Vladimir Putin

In his speech Putin explained the decline in population that has taken place each year in Russia and deemed it the Demographic problem. This problem revolves around three things: low birth rate, high death rate, and low immigration rates. Putin wants to implement government programs that will curb these problems. To increase the birth rate he explains a funding program instigated by the government to aid families who have more than one child. To decrease the death rate Putin discussed government programs improving the roads and decreasing the alcohol consumption. He has no definite plan to increase immigration, only that Russia needs to encourage educated people to come to its country. The rhetoric he uses makes it sound like the state cares about families, but Putin's words make it clear that the family thrives in order to provide the state. Putin said that a man's true love for his country begins with a love for his family.

Contemporary Families

Singly and Cichelli's artile on Contemporary Families argues that the new family order is characterized by the individual. Rather than the old family model in which family life was a collective concern, the family is now a place where the individual "searches for support from one's close relatives for the affirmation of one's identity."

Singly and Cichelli also argue that the European family has reconciled the individual with the "inegalitarian social order" perpetuated by the family in a general sense. The authors suggests that a study of social reproduction and personal fulfillment leads to an understanding of "the transformations that are under way in contemporary families.

The article divides the transformation of the family into different categories that shed light on the development of European families. One such category is that of education in contrast to social status as an asset in relationships. The contemporary family now allows the degree of the individual to determine their value in a relationship rather than the social rank of their parents. In a sense, the contemporary couple "trades" valuable degrees rather than social rank in the formation of a long term relationship. Interestingly enough a significant portion of the authors' evidence comes from novels and literature from the late nineteenth century to more contemporary literature.

The more compelling evidence however, comes from statistics gathered from surveys taken by different countries, especially France and Italy. With their evidence and arguments combined Singley and Cicchelli make the valid point that the European family of today is greatly based on the individual's development--including that of the child. While parents are responsible for creating opportunities for their child in competition with other families, the parent also assumes a more unattached role. Children are allowed to seek their personal identity, in fact, the parent is expected to help reach that latent personality.

An insightful conclusion is made by the authors. They recognized the great changes that have take place even in the last thirty to forty years and then pose the question of whether the current form of family life will actually last--what will be the next "contemporary family"?

Mary Abbott's "A Better World"

The post war era in Great Britain was a very tumultuous time. Not only did many families struggle with the reintegration of the father back into the home, but even uncontrollable factors like the weather caused problems for the British. Cold winters and low coal supplies hit families hard while floods ravaged the country once spring came. The societal trends in the post war years greatly shifted. For example, women went from wearing the boxy outfits of the interwar years, to wearing extremely feminine dresses emphasizing small waists. The television become a way to bring a family together. In essence, the British people wanted to forget the trends of the war, and revive the old world ideals. Abbott suggests a second wave of Elizabethianism occurred. However, women especially found it difficult to cope with the return to the old world. While the men were on the battle front, women had gained more power and influence on the home front. When the men returned, some wives complained that there husbands just expected things to go go to the way things used to be, which was a hard thing to cope with. The 1950's especially were a time of great change and uncertainty in Great Britain.

I would categorize this article in three categories: law, state, and church; family relationships and economics; and categories of difference. Abbott discusses the demands of families placed on the state, as well as the struggles felt by the state to provide for veteran families. She also discusses how this led to the creation of the welfare state. The article explains the strained family relationships between returning husbands and newly empowered wives in addition to children who view their father as an intruder/stranger in the home. Abbott also discusses the differences between the acceptance of change between classes. She talks about the integration of different races into British society and the issues created by homosexual couples which all represent categories of difference. Mary Abbott provides a very interesting and powerful overview of a transition period in British history.

Belgian War Refugees

The Reading was about the Belgian War Refugees and Irish Protestant Refugees. Flora Shaw and later known as Lady Lugard. Flora Shaw was awarded the Dame of the British Empire award in 1916 for her help with the war refugees . In the two documents that are placed side by side each reflect the work she has done. One was her giving a speech at 'The work of the War Refugees committee" and the other was a speech given in her honor. When World War I started she stated that it didn't matter the political or religious beliefs. Not only did she provide the refugees with housing and with a livelihood. The committee also helped after the war with finding homes and livelihoods.

'Lady Lugard's Hostels for Belgian Refugees"
Was given in her honor given by Stuart Hogg. There are 11 houses and 400 people are housed in them. Two were used as hospital like locations. Part of Lady Lugard's goal was to make each of the houses a little like the home county. All of the expenses to make the houses like homes come from the committees accounts. Also the public helped by donating food and clothing. They also have a factory for the newly arrived refugees to stay. These are just a few of of the things that Hogg stated.

'The Work of the War Refugees Committee'
It an address given by Lady Lugard to the committee. She discusses the stories that she has heard from the refugees, She mentions ones about a family who lost all their children who were killed by the German soldiers. She tells the committee how and what needs to be done to help those who arrive . She expresses thanks to those who have helped. She says that those who have helped and volunteer should be written in gold.

The website has first hand accounts of those that lived through the war.

The Family Versus the State Victoria de Grazia

Grazia’s chapter entitled gamily verses the states discusses the perplexing relationship that develops between the family and the state with the rise of fascism. She outlines that the new ideology of the fascist government is to incorporate the family into the government, but then shows how those socialist measures to accomplish this integration in actually undermines the family.

