Competing Models of Marriage in Quattrocento Florence

Genevieve Landis
Department of History
Northwestern University

Abstract:
Around 1400, Florentines recognized two models for defining marriage: the religious and the socioeconomic. These models presented contrasting views of the purpose of marriage and the standards of a legitimate union. The following article proposes that the civic humanists of early Quattrocento Florence found both models fundamentally flawed because each potentially weakened the republic. These humanists advocated a third, hybrid model that stressed male dominance and female exclusion from the public sphere. This new model, most notably promoted by Francesco Barbaro and Leon Battista Alberti, was seen as vital for strengthening the patriarchal republic.