bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Did Biran Kill David? the Bible in the Light of Archaeology
Authors: Lemche Niels Peter , Thompson Thomas L.
Published: March 2007

Recent articles on the bytdwd inscription from Tel Dan reflect some of the worst excesses of the biblical archaeology movement, involving circular arguments, the fabrication of evidence and biblical-archaeological harmonizations. Contrary to such efforts at historicizing the Bible in the light of archaeology, the bytdwd inscription, judging from both the epigraphic and archaeological evidence, should be dated to the eighth century BCE, nearly 150 years later than Biran and Naveh have dated it. The word itself is a place name, with reference to a 'temple of DWD', possibly near Tel Dan itself. The word Dwd is unlikely to be a proper name and seems rather to be a divine epithet, meaning 'the beloved', and probably refers to Yahweh. Moreover, byt dwd in the Bible does not so much refer to a royal dynasty of David as it is a metaphor of Yahweh's eternal reign in Jerusalem's temple. David is its eponymous ancestor. We now have concrete extra-biblical evidence supporting the eponymic and metaphorical character of both David and the House of David.
The Death of Isaac: Structuralist Analysis of Genesis 22
Authors: Kunin Seth Daniel
Published: March 2007

This article examines Genesis 22 using structuralist theory and methodology. Two primary questions are addressed: what is the structural significance of the sacrifice? and what is the structural role of the two young men? The analysis works on two levels, synchronic and diachronic. Initially it discusses Gen. 22 in terms of its own underlying structures. These structures are then compared to those of Gen. 37, which is shown to be an inverted version of the same myth. The analysis at this level suggests that structurally the element of an actual sacrifice is significant and that the two young men fill the structural role of brother. Finally, the analysis shows that the diachronic development of the underlying structure of the myth in rabbinic midrashic texts supports and strengthens the findings of the synchronic analysis. Rabbinic myths develop in precisely the ways predicted by the structuralist analysis.
David's Innocence: a Response To J. Wright
Authors: Bailey Noel
Published: March 2007

This is a refutation of John Wright's argument ('The Innocence of David in 1 Chronicles 21', JSOT 60 [1993], pp. 87-105) that the census in 1 Chron. 21 was provoked by a military crisis, and that Joab and not David is responsible for the wrath of God.
The Anonymous Matchmaker: an Enquiry Into the Characterization of the Servant of Abraham in Genesis 24
Authors: Teugels Lieve
Published: March 2007

The servant of Abraham is the protagonist in Gen. 24. His characterization, however, only focuses on his role as a mediator. First, by the balanced use of appellations, he is depicted at the same time as an anonymous servant and as the full representative of Abraham. Secondly, by his speech, his main character indicator, he appears as a very clever man. By these features the servant receives a specific task in the overall plan of Gen. 24. Whereas Isaac is the incarnation of the divine promise and Rebekah is the divinely-sent helper, the servant is the incarnation of the divine guidance.
Nebuchadnezzar's Hermeneutical Dilemma
Authors: Coxon Peter
Published: March 2007

Nebuchadnezzar is a name irrevocably linked in Jewish tradition with the complete destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE. His ruthless behaviour at home and abroad has resulted in a lopsided view of his character and achievements with the pendulum swinging strongly in the direction of the villainy. But this should not blind the reader of the Old Testament to his virtues, which are extolled both in the neo- Babylonian texts of the period which name him 'king of justice', and in biblical tradition, where he is seen as God's special agent in disciplining the Jews, as a severe but righteous judge, and even as God's 'servant'.
Matfre Ermengaud's Breviari D'Amor and Daniel 9.26
Authors: Christie-Miller Ian
Published: March 2007

Daniel 9.26 is a text of considerable interest, although it was not used by the earliest Christians as a prophecy of Jesus Christ. A novel exegesis of the verse centred on the phrase ? ? was suggested in the 1288 work Breviari d'amor by the troubadour Matfre Ermengaud, from the Béziers area, and is the subject of the present note.
Of Epistemology, Northwest-Semitic Epigraphy and Irony: the 'Bytdwd/House of David' Inscription Revisited
Authors: Cryer Frederick H.
Published: March 2007

