Renaissance treatises on ‘successful ageing’

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11200518
AutoresChris Gilleard (0000-0001-5005-0450, Mental Health Research UK, autor correspondente)
Ano2013
Volume33
Fascículo2
Páginas189-215
Data de publicação2013-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAgeing and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0144686x11001127
OpenAlexW1979930257
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas43

Numerous treatises on ‘successful ageing’ were published during the late Renaissance. Zerbi's Gerontocomia and Cornaro's Trattato della Vita Sobria , in particular, have been considered as early precursors of modern gerontology. In this paper I revisit these two treatises, outline their content and common themes, and set them in the context of other literature written about ageing in this period. The rise of civic humanism, increased access to classical texts on health and hygiene, and the emergence of environmental and public health concerns, particularly in the Italian city states, are some of the factors that influenced this writing. The powerful yet insecure position of older men in the upper ranks of Italian society gave the topic of ‘seniority’ added relevance. While their roots in the scholastic tradition prevent them from serving as forerunners of scientific gerontology, their humanist concern with ‘lifestyle’ succeeds in making them the prototypes of the ‘do-it-yourself’ manuals for successful ageing that now proliferate in our late modernity

Art history · Context (archaeology) · Humanism · Modernity · Political science · Relevance (law) · Seniority · Sociology · The Renaissance · Classics · History · History of Medicine Studies · Law · Medicine · Gerontology