Giovanni and Lusanna : Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence

by Brucker, Gene Adam

• ISBN13: 9780520244955
• ISBN10: 0520244958
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

This compelling account of a wronged woman in Renaissance Florence, first published in 1986, is a fascinating view of Florentine society and its attitudes on love, marriage, class, and gender. Lusanna was a beautiful woman from a middle-class background who, in 1455, brought suit against Giovanni, her aristocratic lover, when she learned he had contracted to marry a woman of his own class. Blending scholarship with insightful narrative, the book portrays an extraordinary woman who challenged the unwritten codes and barriers of the social hierarchy and dared to seek a measure of personal independence in a male-dominated world.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2005 Edition	vii
Preface to the First Edition	xiii
The Context	1	(14)
The History of a Relationship	15	(24)
The Quest for Justice	39	(38)
Love, Marriage, and the Social Order	77	(34)
Epilogue	111	(12)
References	123	(14)
Sources for Illustrations	137