Recent studies attempting to deal with the 'bytdwd/House of David' inscription have revealed madequacies in the knowledge of the theory of theory formation pertaining to historical research on the part of their authors. A detailed analysis of the palaeographical basis for dating the inscriptions previously found on the site shows that they cannot be used for dating purposes, if they were so used, they would more likely point to the eighth century than to any other time Finally, an analysis of the palaeographical study by Josef Tropper shows that he has recognized a number of the problems of the earlier treatments. Tropper remains, however, under the Spell of the publishers' claim of a ninth-century provenance for the inscription, with the ironical result that the types identified by him do not even agree with the tabula scriptorum in his own 1993 study of the Syrian-Phoenician inscriptions. A ninth-century date cannot be maintained on the basis of inscriptional finds.
Isaiah : a Prophet in the Footsteps of Moses
Authors: O' Kane Martin
Published: March 2007

Three recent studies by H. McKeatmg, R.E. Clements and A.G. Auld have attempted to assess the importance of traditions associated with Moses in canonical books outside the Pentateuch. Following from these studies, the present article explores the links between Moses and Isaiah in two contexts: in 2 Kings 18-20 and in the book of Isaiah. The last words of Moses (Deut. 31-34) sum up the life of the prophet and at the same time look to the future. His last words share linguistic and thematic parallels with 2 Kgs 17.7-23 and 21.10-15. Just as Moses is presented in Deuteronomy 31 as anticipating the evil that will come upon the rebellious people, so the editors of 2 Kings 17 and 21 look back and interpret the evil that has come upon Israel and Judah according to the same criteria. 2 Kings 17 and 21 form the bracketing passages of an inclusio enclosing chs. 18-20 (material parallel to Isa. 26-39). In chs. 17 and 21 the people are warned by the prophets in general while in chs. 18-20 they are warned by Isaiah in particular. The repeated mention of prophets in chs. 17 and 21 and of Moses in particular (18.4, 6, 12) serves to introduce and highlight the sudden and dramatic introduction of Isaiah into the narrative. The editors confer on Isaiah in his mission to Hezekiah all the authority of Moses. Isaiah in this context is seen as an authoritative successor to Moses. The same editorial concern which makes parallel the fates of Israel and Judah in 2 Kings 17 and 21 is also found in the present editorial arrangement of Isaiah 28. One might also note the similarity between the written witness of Moses in Deut. 31.19, 21 and that of Isaiah in 8.16-22 and 30.8-14.
Structural Analysis as a Tool for Redaction Criticism: the Example of Isaiah 5 and 10.1-6
Authors: Korpel Marjo C. A.
Published: March 2007

The text of Isaiah 5 poses a number of problems commonly ascribed to a long and complicated redactional process. Mostly it is thought that the Song of the Vineyard originally had nothing to do with what follows. Structural analysis of Isaiah 5 and 10.1-6, which is thought to be the continuation of the woe-oracles of Isaiah 5, confirms the presumed redactional expansion, be it on a far smaller scale than was hitherto thought (5.8-10, 24c-25; 10 4b). The remaining text exhibits a highly regular structure. It may be an Isaianic exposition of the Song of the Vineyard.
The Bridegroom of Blood: a Structuralist Analysis
Authors: Kunin Seth D.
Published: March 2007

This article examines one of the most enigmatic, if brief, texts in the biblical canon. It addresses several related questions or problems raised by the text. Who is circum cised? Why would God wish to kill Moses after sending him on a mission? And, why is it that Zipporah rather than Moses performs the operation? The article answers these questions through discussing them in the context of the Moses saga as a whole, and in terms of broader Hebrew structural patterns. The analysis focuses on the mechanisms of transformation developed, especially on that of inversion. It argues that all of the key mythemes, especially those in respect to women, are inverted, thereby clouding the structure of the text and creating the enigmas found in the narrative level. It also suggests that this inversion is related to the reversal of genealogical roles between Moses and Aaron.
Gigantic God: Yahweh's Body
Authors: Moore Stephen D.
Published: March 2007