For example, the new ideology set forth was that men should be able to work and earn enough money to support his family so his wife could stay home (embracing this idea of separate spheres). So in an attempt embrace this family ideology the government established the family allowance system. However, to even get this set wage system you have to have the right connections with the proper private or governmental organizations. This new welfare state changes the role of women. Because men should be working to earn a wage for the family the women or the elitist class have to carry this idea out with the lower classes. Also, women of the lower classes are also forced to work as their husbands are unable to make enough money for their family. Thus, family size begins to shrink and with the realization that the state is not providing a support group. Families have to begin to rely on their kin for support. Grazia then exemplifies her point through the letter the wife of Milanese man to the government (103-104).

Grazia argues that two different family ideologies emerge. The first is then the fascist familism emphasizing family unity, paternity, and female devotion to the family. This ideology is then altered through its impracticable practice and gives way to oppositional familism. This placed more focus on the father and gave priority of jobs and wages to those fathers with larger families (in hopes of increasing the population). People during this time appeared to operate on the idea that you had to maximize your resources in the short run and not worry about future generations. Her discussion of oppositional familism is limited and somewhat confusing compared to her expansive explanation of fascist familism.

Grazia’s article could fall under three of the categories we have discussed. The most fitting category would be that of the Law, State, and Church. Her article focuses on how the state regulations affect the family. This leads to the next category of family relationships and family economics. Grazia takes great length to describe how the government imposes different ideas on the roles of men and women in the family. Men should be earning enough money for a large family while women stay at home and work. Furthermore, that state is suppose to step in and subsidize a husbands wage but jumping through the hoops to get this money is impossible. The last category this could fall under then is gender. In Grazia’s description of the family she does discuss the role of children briefly but she tends to focus on the different roles that husband and wives have (men and women).

Kristen Stromberg Childers, "Paternity and the Politics of Citizenship in Interwar France"

In Childers' paper she discusses the importance of men fulfilling their roles as strong paternal figures within their families in France. Her argument further discusses how the male head of the household, known as the pere de famille, became a subject in the way the French Third Republic viewed families in regards to suffrage and working condition reform.

She tells us that since 1913, paternity began to be connected to political discourse in order to construct a productive nation that pressured men to form families. Furthermore, political discourse during interwar France began to attack the rights that single men had. As examples of not fulfilling their paternal role, single men's voting rights were attacked. Reformers advocated for a change in how much a single man's vote was worth in comparison to that of a father's. Arguably a father needed more weight to his vote because he was representing not just himself, but a whole entire family. Historically single men had already dominated voting rights, and using previous political disasters as example, conservatives believed that a shift of rights to paternally experienced voters would produce effective and enlightened reform. This can easily be summarized by showing that there was pressure to give father's more representation because they were viewed as elite and the incompetence of single men throughout history was used as a way to push for this change (pg.94).

In order to reform working conditions, men used their status as fathers to advocate for change. If the state expected a father to support his family not only monetarily, but by educating his children, men would have to have time to be home and do that (pg.95). In addition to helping his wife with the children, a change towards a eight-hour work day would allow him time to educate himself. A father with the ability to read political literature weekly meant he would be a model citizen to the French government. This tactic for reform shows a example of modernity in the equalizing of parental roles. A man is now expected to help out and not just be the breadwinner for the home. However a father will still be expected to work, and to even teach his sons that this is important (pg.98). By asking father's to do more they were seen as valuable in reconstructing the state after the damage done during the Great War.

This article fits under several themes for this class, but primarily focuses on the state expectations for father's and also a father's relationship to his family. Although the Catholic church is mentioned a little bit throughout the work, the state's pressure on men to fulfill a paternal role dominates the paper. Family relationship is the other important theme because it mentions how important men were in their families and that the amount of experience men obtained from being a father could not be supplemented by any other activity.

"Women's War Work: Remunerative, Voluntary, and Familial", by Susan Grayzel

In Susan Grayzel’s article titled, “Women’s War Work: Remunerative, Voluntary and Familial” she focuses on working women in Europe during the period of World War I, specifically examining the affects of women’s wartime work on both waged labor and family maintenance. Grayzel first emphasizes that women before this time had already held both paid and unpaid working jobs. The war, however, enabled women to shift to jobs that had previously been filled by men. As women began to enter factory work, they played a vital role in sustaining the home front during the war for the government even though it sparked controversy.

Grayzel looks at a number of countries, comparing and contrasting what wartime work was like for women. She mentions that the highest active labor force was in Britain, and the lowest labor force was in Germany. With the welfare supervisors and factory inspectors that were employed during the war, they heavily pushed for the protection of women that were or potentially could be mothers. Grayzel argues that during the war “gender roles” were being challenged. Nurses, for example, “kept women subservient to male doctors….[and] did not offer a challenge to conventional gender roles” (Grayzel, p.37). The war was a time of strain and tension as men and women’s roles were being redefined in new ways.

Grayzel’s article also focuses on women as mothers and the double responsibility that they had for both work and home. Many women took on voluntary services, primarily though only the middle and upper classes, hoping to do their part for the war. Women also had a hard time managing their homes, as long work hours took them away from home and the increasing food shortages left them with little food to sustain their young ones. Laws were being passed during this time to protect the health of both mother and child. The welfare and factory inspectors helped with this as well as new laws supporting breast feeding in factories, etc, were being passed.

