HIS211 final term

paper
Florina Toma
A woman in a mans world
The nuns, wives and prostitutes of Renaissance
Florence
[]natural law has ordained that the human species
should multiply and that man and woman be joined
together by holy matrimony [](Brucker, 206)
The view of the Florentine church in the Renaissance on
marriage is reflected in a straightforward and concise manner in the
above quote, which was collected by Brucker in his Society of
Renaissance Florence.

The original source consists of a set of

guidelines to which the system of convents was supposed to adhere

in the 15th century Florence, and the paragraphs selected by Brucker
mainly deal with the duty of the nuns and their protection from evil
(Brucker, 206).
The importance of the convent arises less from its physical
form and the presence of the nuns as human beings, and it stems
more from the strict rituals observed by the convents inhabitants.
People put much faith in the prayers of the monastic community, as
evidenced by many archives and letters dating back to the
Renaissance. One such letter was sent to the nuns of Le Murate in
1550, from Cornelio Musso, the bishop of Bitonto, in which he
implores that from time to time in [their] prayers [they] remember
[him], so that he can be protected from evil in his attempt to
preach the Christian doctrine to others (Lowe, 214). The convents
vital role in Renaissance Florence was so widely acknowledged that

its privileges transcended the spiritual realm and reached far into
the worldly and secular. There is evidence that, in 1478, the nuns of
San Piero Martire pleaded to be exempt from city taxes, arguing that
[their] prayers, coming as they do from persons of such great
religion, are more useful than two thousand horses(Trexler, 6).
Motivated by the fact that Florentians kept the monastic
community in such high regard, the Officials of the Curfew and the
Convents went to great lengths to preserve the conventual purity,
at least in the eyes of the normal layperson. The purity, or in other
words virtue, of nuns, is preserved only as long as they continue to
adhere to the natural law, which simply rejects the concept of
extramarital relations. The document presented by Brucker indicates
that no one is permitted to enter any convent, and that a heavy
penalty

be

meted

out

to

delinquents

(Brucker,

207).

This

prohibitive decision is motivated by the belief that the [nuns] sex

is weak and fragile and must be protected from the audacity of
evil men, dishonor and shame (Brucker, 207). In other words,
as marriage no longer represents a possibility, nuns are supposed to
ignore their sexuality, and completely abandon their sexual identity
in the service of the church.
I am interested in analyzing womens options when it comes
to choosing the role they played in society and the matter of their
subversion to the male sex in the space of Renaissance Florence. It
seems that the society of those times offered few roles for women,
as gender inequality was only part of the natural order of things and

had not been identified as an issue of concern. While perusing any

general selection of historical sources, barring possible constraints
created by circumstances such as class or financial situation, I can
identify only 3 major possible categories of roles that a woman can
assume in the Renaissance: the wife or widow, the nun, and the
prostitute or adulteress (Trexler, Brucker). We can both differentiate
and link these three categories by analyzing each in terms of
freedom, sexuality, expectations and rights.
The roles of wife and nun are similar in the sense that both
rely on the idea of protecting the virtue of the woman by placing her
in a certain kind of enclosed space. The marriage and the convent
both restrain the woman in terms of space, as, for example, a wifes
access to certain areas of the house, such as the husbands study,
was prohibited (Conway, 3). The wish to preserve the wifes virtue
leads to her isolation, and her role is to be confined to her home in
order to protect the possessions of the husband, as explained by
Leon Battista Alberti: The woman, as she remains locked up at
home, should watch over our things by staying at her post, by
diligent care and watchfulness(Conway, 3).
Renaissance Florence was known for its more authoritarian
attitude towards women they were not considered citizens, they
did not have access to education, and they were confined to their
domestic spheres because of their perceived inferiority (James, 6).
All virtuous women unmarried virgins, wives, widows and nuns
are therefore defined by their duty to men. A daughters honor was

the property of her father, to be used as a bargaining chip in the

negotiation of her marriage contract along with her dowry, as
exemplified

by

other

documents

collected

by

Brucker.

