The Renaissance Man and His Children

In this book, the author delves into account books, letters, and literature of the Renaissance to examine elite Florentine male attitudes and behaviours regarding birth and infancy from 1300 to 1600. This volume seeks specifically to focus on the viewpoints of fathers in relation to childbirth, childrearing and children. Haas finds that most elite Florentines wanted children and that they recognized that children had special needs, which they provided willingly within the structures of their daily lives. Acknowledged by many parents as a distinct stage in human development, childhood in this time period is unveiled as a much less grim process than is typically imagined. In addition, Haas offers information on the various rites of passage that Renaissance society provided for its children, such as baptism, naming, and godparenthood. As a study of Renaissance families, this work lends credence to the claim that affectionate family life was no invention of modernity, but has actually been a facet of humanity for centuries.