The God of the Hebrew Bible is, by and large, a corporeal God. Implicit in Gen. 1.26-27, moreover, is the notion that God's body resembles a human body. It is only in later midrashic and mystical texts, however—pre—eminently the Shi'ur Qomah- that speculation about Yahweh's body blooms, and Yahweh is conceived as pos sessing a massive male physique. These texts in turn can be illuminated by the liter ature of modem bodybuilding. These various intertexts, ancient and modem, are here used to fashion a critical midrash on the hypermasculinity of the biblical Yahweh.
Saul and the Samson Narrative
Authors: Brooks Simcha Shalom
Published: March 2007

The aim of this article is to draw attention to the close parallels between the story of Samson and that of Saul. On examination it becomes apparent that these are intimately related. This article argues that Saul's birth story had been incorporated into that of Samuel. When the image of Samuel is put to one side it then becomes clear that Saul's image closely parallels that of Samson in that they share not only a similar Nazirite birth, but also a heroic character. It would seem, therefore, that the pro-Saul author could not openly write the true story of Saul; instead he camouflaged it behind the heroic image of Samson.
Chiasmus in Ubiquity: Symmetrical Mirages in Nehemiah 9
Authors: Boda M.J.
Published: March 2007

Although one cannot deny that chiasmus was one structuring device used by ancient Hebrew composers, the explosion of identification of this device in the past half century has made many scholars sceptical. This study draws together recent research on the criteria for identifying and denying the presence of chiasmus in Hebrew litera ture and then applies those criteria to a recent study of one composition. It reveals that Loren Bliese's identification of chiasmus in Nehemiah 9 is only in the eye of the beholder.
A Response To Steve a. Wiggins, 'Yahweh: the God of Sun?'
Authors: Taylor J. Glen
Published: March 2007

This article is a response to Steve Wiggins's article which seeks to challenge the notion of solar Yahwism. Some of his cautions are commendable. In most areas, however, his alternative explanations seem only barely possible. Moreover, Wiggins offers no alternative to the recent consensus that sun worship was a Yahwistic phenomenon but to relegate the existence of sun worship to the realm only of the 'possible', which is untenable in light of the evidence. Specific criticisms of Wiggins include a severe downplaying of the religious significance of iconography and solar symbols, and a tendency to simplify, overlook or misunderstand key features in the debate. In the case of Ezek. 8.16 and 1 Kgs 8.12 (v. 53 LXX) he simply assumes the mutual exclusivity of Yahweh and the sun, thereby avoiding the possibility that the sun was considered to be symbolic of the presence of Yahweh.
The Identity of Early Israel: a Rejoinder To Keith W. Whitelam
Authors: Dever William G.
Published: March 2007

This article is a reply, from an archaeological perspective, to Keith W. Whitelam's article, 'The Identity of Early Israel: The Realignment and Transformation of Late Bronze-Iron Age Palestine', JSOT 63 (1994), pp. 57-87. Here it is argued that the current school of 'revisionist' historians of ancient Israel takes a needlessly 'minimal ist' view, underestimating the potential of modern interdisciplinary archaeology for writing a history of a real 'ancient Israel' during the Monarchy, as well as a history of Iron Age Palestine.
Irony in the Book of Qohelet
Authors: Spangenberg Izak J.J.
Published: March 2007

Although a number of commentators refer to the phenomenon of irony in Qohelet, and three scholars (Edwin M. Good, Timothy Polk and Harold Fisch) wrote specific essays on this theme, it is remarkable that there is still no consensus on how to define irony and its occurrences in the book of Qohelet. This article suggests five prerequisites that should be kept in mind in order to identify irony in Qohelet. A closer look is then taken at the occurrences of irony in Qoh. 4.13-16, 7.1-4 and 9.1- 10. The article concludes that Qohelet does not merely contain loose ironic statements but that the entire book reflects an ironic tone.
Eating the Blood: Saul and the Witch of Endor
Authors: Reis Pamela Tamarkin
Published: March 2007