This article fits well under the categories of Family Economics because it focuses on the division and distribution of labor during World War I, Categories of Difference because Grayzel focuses on a number of countries comparing and contrasting woman’s experiences, and Law, State, and Church because the government had a large role in controlling women’s wartime work.

"Everyday Life" by J. Robert Wegs in Growing Up Working Class

In J. Robert Wegs' article titled "Everyday Life", we get a glimpse at what real-life consisted of in Vienna during the pre-World War I stage, and during the war. He states that it had already been established prior to his writing this article, that the conditions surrounding the working-class family were not the greatest during the early 20th century. His argument is that, although previous scholars have made many arguments and claims stating that these conditions were the cause of family disintegration and the decline of family life, it is not as true as previously stated.

Wegs discusses a few different aspects of family life that back up his argument and helps persuade the reader to change his views on such topics. Birth rate and family size, nourishment and food in the home, personal possessions, and leisure activity and play are discussed in length to help us fully understand how life was for the working class family in Vienna during the pre-war and inter-war periods.

Regarding birth rate and family size, Wegs states that "After experiencing the material deprivation brought about by the typical large families of the period before WWI, some parents decided to limit the size of their families." I agree with his argument that the economy of the time forced families to limit the number of children they could have, and more importantly he claims that in these smaller families, the children were able to receive more love and affection.

Through numerous interviews and studies, Wegs was able to round up information about the working class family in regards to their diets during this depriving time period. Granted, the portions of meals the children were alloted were meager, he came to the conclusion that "the view that all working-class families suffered equally from undernourishment results from an inattention to economic-social divisions among laboring families." In general, he stated that almost all families were able to "make do" on low incomes and eat well

Personal possessions and leisure activity was the last topic Wegs discussed in regards to the working-class family in Vienna. He states that "for most working-class families it was not how much one had but rather how one dealt with scarcity that was important. It was also common practice for these working-class children to spend much of their time in the streets playing, but they made the most of it and were happy.

His conclusion summed up everything he talked about very well. He states, "While there is no denying that difficult conditions existed in Vienna's working-class districts in the early twentieth century, it is also difficult to deny that a relative stability, rather than disintegration, characterized life for most of the working class there." I agree with Wegs' unique view on the poor working-class family in Vienna. His arguments were very convincing and thorough, and i believe that no matter what state people find themselves in, they will always find a way to maintain a certain amount of human dignity and find a way to achieve happiness.

"Keystone of the Patriarchal Family? Indissoluble marriage, masculinity and divorce in Liberal Italy," by Mark Seymour

In this article, Mark Seymour discusses the arguments for and against divorce laws in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Italy. Those who opposed the divorce laws argued that such laws would be harmful to women because it would allow men to abandon their wives more easily. Because it was more difficult for women to remarry than men, their economic situation would have greatly declined as a result of such practices. The predominant Catholic ideology of the region was also very influential in keeping divorce laws from being passed. The Catholic church promoted the idea that divorce laws would "empty marriage of all meaning and lead to a free-for-all" and "free love." On the other side of the debate, authors such as Anna Franchi demonstrated through their writing the horrible plights of women who were forced to remain in unhappy or even abusive marriages. Seymour points out that Italy's failure to initiate divorce laws before the 1970's illustrates the resilience of Italy's patriarchal system. Many Italians feared that passing divorce laws which allowed equality for men and women would lead to emasculation of men and essentially undermine the stability of society.

This article relates to Mary Hartman's chapter "What Men and Women Want" because it demonstrates the fact that many felt that a man's masculine identity would be compromised if they did similar work (because of marriage equality) as women. This article fits under the category of gender because of it's exploration of traditional gender ideals which were threatened by divorce laws in Italy. It also fits under the categories of Law, Church and State, as well as Marriage and Its Dissolution for obvious reasons.

"Not Quite Pukka" by Elizabeth Buettner

Understanding European families during the after the long Nineteenth Century is very complicated. Many of the European nations, especially Britain and France, were colonial powers by this time. Families in the homeland would colonize, but they still considered themselves European subjects. This is where this article comes in. It argues that with so many families leaving Britain for India, it became socially important to know who was still British, and who had ‘gone native.” British families in Europe would ideally return to Britain, and needed to keep up their British social status. While domiciled families would not return to Europe, and so did not comfortably fit into the Euro-centric system. This would have implications in Britain itself, although this is not discussed in this paper. British peoples would be very sensitive to social markers that qualified someone as a “true Brit”

Due to the above paragraph, I would categorize this article under “Categories of Difference.” I would also categorized it under “Family relationships and family economics.” The article discusses how families would sacrifice to be able to send their children to a school in Britain. They did this because the increased social status of having their children go to Britain. For their children it was economically imperative to maintain their British markers. Without these markers British employment would be difficult, if not impossible. There would also be economic benefit for the parents. Children attending school in Britain would have been a sign that the parents were not going domiciled. Thus, it was probably a sign that they still upheld British values.

