Family

Before the Renaissance, the typical family consisted of the union of a couple, who got married at a young age, and their children. The concept of family was reduced to that simple nucleus because life expectancy was about 40 years, becoming grandparents was something achieved by few. However, for some scholars, after Florence conquered its rival cities, the structure of the family changed. During the Renaissance, men were enlightened (studied literature and various subjects) and they started to create a broader concept of family, with a larger structure. During the Renaissance, fathers decided to consider family to extend to other close family members. This concept of extended family was based on who lived under one roof, as was recorded in the catasto.

Before the Renaissance, the decision to marry or remain celibate was very important. The marriage constituted a decision about the relationship of each person with God. For some scholars of the time, marriage represented an obstacle to the achievement of wisdom and spiritual fulfillment. However, in the fifteenth century, during the rise of the Renaissance, marriage was presented to society as an ideal. Even wives were presented as an aid for gaining wisdom. When the humanists of the time decided to get married, they went against the ideal of celibacy as historically accepted. They assessed the concept of marriage, sex, and gender roles. Marriage involved religious, political and personal benefits for people.

Although the role of women, within marriage, was positive, wives were presented as an aid in gaining wisdom and not as a distraction, the development of a better economy during the Renaissance did not help to improve the status of women in society. There are even scholars who claim that there was no rebirth for women, during the Renaissance. The development of a modern state and the emergence of capitalism, which were crucial to give greater opportunities to males, had a negative effect on the role of women in society. The company became a patriarchal society, with the clear objective of maintaining the male lineage.

Most women in the Renaissance became mothers. Motherhood defines their lives and occupation for years. For most classes childbirth started in the mid-twenties, but for aristocratic women it started at adolescence. Women experienced a cycle of giving birth and raising children without stopping. The cycle was regulated by breastfeeding, so most of the lower-class women, had children every two years. However, wealthy women, who did not necessarily breastfeed their children, got pregnant sooner and had more children.

The word family is found in most Renaissance documents, especially in documents of the beginning of the Renaissance, in the region of Florence. The concept of famiglia was a vital institution in medieval Florence. Current scholars study family concept in the Renaissance from two perspectives: one thinks of the family as the minimal structure (parents and children,) while the second understands the family as a more extended concept that included servants. Although they vary in form, both approaches understand that the concept of kinship was very important in the Renaissance. So much so, in some Renaissance documents, that family businesses, which included persons not linked by blood, were called famiglia to government agencies. The concept of family went even further during the Renaissance. At the time, the term consorteria was used to define blood relationships between people of the same patrilineal descent groups.