This article re-examines the encounter between King Saul and the witch of Endor and demonstrates by a close reading of the text that the witch is not a solicitous hostess but an adroit strategist intent upon survival. The food she prepares for Saul is, firstly, a mantic sacrifice to the spirits of the dead entailing the stringently pro scribed eating of blood. Secondly, the shared meal is an unholy but legally effective covenant between God's anointed first king of Israel and a sorceress. Thirdly, the forbidden meal serves an apostasy that warrants Saul's consequent suicide; and lastly, it provides a scenario for the contrast of Saul's treachery with David's constancy in an analogous situation.
The Sins of Rehoboam: the Purpose of 3 Kingdoms 12.24a-Z
Authors: Shaw Charles S.
Published: March 2007

It is widely assumed that the purpose of the 'supplement' found in 3 Kingdoms 12.24a-z is to provide additional information or a certain perspective on Jeroboam. An analysis of the supplement's explanatory phrases and structure, however, leads to the conclusion that its purpose is to place the blame for the division of the kingdom on Rehoboam. By emphasizing the notion that the north rejected Rehoboam rather than the Davidic dynasty, and by downplaying the sins of Jeroboam, the supplement implies that a reconciliation between the two kingdoms is possible. Hezekiah's efforts to extend his rule over the inhabitants of the north may provide the historical background for the compilation of the supplement.
A Rejoinder To J. Glen Taylor
Authors: Wiggins Steve A.
Published: March 2007

An on-going debate in which Wiggins replies to Taylor's criticisms of his work as voiced in 'A Response to Steve A. Wiggins, "Yahweh: The God of Sun?"', JSOT 71 (1996), pp. 107-19. Three areas are dealt with here: (1) the use of evidence, (2) the issue of metaphor, and (3) the significance of iconography.
Samson and Delilah: a Parable of Power?
Authors: Smith Carol
Published: March 2007

This examination of the Samson and Delilah story begins by noting the large number of different interpretations of the narrative, particularly among feminist scholars, and suggesting that this variety reflects ambiguities within the text itself. It goes on to propose that the narrative is primarily about the power relationships between various individuals, nations and deities. This analysis leads to a comparison with New Testament parables.
Time and Space in Haggai-Zechariah 1-8: a Bakhtinian Analysis of a Prophetic Chronicle
Authors: Sykes Seth
Published: March 2007

On the basis of a Bakhtinian analysis, I propose that Haggai-Zechariah 1-8 is a single text and, as such, is a prophetic parody of the chronicles. The group of Russian literary theorists, known as the 'Bakhtin Circle', proposed an illuminating way of analyzing a text that involves examining the literary conceptualization of time and space, that is, the chronotope. A comparison of the chronotopes of the chronicles and Haggai-Zechariah 1-8 reveals that Haggai-Zechariah 1-8 transforms and critiques the world view of the chronicles. The world view of the chronicles pre served and legitimated the political authority of the monarchy. The composer of Haggai-Zechariah 1-8 subverts that authority by emphasizing the necessity of obeying the prophetic word of Yahweh Sabaoth.
Linguistic Patterns in Jonah
Authors: Houk Cornelius B.
Published: March 2007

Statistical analyses of syllable-word frequencies, parts of speech frequencies, and syllable sequence in the book of Jonah reveal unexpected patterns of usage. Various chi-square test results for direct speech (DS) suggest that ch. 1 differs from chs 2-3 and from ch. 4 and that chs. 2-3 differ from ch. 4. The narrative (N) portions of the book are examined for the same variables, with confirming and clarifying results. Finally, these linguistic patterns are related to proposals from literary analysis and to various discontinuities put forward by source analysis.
Micah 1.2-16: Observations and Possible Implications
Authors: Zvi Ehud Ben
Published: March 2007

Several textual observations concerning the text of Mic. 1.2-16 suggest that the intended audience (and likely the actual audience) of the text consisted of a group of educated literati who assumed the role of brokers of divine knowledge for the larger community. This article also points to some particular aspects of the world of thought of the community for which this text was written.
Canaanites and Philistines
Authors: Drews Robert
Published: March 2007

The Mycenaean pottery made at Ashdod and the other cities of the southern Levant in the twelfth century BCE suggests a significant immigration of South Greek speakers. The immigrants undoubtedly inspired the later legend that 'the Philisti nes' came from Caphtor. In fact, however, their nomenclature suggests that 'Philistines' or Palestinians were initially distinguished from the immigrant kerētîm or kaptorîm, and it is likely that the people called Palashtin were the Northwest Semitic speaking majority among whom the immigrant minority had settled. The name 'Canaan', never very popular, went out of vogue with the collapse of the Egyptian empire. In the Iron Age many inhabitants of what had once been Canaan preferred to be called 'Sons of Israel', while those who did not affiliate themselves to Israel preferred the name, 'Palestinians'. The Palestinian (Peleset) raiders who caused Ramesses III so much trouble, and against whom he led a punitive expedi tion, certainly came from the less civilized parts of Palestine, and may well have included men whose descendants would one day identify themselves as Israelites or Judahites.
Do We Still Need Deutero-Isaiah?
Authors: Coggins Richard J.
Published: March 2007

To speak of 'Deutero-Isaiah' has become standard practice in Hebrew Bible schol arship, to refer both to a body of oracles (Isa. 40-55), and to an anonymous prophet active among the Babylonian exiles in the 540s BCE. Neither of these references is as secure as is commonly supposed. Much of the material commonly identified as 'Proto-Isaiah' may actually be later than this period, and the unity of chs. 40-55 is also doubtful. In addition there are sociological, geographical and historical reasons for questioning the existence of a group of exiles in Babylon to whom the supposed 'Deutero-Isaiah' may have witnessed. To understand these chapters as having a Babylonian, exilic, background owes more to ideological considerations than has commonly been recognized.
Putting the Historic House Into the Course of History
Authors: O'ConneH Peter S.
Published: March 2007

We have dealt thus long on the old parsonage because it was a silent influence, every day fashioning the sensitive, imaginative little soul that was growing up in its own sphere of loneliness there.... [E]very day, as the little maiden grew, some quaint, original touch was put in the forming character by these sur- roundings (Stowe, 1878:178-179).

Notwithstanding all we have done to modemize the old house, we seem scarcely to have disturbed its air of antiquity.... There are dark closets, and strange nooks and corners, where the ghosts of former occupants might hide themselves in the day time, and stalkforth, when night conceals all our sacrile gious improvements (in Stewart, 1932:150).
Persistence, Continuity, and Change in the Jamaican Working-Class Family
Authors: Patterson Orlando
Published: March 2007

One of the most difficult prob lems facing the student of culture is that of deciding whether two corresponding pat terns, separated by time and/or space, are continuous, or whether they resemble each other purely by coincidence. The problem is quite familiar to students of cultural transmission and cultural change ( see Steward, 1972:88-92; Social Science Re search Council, 1954:973-1002; Heine- Geldern, 1968:169-173).

Historians and sociologists concerned with social change in a general way, how ever, tend to overlook the extreme impor tance of this problem, operating, instead, within an implicitly dogmatic criterion of continuity.

The object of this paper is to attempt to clarify this problem and to indicate its importance to all students of social and cul tural change. Toward this end, we propose to define and distinguish between three closely related concepts centering on the problem of correspondence, to establish reasonably rigorous criteria for using them, and finally, to indicate their importance by applying them to a case study of social change in the familial patterns of lower- class Jamaicans.
Inheritance, Demographic Structure, and Marriage: a Cross-Cultural Perspective
Authors: Brennan E.R. , James A.V. , Morrill W.T.
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this research is to assess the relationship between in heritance rules, and marriage and population structure. Differential mating op portunity is evaluated under conditions of partible and impartible inheritance by contrasting demographic characteristics of maters with those of nonmaters. Age at marriage and characteristics of the family of origin are compared between the populations of St. Barthelemy, French West Indies, where inheritance is partible, and Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland, where inheritance is impartible. These factors do not significantly affect mating opportunity where inheritance is parti ble. In contrast, where inheritance is impartible, birth order and sibship size have a considerable impact on the probability of marriage for both males and females. Temporal variation in these patterns for cohorts born between 1881 and 1940 is assessed, and implications for populations structure discussed.
Gentile Da Fabriano, St. Nicholas, and an Iconography of Shame
Authors: Taylor Michael D.
Published: March 2007