"Households and Families: Structure and Flux" by Alan Duben and Cem Behar

Duben and Behar used information from the 1885 and 1907 censuses of Istanbul and other areas of Turkey to discuss marriage and family patterns in pre-WWI Turkey. Their main conclusion was that Turkey followed the southeast marriage pattern in a some ways, yet resembled northwestern Europe in other ways. Men and women married relatively early in Istanbul, with the men about ten years older than the women. However, when married the new couples generally left their parent's house and started their own household free from their parent's influence. Extended families still had close ties with young couples but the men were free to make their own decisions for their families. In consequence of young couples moving out, households tended to be quite small which defies Hartman's arguments the SE Europe had more numerous family groups. Duben and Behar do agree with Hartman that the age at marriage is the key to many other aspects of domestic life. They also point out that patterns in Istanbul and rural Anatolia (Turkey) were quite different, with rural Anatolia conforming more to Hartman's idea os SE Europe. The Hainal line is mentioned in reference to the fact that Turkey supports Hainal's ideas in a few ways and does not support it in other. Duben and Behar shed some light on Europe as a whole by discussing Turkey in particular. The example of Turkey shows how no family pattern fits across the board - each culture had its own peculiarities.

"Marriage" by Josef Ehmer

In this passage, Ehmer discusses the idea of marriage in the 19th century and shows how demographics, the state, and other aspects changed during this time.

Many historians have argued that, beginning in the 18th century and carrying on into the 19th century with Romanticism, there was a shift toward romantic love as a reason for marriage. Young people were generally allowed to choose their marriage partners during this time. In addition, there began to be social disapproval for marriages forced by parents or with economic motivations. This did not mean that husbands and wives were considered equals in the marriage, though. In many occupations, husbands and wives had to work well together in order to achieve economic success. However, after the first half of the nineteenth century this began to shift and husbands were seen as the breadwinners and wives as the homemakers. Despite the idea of romantic marriage during this period, there were still social motivations involved. Forming kinship alliances was considered important in some rural societies and others considered marriage one of the few ways they could increase their social standing.

However, the state did not follow this ideal, and legal provisions argued for marriage to be “a moral and legal order independent of the wills of the two spouses.” Thus, control over marriage shifted from the Church to the state. Divorce was an issue that reveals the attitude of the state and marriage. In most countries in Europe until the mid-1800s, it was near impossible to legally divorce. However, even after divorce was later allowed under certain circumstances, in reality it rarely happened.

In discussing marriage demographics, Ehmer disagrees somewhat with the concept of the Hajnal line. Although the overall trends indicate that Western Europe married later than in the east, there was a great deal of regional variation. In Italy, for example, the marriage age for women could vary between 21 to 27 years, depending on which region you look at. This variation also holds true for celibacy rates across Europe. Marriage patterns did change during the 1800s, but in very different directions for countries. Ehmer believes this variation indicates overall that marriage was considered a choice for Europeans in the nineteenth-century.

"The Middle-Class Household" by John Tosh

In this chapter Tosh discusses the changes in the middle class. There was a shift in the middle-class as it began to expand. The first generation of middle-class were shop and factory owners that lived adjacent to their place of business. Many young people were apprenticed to professions different from that of their parents, and as a result were able to enter higher levels of the middle class. This is part of the reason the middle class expanded so much. On page three Tosh says “But strength of numbers lay with the men of trade and business. It was this entrepreneurial element which increased most rapidly during the first half of the nineteenth century and accounted for the largest number of fresh recruits to the middle class.”
Tosh argues that the “Masculine self-respect certainly demanded that a man provide for his family, and great shame was attached to one who ‘failed’. “(pg 14) Many of the changes that occurred from one generation to the next in the middle class were attempts to prove to society that the man of the house could provide for his family by maintaining a ‘proper’ household. The second generation of middle class began moving away from their places of work. Increasingly home became a place of refuge and not a place of work. If there was work to be done at home it was to be done in a way and place that interference to the rest of the household was minimal.
Another point that Tosh makes is that women were withdrawing from the day to day practices of business. Part of being able to provide was to allow your wife to have a life of luxury. How little your wife was required to be involved in work became yet another social marker. Part of that shift was also the separation of the servants from the household. They were no longer considered part of the family but simply one more way to measure wealth. The more servants you could afford the better off you were. And if you could afford to hire male servants then you were really doing well. Tosh points out that during this period when the middle class expanded so much people became extremely preoccupied with their status in that middle class. It really seems to me that this is when the wide spread attitude of keeping up with the Jones came into play.
This chapter falls into the theme of Family Relationship and Family Economics because Tosh discusses the shift from women being an important part of the working relationship with their husbands to not being involved at all. As the middle class expanded the women's role began to be reduced and the responibility for making decisions and being the breadwinner fell completely on the man.

Interpreting the Western Past with the Women and the Households Left in, 1500-1800 by Mary S. Hartman

In this Chapter from The Household and the Making a History, Mary Hartman states that the late marriage pattern in Northwestern Europe and the fact that brides were nearly as old as grooms when entering into marriage had far reaching consequences and was the motivating factor in the most important developments of the era namely religious upheaval, new systems of political authority, and transformed structures of livelihood.

She argues throughout that she goes against the original view that the strong currents of social change moved from wider society to households but rather she argues from households to the wider society. Concerning the Reformation, more people then ever before were seeking personal reasons for the ways they were supposed to live their lives. "The comparatively independent position of wives as partners in household governance also helped ensure that more women then ever before would have common interest with men, as well as some peculiar interests of their own, in becoming active heretics."(Hartman, p.214) Younger people were making more choices for themselves and had more responsibilities and looking for a towards a supreme being who had a preordained their fate.

