Heirs, Kin, and Creditors in Renaissance Florence

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.

Author: Thomas Kuehn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 02/01/2008
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.11h x 6.43w x 0.79d
ISBN: 9780521882347

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2008 pg. 229