Throughout history, marriage has been used as a method of creating and strengthening bonds between elites and the societies over which they ruled. Nowhere is this more apparent than in early modern Venice, where members of the patriciate looked to marital alliances with outsider brides to help maintain their position and social distinction in a fluid society. This book explores the parameters of upward social mobility, contemporary evaluations of social status and moral behaviour, and the place of marriage and concubinage within patrician society. Drawing heavily on the records of the Avogaria di Comun, which had the task of examining the social backgrounds and moral reputations of women from outside the patriciate who wished to marry patricians, this study provides a fascinating reconstruction of Venetian society as it was seen by individuals at every level.

Alexander Cowan is Senior Lecturer and Research Co-ordinator in History at Northumbria University, UK.

chapterOne Noble Status and Social Differentiation in Early Modern Europe; chapterTwo The Avogaria di Comun and the Prove di Nobiltà; chapterThree Outsider Brides and Their Families; chapterFour Huomini Civili and Patrician Marriage; chapterFive The Social Dimensions of Acceptability; chapterSix Concubinage and Natural Daughters; chapterSeven Gender and Honourable and Dishonourable Behaviour; chapterEight Marriage and the Patriciate; conclusion Conclusion;