She tells us that daily experiences in family life set the stage for political behavior. The late marriage pattern created more choices for young people including whom and when to marry this created families that contained two contributing adult decision makers. This is important because it represents an voluntary contract in which both partners agree to create and maintain the unit and both must contribute by supporting and sustaining members. This shaped the perception of state and politics as a voluntary contact. She also address the industrial reformation and tells up that the lalte marriage pattern created nuclear families that came to rely on alternate means then possesion of land to facilitate a living. This and the women in the work force prior to marriage contributed greatly to the industrial revolution.

Hartman argues that Households and work structures accompanying woman's late marriage had an enormous effect on gender arrangements and attitudes, one that literally shaped societal relations, structures, and developments" (Hartman, p.224) The uses a wide range of evidence from a study of the professions and work of the middle class to the traditions of village festivals to sermons. He evidence does seems to support her theory.

'The Nursery of Virtue': Domestic Ideology and the Middle Class. by Davidoff and Hall

This article also explains how the ideals of Middle-class domesticity were both perpetuated and reflected in 19th century British literature, focusing on the changing language (from religious to secular) of the “woman’s place and woman’s mission” debate that occurred during the first half of the 19th century. Davidoff and Hall begin their article by recounting the “Queen Caroline affair” which established the ideals of British motherhood which continued through the Victorian Era. From the affair, moralists concluded that the monarchy must exemplify the gender traits idealized at the time—that of the courageous man coming to the rescue of the “helpless female.” This respectful treatment of its women was widely believed to be “the mark of England’s advanced stage of civilization,” with “domestic virtue” the “brightest ornament of that civilization.”
The spread of overall literacy likewise spread these domestic ideals through the middle class. The main focus of the article is the variety of writers—famous, local, male, female, gentry, middle class—who focus on domesticity and its separate ideals of masculinity and femininity. The famous authors most read and loved by the middle class—described as an “unorthodox combination”(Cowper, Hemans, Barbauld, Nathanial Cotton, Scott, Barton, the Taylor sisters, and Byron)—explain the contradictory elements in the middle-class value system. Over the course of the 19th century, authors wrote about ideal gender roles first with religious and then simply moral influence.

Mary Jo Maynes, Class Cultures and Image of Proper Family Life

In this chapter, Maynes provides much information and evidence for the changes within European families in the 19^th century. She argues that clashes resulted between post-Enlightenment ideals and images of “proper” family life held by the bourgeois and conflicting evidence of what actually happened in families. She uses cultural evidence regarding parent-child relations, age and gender roles, and sexual behavior.

Maynes states that mother-child relations and close supervision of children were important to the new family model, but that in actuality, few European women could be essentially stay-at-home moms. Mother and children’s labor was needed for most families to survive.

Another increasing ideal was that of two spheres, public and private. Maynes writes that gender roles became more polarized as a result. Urban growth contributed to class and gender segregation. Market and residential areas as well as class-segregated neighborhoods arose. In practice, most of the migrants coming to crowded urban areas had no option of moving to the suburbs. The new ideal family life was mainly indoors, but every-day realities required lower-class families to be in public, on the streets. Poor women were never able to remain inside their homes, even if new ideals of domesticity expected it.

The increased ideal separation of private and public matters can be seen in courtship as well. New ideas about family life supported marrying for love and not money. However, in reality arranged marriages based on economic needs and expectations continued.

This reading could belong under categories of gender or family relationships/family economics, but I think categories of difference would fit best. This reading covers many different elements of families, but focuses on the changes of family life – real and ideal, rural and urban, in different regions of Europe. This reading is significant in our study of European families because it shows how although family-life ideals changed extensively in the 19^th Century, evidence of actual family life reveals a different story.

Reconstructing the social after the Terror by Suzanne Desan

This article discusses the reforms that occurred during the Reign of Terror in France during the French Revolution. These reforms affected families drastically. Divorce was embraced. Inheritance was no longer given to a specific person, but was being fought over by the siblings or relatives. The status of illegitimate children. A main concern for Frenchmen of this time was the ownership of property, which also caused problems within families.

The French were fighting among themselves at the expense of family relationships. Desan states that, "Reformulation of the Republic was fundamentally intertwined with a new emerging vision of the relationship between the family, law, and state." The petitioners or opposing side of all these reforms argued that social order was based on families being unified. The family was being separated during this time of political upheaval and the petitioners took it upon themselves to reunite the family and in so doing they would bring back social order of the state.

Ultimately, these reforms were kept to a minimal. The law was given less power over the family.

Moral Panic and Hollan's Libertine Youth of the 1650's and 1660's, Benjamin Roberts and Leendert F. Groenendijk

The look at the Dutch moral panic is informative. The author’s thesis is that the Dutch moralists were incorrect in accusing the Dutch youth of decadency. The authors are able to show that the youth were decadent. They show that the moralists had a political agenda. They even show that the youth weren’t beyond Dutch societal limits.

While the thesis is informative, I dislike the bias of the authors. This bias is most in evidence in how the authors judge the morals by today’s standards. For example, the moralists slandered women for indecency, and accused them of nudity. The authors defend the women by explaining “most likely, the only nudity these women were guilty of was wearing sleeves shortened to the elbow.” In another instance the authors are explain how moralists hated long hair on men. They give examples of the older generation having long hair when they were young, and explain this double standard by supposing the “aged men…were probably jealous of [the] young men.” Both of these conclusions suffer from two weaknesses. First, a “most likely,” and a “probably” screams improper research. These assumptions may be correct, but there is no evidence. Second, the authors do not address how the culture would have seen sleeves to the elbow, or how whether thinning hair was disdained. In both of these examples the authors assume that what seems plausible by today’s standards was true of the standards of 1650’s Amsterdam.

