Heirs, Kin, and Creditors in Renaissance Florence

Bibliographic Data

ID23502389
AuthorsThomas Kuehn (0000-0003-1335-7706), Thomas J Kuehn (0000-0002-9367-6119, Clemson University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Publication date2009-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueHeirs, Kin, and Creditors in Renaissance Florence (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511511806
OpenAlexW1605055631
ISBN9780511511806
Open LibraryOL34439633M
LanguageEN
Citations received13

This study, based on Florentine repudiations of inheritance, reveals that inheritance was not simply an automatic process where the recipients were passive, if grateful. In influential European societies of the past, it was in fact a process that continued long after the deceased's death. Heirs also had options: at the least, to reject a burdensome patrimony, but also to manoeuvre property to others and to avoid (at times deceptively, if not fraudulently) the claims of others to portions of the estate. Repudiation was a vestige of Roman law that once again became a viable legal institution with the revival of Roman law in the Middle Ages. Florentines incorporated repudiation into their strategies of adjustment after death, showing that they were not merely passive recipients of what came their way. Further, these strategies fostered family goals, including continuity across the generations.

Art history · Business · Creditor · creditors · Estate · estate division · family continuity · Genealogy · heirs · Inheritance · Inheritance (genetic algorithm) · Institution · Kinship · late medieval law · Legal history · Next of kin · Political science · Property (philosophy) · property transfer · Renaissance Florence · Roman law · Sociology · The Renaissance · Family and Matrimonial Law · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Philosophy · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies · Europe · Inheritance and succession · Real property