Marriage, manners and mobility in early modern Venice

This monograph, published in the Ashgate Historical Urban Studies series, edited by Richard Rodger and Jean-Luc Pinol, concerns the complex world of social relationships in early modern Venice and the ways in which they were mediated through the links and potential links created by marriages between members of the ruling patriciate and women from outside the elite. It discusses the blurred lines separating patricians from those immediately below them within the social hierarchy, as well as issues relating to marriage, concubinage, and illicit sexual relationships. The book is heavily based on archival research in Venice and is the culmination of a series of journal articles and book chapters drawing on the archives of the Avogaria di Comun. The book was written with the aid of an AHRB Research Leave award in 2004-2005. Research was carried out through series of research visits to Venice funded by Northumbria University and by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, New York.