Heirs, Kin, and Creditors in Renaissance Florence

by Thomas Kuehn

• ISBN13: 9780521178471
• ISBN10: 0521178479
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Visions of modernity rest in part on a distinction between inherited status (past) and achievement (present). Inheritance is taken as automatic, if not axiomatic; the recipients are passive, if grateful. This study, based on a singular source (Florentine repudiations of inheritance), reveals that inheritance was in fact a process, that heirs had options: at the least, to reject a burdensome patrimony, but also to maneuver property to others and to avoid (at times deceptively, if not fraudulently) the claims of others to portions of the estate. Repudiation was a vestige of Roman law that became once again a viable legal institution with the revival of Roman law in the Middle Ages. Florentines incorporated repudiation into their strategies of adjustment after death, showing that they were not merely passive recipients of what came their way. These strategies fostered family goals, including continuity across the generations.

Table of Contents

Preface: the ambivalence of inheritance

Introduction: inheritance and kinship

Family and inheritance

Florentine laws regulating inheritance and repudiation

Repudiation and inheritance

Profile of Florentine repudiation and inheritance

Repudiations and household wealth

Repudiation as an inheritance practice

Repudiations in dispute

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