FROM THE PUBLISHER

In The Renaissance Man and His Children, author Louis Haas delves into account books, letters, and literature of the Renaissance to examine elite Florentine male attitudes and behaviors regarding birth and infancy from 1300 to 1600. Unlike most recent studies, which concern the perspectives of Renaissance mothers, this volume seeks to focus specifically on the viewpoints of fathers in relation to childbirth, childrearing, and children. Haas finds that although it was a serious and even deadly business, the miracle of birth provided most elite Florentines with joy and a sense of fulfillment. He reveals that most of these Florentines wanted children, and that they recognized that children had special needs, which they provided for willingly within the structures of their daily lives. A comprehensive study that contains fresh insights into Renaissance families, The Renaissance Man and His Children lends credence to the claim that affectionate family life was no invention of modernity, but has actually been a facet of humanity for centuries.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

A letter from the Florentine writer Boccaccio to his friend Petrarch in 1366 led Haas (medieval and early modern history, Duquesne Univ.) to question the conventional view of childbearing during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. That view, based largely on the work of 20th-century historian Philippe Aries, held that Europeans of that period did not recognize childhood as a separate stage of human development, that they saw children as miniature versions of themselves, and that they formed no emotional attachment to their own children. The 1366 letter that caught the attention of Haas expresses the joy that Boccaccio felt on meeting Petrarch's five-year-old daughter and the grief he felt over the death of his own young daughter, who was the same age as Petrarch's. Boccaccio's pain was no different from what would be felt by a modern father, Haas believes. While not suggesting a new paradigm for studying childhood in past societies, he has indicated new directions for historians studying the relationships between adults and children in the past. Highly recommended for academic libraries with significant holdings in Renaissance history and childhood studies.--Robert Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN