Philosophical Writings on the Family in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe

Abstract

Recent research on the early modern European family has largely been based on archival sources that are extant for relatively few localities during this same period. This research can be augmented by examining discussions of the family contained within academic writings on theology, jurisprudence, medicine, and philosophy during the early modern period. This article focuses on philosophical writings that arose in connection with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century academic instruction. These writings routinely discuss the proper relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children, and between masters and servants; also discussed are various categories of domestic possessions and how these possessions should be acquired and administered. Within these philosophical writings, one controversial issue pertaining to family life is sometimes raised: whether servants are more essential to the family than children. These writings uniformly equate the family with the nuclear family; in doing so, they provide collaboration for similar findings by social and demographic historians.