 45

The word “family” was used very rarely and had many connotations. “Houses” or “clans” was more frequent and “clans” were thought to have common ancestors. These provided military support, economic advantages and political patronage

Question 46

What did Louis XIII say about marriage?

Answer 46

IN 1639, Louis XIII said it was the cement of the state

Question 47

What were confraternities?

Answer 47

Voluntary lay groups organised by occupation, neighbourhood, devotional preference or charitable activity.
They expanded rapidly in larger cities and many villages
In England, they were generally associated with parishes

Question 48

What did confraternities offer members?

Answer 48

Gave individuals spiritual, charitable and social benefits. For male members, benefits were political too. Groups gave opportunities to meet for devotional practice, express faith, assist others and get together with peers (Wiesner-Hanks)
They favoured men more than women who were seen more as beneficiaries than members.
Some opened places for prostitute repentance or established asylums for women in danger of “losing their honour” by becoming prostitutes or suffering abuse

Question 49

What does co-residence mean for Wiesner-Hanks?

Answer 49

Co-residence does not mean the same thing as it does now (e.g., Austria). There were also co-resident relatives e.g., cousins or aunties and uncles who were listed as servants but were actually family

Question 50

What does Wiesner-Hanks say about inheritance and kin?

Answer 50

Partible inheritance led to already impoverished families landholdings dwindling further.
Inheritance patterns, laws and regulations do not correlate with family structure and there was no change from extended to nuclear households.
Kin networks remained extremely important even if they did not reside in the household

Question 51

Which group does Wiesner-Hanks emphasise as carrying out important data work?

Answer 51

The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure

Question 52

What links did kinship create?

Answer 52

Marriage
Bond between elite families and for those in the provinces
Inheritance