The

importance of the dowry is illustrated in Gregorios Dati account of

his numerous marriages, which allowed him to support his
entrepreneurial pursuits (Brucker, 29-31, and Conway, 4). A wifes
duty was to provide a son and a widow should think of nothing else
save serving God and her children(Bernadino da Siena, quoted by
Rogers and Tinagli, 188), just as nuns were brides of God and
dedicated

to

Him

and

meant

to

serve

him

with

their

virginity(Brucker, 207).
The role of prostitutes sexuality in Renaissance Florence is
more complex because of the many functions it served. It did not
only represent a lucrative enterprise for the men controlling such
groups of women, but it was also encouraged by official institutions.
In 1403, the Government of Florence created the Office of Decency,
which was the first institution to work on the morality of the city
(Trexler, 31). They believed that sponsoring brothels and foreign
prostitutes was a good way to fight homosexuality, which was
considered a greater evil than a woman living in sin (Trexler, 31-32).
Is it clear from this that mens sexuality was placed far above
womens, and again the woman is fulfilling a duty towards the
masculine society by supporting and helping define its sexual
norms.
In the governments opinion, prostitution was a lesser and

necessary evil because the well fare of virtuous women was

dependent on prostitutes ability to fulfill their duty, as their actions
could prevent the unnatural evil and enormous crime which is the
vice of sodomy by keeping the mens attention away from boys,
and thus making them more inclined to procreate in the sacred
safety of their marriages (Trexler, 33).
Brucker provides evidence to support this idea in his
collection of documents on prostitution, brothels and recruitment of
prostitutes. Desiring to eliminate a worse evil by means of a lesser
one, in 1415, the Government of Florence decides to build two
more public brothels, in addition to the one already serving the
community (Brucker, 190). Evil could only be fought with evil, so
dishonorable women were the only ones who could compete
against [male love](Trexler, 33). Prostitution became an institution
of salus publicus which furthered the goals of the community
combating male homosexuality and sustaining the legitimate
population (Trexler, 34).
Officials wish to extirpate homosexuality, also known at
the time as that vice of Sodom and Gomorrah, was so strong, that
prostitution was cast in a different light, and it began to be seen as
a

lucrative,

albeit

dishonorable,

profession,

subject

to

clear

regulations, just as any other trade (Brucker, 202). Brucker presents

the case of Angela, the wife of Nofri di Francesco, who was accused
of failing to comply, as a prostitute, to the norms of this trade, which
consisted in the strict marking of the dishonorable woman with

gloves on [her] hands and a bell on [her] head (Brucker, 191).

The same document indicates that the woman preferred the whores
life because of the significant income it provided (Brucker, 192), as
well as the protection it entailed. While the wives were meant to
obey their husbands in all matters, Trexler provides evidence that
suggests prostitutes were protected by the Office of Decency, as the
purification of public morals depended on the survival of their trade
(Trexler, 54).
The limited livelihood options offered to women led them to
unavoidable trade offs between honor, virtue, freedom and other
values they held dear. Despite having to face societys ostracism
and contempt, it seems that women like Angela chose prostitution
even when they had the option to preserve their virtue as wives. By
taking part in this lucrative business, they could openly use their
sexuality as a mean of supporting themselves and could gain some
sort of freedom and protection. Marriage, on the other hand, offered
neither: In order that a wife does her duty and brings peace and
harmony, she must agree to the first principle that she does not
disagree with her husband on any point (Bartlett, 114).

Bibliography
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A Sourcebook. North York, Ontario: U of Toronto, 2011. Print.
Brucker, Gene A. The Society of Renaissance Florence: A
Documentary Study. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print.
Conway, Robyne. "The Place of Women in Renaissance Italy and

Women's Opportunities for Making a Life of Their Own."

Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2015.
James, Carolyn. "Friendship and Dynastic Marriage in
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2005. Print.
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