Independent but Not Alone: Family Ties for the Elderly. By:Susannah R. Ottoway

Ottoway examines the role of the family in caring for their elderly. She discusses that there were great affections between parents and children even through their older years. She finds through many different journals and diaries that most of the extensive, primary care that was done by the family was mainly during times of sickness or injury. Beyond the occasional extensive care for aged parents there was also an expectation of affection and assistance as well as for the elderly parents to continue caring about their adult children’s well being. Wills were a very prominent source to show of the care that elderly parents’ had for their children children even after death.

Another aspect Ottoway explored was co-habitation of aged parents with their adult children. Many of her statistics come from parish records from which she is able to find that most elderly parents did reside with their family, yet there was still a decent percentage that did not. Many of these were often the poor who needed the assistance the most, but did not have children that could support them in ways they needed, especially financially.

Further more, there was a great importance of grandchildren and even other extended family in the support and care of elderly family members. This care for elderly in some cases extended beyond family ties in certain cases. But overall the argument that Ottoway expresses is that family ranging from adult children, grandchildren, and other extended kin did play a very key role in the assistance of their aged family members. However, the extent depended on large regional variations as to the extent of assistance. This argument fits under the themes of age and family relationships because it discusses in depth the role of family relations of the elderly.

This argument is valid and supported through many forms of primary sources. Ottoway also involves other secondary sources that contradict her arguments in which she is able to successfully refute their claims. The point that is made of large variation is also an important side note to her claims, but also makes her claims more difficult to concretely display, which is common of most studies of family across large regional areas.

'Without the cry of any neighbours': A Cumbrian family and the poor law authorities, c. 1690-1730 by Steve Hindle

This article dealt primarily with social welfare in the late 1600s and early 1700s, and how far scholars have come since Lawrence Stone's original ideas on the subject in 1977. Poor people often had to petition for financial relief and support from the parish. Even though it was easier for the elderly and the widows, obtaining this support was difficult and resulted in minimal finances.

Hindle uses the example of one Ann Bowman to demonstrate just how the system worked. Bowman lived in the small English farming town of Kirkoswald, and spent about twenty years as a widow with five living children. In fact, Ann's husband Robert was still alive when she was first put on the parish weekly pension roles in 1690. The parish took Ann off the roles several times over the years, claiming that she had a daughter who could support her and thus spare the doners' money. Ann always appealed, claiming that she could not work, that her daughter who lived with her did not make enough to support her, and that she lived too far from anybody else to live off of begging for neighborly charity. It is worth noting that neighbors were often more responsible for providing charity to poor households than extended family. Widows were expected to either work or beg into old age. Ann fought this and claimed that she couldn't because of her oldest son's mental illness and "increasing disability" (page 155).

Tensions were obviously strong between the parish and "moochers" like Ann who were believed to still be able to find ways of providing for themselves. Some people, such as Ann, stood up for themselves and persisted in fighting for 'fair' weekly pensions.

"Till death us do part": life after a failed marriage, by Bailey

Bailey's article outlines her argument that "the majority of individuals suffered ...socio-economic decline" upon dissolution of their marriage. She cites numerous records of marital difficulties to support her claims. Men and women alike found themselves in a worsened situation if they chose to separate. These records can also be utilized to visualize the living and working arrangements of ex-spouses. Much of Bailey's documentation comes from eighteenth century England.

"Poverty frequently fragmented families," Bailey says. Among the poorer families, husbands left wives and children in times of dire economic need. Bailey points out that the connection between abandonment and economic difficulties is strong in the second half of the eighteenth century: this is a period when desertions rose, and simultaneously food prices increased and "probably outstripped wage rates." Monetary penalties, incarcerations, and transfer to America all are recorded methods of punishment for fathers guilty of absconding. This suggests the importance and severity with which desertion of families by fathers was viewed upon by the state.

Bailey argues that single and previously married people alike sought to create a household like unto marriage, where multiple parties work as one to fulfill responsibilities and pool resources. Even relatively well-off gentlemen who had dissolved marriages were compelled to find others that fulfilled the role of wife and mother. Bailey states the amount of co-dependency between husband and wife in this period was great, thus the dissolution of marriage had mutual detrimental affects. Bailey cites records of employment as the best gauge of living arrangements post-divorce, as records do not reveal living arrangements of separated spouses.

While women were often the victims of abandonment, Bailey states that it is a mistake to "type-cast" deserted wives as victims, as there is plenty of evidence that they were able to find jobs. Rather, divorced men are the ones more reliant on wives. This statement is backed by her using the statistic of more elderly women living alone than elderly men in the eighteenth century. However, the greatest lesson to be learned is the "extensive co-dependency within marriage.

Ages of Woman, Ages of Man by Chojnacka and Wiesner-Hanks

5 quite interesting readings from the book Ages of Woman and Ages of Man

Regulations of a City Brothel (Law State and Church)

In the 1500's prostitution began to have regulatoins set on it. In this essay it appears that although prostitution was looked down on, it was accepted. The article outlines the new regulations placed on brothel owners: whores should be treated fairly, not sold brought by brothel managers; whores should not be indebted to the brothel, but should be able to repay the debts of food and broad through their labor. This gives an idea that people "may have had difficulty regarding sexual realtions outside of marriage as a sin".

