Plotting Social Hierarchies in the Renaissance - HTAV

Public Women, Women in the Streets
• Constraints placed on patrician
women tied to their pivotal role in
the marriage strategies of elite
families. (See Christiane Klapisch-Zuber,
Stanley Chojnacki.)
• Renaissance street a place of
violence
• “I went alone for fun to see the
women who let themselves be
seen by anyone who wants... [
these women come to the doors
of their houses, where they stand
in public view at convenient
hours; and there you see them in
groups ... chatting and singing in
the street.” – Michel de Montaigne on
his visit to Florence’s prostitute’s quarter.