Love Poem Demography (courtship)
Marriage in early modern Europe was still heavily reliant on "love" from both constituents. The poem talks of a "villa, a female spirit that inhabits streams and forests, ensaring the affection of naive men". This poem gives a few into the ideas of courtship and romance before marriage.

Letter from Nobleman his wife in Denmark ( Family relationships and family Economics)
This letter explains that the husband is away from his castle gathering men to fight for the king, in his absence the wife is in charge of " doing what [she ] thinks best with the business." Also the tone of the letter is not one of superiority, but more of equality. The husband and the wife are equal partners in the marriage relationship. This letter was written in 1502 and gives an inside look into the husband wife relationship in aristocratic families.

Battle for the Pants Germany late fifteenth century (family relationships)
A painting in the fifteenth century depicting a man on his knees reaching for pants on the ground while his wife is standing over him holding back his hand with her left hand and carrying distaff in the other hand raised in the air. This depicts the struggel taking place for control in the household and as this painting shows, the men no longer ruled house.

Petition to the king and queen, Denmark c. 1487 (Demography, Family relationships)
Petition made by a widow to the king and queen asking for money. She wanted to travel to Germany to find a journey man who can make saddles and other things to carry on the business of her dead husband. This shows the nuclear family setting, that when a spouse dies there are no others to support the remaining spouse. This also shows that women have a social status enough to write petition to the king and queen for help.

Mary S. Hartman, “Marrying Early and Marrying Late.”

The Mary S. Hartman reading connects three themes-marriage, gender and law, state and church.

At the beginning of 2^nd chapter Hartman is using Thomas More work Utopia to compare household structure in England (page 37). She is analyzing Utopia to show how English society was seen from many Utopian aspects.

In this chapter Mary S. Hartman is discussing marriage development of the West in relationship of the rest of the world. On page 39 she identifies northwestern European family patterns like late marriage, significant number who never marry, domestic service, nuclear household. She is noticing family pattern differences between the East and the West. Later Hartman compares family patterns with the rest of the world (China, India, and Morocco).

Mary S. Hartman also discusses early-marriage to late-marriage and shows that change to late-marriage has affected modern life. On page 54 she argues that agricultural production and seasonal agriculture works in Northwestern Europe affected late-marriage for both men and women.

Micahel Psellos, “A Brief Biography of Michael Psellos” and “The Court Memorandum”

“A Brief Biography of Michael Psellos” and “The Court Memorandum”


The biography of Michael Psellos and the introduction immediately preceding “The Court Memorandum” both provide information that allows the reader to better understand the significance of the “The Court Memorandum.” The introduction serves to address the questions of authorship that have arisen from the memorandum. Since Psellos was one of the involved parties in the dispute, it seems unlikely that he would have been the author of the manuscript based on the court proceedings. Furthermore, the report is written from the perspective of the judges, which would not have included Psellos since the case involved both him and his daughter. However, the author of the introduction, David Jenkins, is able to combine the different interpretations of authorship from several other scholars, and by systematically exposing their flaws and assumptions, he is able to construct a reasonable argument that does in fact, place Psellos as the author, even though he was an involved party in the case.

The biography also assists in establishing Psellos as the author of “The Court Memorandum.” By introducing Psellos as the immensely knowledgeable and gifted speaker he was, his writing patterns can be identified in the memorandum. In addition, by reviewing Psellos’ fluctuations in power and wealth, the reader is introduced to the fact that Psellos would have likely arranged the marriage of his daughter so far in advance, and with such an impressive dowry, since it was very possible that he could lose financial stability and be unable to provide the same amount in the future. The supplementary readings to Psellos’ primary source allow the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the issues behind “The Court Memorandum” and to better understand the background that lead to the development of the memorandum itself and the interpretations that scholars have made of it over the past.
Joseph Schindler

Family Relations, Gender, and Demography

"Women, Family, and Inheritance in Bologna During the Black Death" by Shona Kelly Wray addresses the topic of family decisions during times of difficulty and even death. Wray argues that families in Bologna, Italy were steadfast in maintaining functionality and normalcy within the family, despite the imposing threats of the Black Death.
As evidence, the author uses the last will and testaments of individuals in this region, both before and during the plague. These primary sources are very insightful when looking at demographics and inheritance trends. Yet, they are presented in such a dry and mathematical way that it is hard to engage in and interpret the significance of what is being said. The author incorporates very little secondary sources and it is hard to grasp the overarching view that such sources offer. It almost seems as if there are two arguments that are being presented. The first one, the one that technically is defined within the article, is that families functioned and maintained familial ties despite a primitive instinct to engage in the "survival of the fittest" mentality. The second argument is the issue of inheritance procedures and the significant changes that recognized women, namely daughters and sisters, as potential heirs. Both of these arguments are engaging and significant in our perception of history. However, I believe that the authors choice to try and join the two arguments into one unit only broadened and watered down the potential for one poignant and delightful article.

The Riddle of the Western Family Pattern

Mary Hartman's "riddle" is what are the origins of the Western family pattern. She begins with an introduction of discussing how single young women, and men, during the middle ages were making their own decisions, rather than being directed by a collective household. Hartman argues the degree of autonomy that existed in late medieval households in northwestern Europe was different than their counterparts. With this in mind, Hartman introduces her "new hypothesis for when, how, and why the northwestern Europe adopted a unique set of household arrangements" (pg. 78). She acknowledges there are many theories on this and discusses many of them throughout the chapter. Hartman's approach to discover the origins begins by looking at the two basic models for households of fixed agricultural societies: the dominant early-marriage model and the late-marriage model. The second model, she believes, points to how northwestern Europe differed.
Just as the plow helped establish the early-marriage model, the underpopulated and underexploited lands in northwestern Europe led to the less common late-marriage model there. The need in a peasant household for labor led to the delay of marriage for women. Late marriage for women Hartman claims, was the most enduring of all the features of the western family pattern; and if this were first feature in the western pattern, the other features become less of a riddle and easily explained.

How Northwestern Europe was Strange: Marriage, Households, and History

In the first Chapter of The Household and the Making of History, Mary Hartman shows the link between the age of marriage, household structure, gender roles and how Western Europe progressed from what she called a "backward periphery on the western fringes"(pg 1) into one of the more advanced areas of the world. She argues that while in most social arenas men were the dominate players, but that through domestic arenas, and thus women, many of modern history's best features are the result of marriage and the household system. Despite the generally excepted notion of very young marriages in the medieval era, Hartman argues that people actually tended to marry at an older age. She says that by marrying later many women first worked outside of their homes and when they did get married the couple tended to pool their resources and start their own nuclear family. Hartman claims that streamlined households would explain, in part, why the economical changes that led to industrialization occurred. towards the end of the chapter Hartman once again reminds us that she believes that women helped shape the world and history just as much as men did, and that women are not often given the credit they deserve in the writing of history.

Herlihy's The Family and Religious Ideologies in Medieval Europe

Herlihy’s article, much like the title suggests, looks at the link between the family and religion during the medieval era of Europe. The goal of his article is to show how the role of religion interacted with the family, specifically concerning marriage and domestic organization. He looks at the changes that occurred in families and marriage as religion took center stage in the lives of medieval citizens.

First, Herlihy looks at the attitudes and ethics of the church during the medieval time. The church during this time did not see marriage as the highest priority for members. Celibacy was the highest form of worship to God and for that reason, many of the values ascribed during this period reflect that. This can be seen in the affirmation that sexual morality had to be equal for both sexes. The Church changed many marriage laws that were prominent in the medieval time, such as the law on incest. This change directly changed the laws that governed inheritance for families and the basic make up of families. Herlihy then looks at the effects religion had on the family. The church made it possible for families and marriage to occur more easily. Marriage was no longer something for the elites, but was extended to the serf class by changing the requirements for marriage. Now marriage only required consent of the two parties and did not require permission from families. Lineage was traced differently with the rise of the church. Families began to trace their linage through patriarchy and lineage became more ancestor focused. Herlihy’s article brought up a lot of good points concerning the laws that governed marriage and family and how that changed with the church. However, he seems to avoid the issue of the lower, unreligious or pagan class. Through not looking at the whole of society we are unable to see the real changes that occurred in marriage and the family. If we are unable to see the whole of society, then we cannot make a fair assessment of the changes that occurred during this time period. While the church was dominate, we cannot assume that every member of the European continent was Christian and followed the rules of the Christian church.

The Right of Paternal Power, Natural or Conditional?

In his article, Charles Reid discusses the role of paternal power through the Medieval Era. The article begins with research strongly supporting the unconditional role of fathers in the household, but then weaves its way in and out of such an argument. Reid uses his article to bring both sides of the paternal argument to the table.
The overriding theme for the article was law, state, and church, discussing carefully each of the points as if it were the given requirements for writing the article. Gender was an associate theme, taking the role of assistant to the main role, and family relationships and family economics made a short appearance inside the article.
After citing classical Roman law and its uncontestable paternal power, Reid takes the reader through a labyrinth of philosophers, affirming and contesting the all-authoritative role of the father in the household. Reid goes in depth, explaining the responsibilities of the father to the family, the rights of the children—both in and out of wedlock, and the governing laws of family. A powerful argument made on behalf of the church argues that men and women are equal within a marriage, and that one cannot stand without the other. Other philosophers, however, present the argument that Eve was given as a helpmeet for Adam, and this is subordinate to him in all things. In all cases, the relationship between rights and responsibility were not ignored, pointing to the partial purpose of marriage to be procreation and the consequences of procreation being that man must provide for the children in educational and nutritional ways.

Women, Gender, and Children

In her article, "Whither Family History" Nara Milanich points out several problems with the study of family history in the today's scholarship. One of her main focuses is the problem of sources. She quotes extensively from The History of the European Family (HEF) as a very broad overview that focuses on continuity and the transition from the traditional to the modern. As she builds her arguement she challenges these traditional forms of scholarly research and proposes that by understanding family history on a global scale we can better understand differences in race, gender, and class. In this article she specifically quotes several studies done in Latin America and analyzes how they compare, and what they can reveal about traditional Western studies. According to Milanich in order to acheive this global study we must "accommodate the full range of cross-cultural and historical variation." Arguments of change and transition in the family must allow for differences across race, class, and culture. Fortunately, the study of the family can also help us better understand those differences.

Welcome to History 319 Fall 2009

This course is designed to give an overall knowledge of families in the European past – beginning with precedents from the ancient world and concluding in the early twenty-first century. It concentrates on family structures and relationships (including the importance of gender), on the intersection between families and the law (secular and religious), and the social and cultural aspects of family life and the influence of family on other social and cultural trends. Students should leave the class with knowledge of historical change in families as well as a working knowledge of everyday life in families in the past.