The article concentrates on Gentile da Fabriano's 1425 painting of St. Nicholas Providing Dowries for the Three Daughters. It identifies the activity of one daughter who is undressing her father (removing his shoes and hose) and the gestures of two others, one removing a head-covering and the other undressing, as signs of the social incompetence of the father: he has lost his authority over his family and moral corruption ensues. These iconographical innovations coincide with the establishment of the municipal dowry fund in Florence, where the painting was made. It is argued that the new signs of shame about the inability to provide dowries were part of the intensified discourse on honor and marriage which occurred at this time.
Survivors and Status: Widowhood and Family in the Early Modern Netherlands
Authors: Wyntjes Sherrin Marshall
Published: March 2007

This study juxtaposes the theoretical continuity of customary law with the pragmatic realities of daily life, as these pertained to the rights and privileges of widows in the early modern north Netherlands.

The database consists of approximately 1, 000 individuals from noble, gentry, and propertied middle-class families. These were tabulated and cross-referenced as part of a computer-assisted study using several hundred archival sources, in cluding prenuptial and marriage contracts, registers offiefs and other possessions, and testaments.

The study demonstrates that widows' legal rights, exercised within and outside the family sphere, were the basis of their visible authority and power during the early modern period.

' These individuals have been identified through a number of cross-referenced sources, of which the most useful are RA Utr., Booth, Inventaris Hands chriften, no. 378, which consists of more than twenty handwritten volumes by a seventeenth-century con temporary of many of the families under scrutiny here; and Wittert, 1910-1912. Further, numerous other archival references such as leenregisters (or feudal land registers) in RA Utr., Rechterlijke Arc hieven, nos. 1863 and 1871 provide a listing of fiefs and the families which held them spanning several centuries. Prenuptial and marriage contracts and wills have been reviewed in the archives listed in the bibliography. Every extant document of this sort per taining to these individuals has come under scrutiny as a basis for these conclusions.

2As one lijftochtbrief of 1617 put it: "We make this [document] each of us of our own free will and without the influence of another, out of the greatest affection and matrimonial love which each of this couple holds and bears toward the other" (RA Utr. , Archief Slot Zuylen, no. 114).

3This seems substantiated by RA Utr., Huisarchief Rijnhuyzen, nos. 126-27, unfortunately in private hands and relatively inaccessible.
Population and the Peasant Family Economy in Proto-Industrial Japan
Authors: Saito Osamu
Published: March 2007

This paper questions the view that rural industrialization stimulated family formation through a decline in the age of women at first marriage, and hence led to a rapid growth in population. A survey of the literature, and an analysis of countrywide cross-sectional data for late nineteenth-century Japan show that the impact of rural industry on population increase was weak. This is closely related to another finding, that the division of labor between the sexes within the farm household was persistent even where rural industry had taken root. In other words, the structural effects of proto-industrialization on demography and the peasant family economy were not strong. It is suggested that these differences between Japanese and Western patterns are best understood by looking at the initial conditions of proto-industrialization.
The Canon Law On the Formation of Marriage and Social Practice in the Later Middle Ages
Authors: Donahue Charles
Published: March 2007

The legal rules concerning the formation of marriage adopted by Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) gave considerable freedom to marriage partners to form a marriage without the consent of their parents or lords. A preliminary survey of the surviving records from the medieval church courts in both England and France suggests that there were substantial differences in the types of marriage-formation cases being heard in the two countries. The difference in types of cases, in turn, suggests that by the end of the Middle Ages, French parents were having more success than English in controlling the marriage choices of their children.
The Family in Reformation Germany: the Bearing and Rearing of Children
Authors: Ozment Steven
Published: March 2007

The article examines the most popular sixteenth-century guide to gynecology, obstetrics, and childcare and the most popular seventeenth-century "housefather" book for information about and attitudes toward childbearing. A deep concern for both pre- and postnatal care of mother and child is evident and the practical advice and remedies offered to expectant and new mothers and to midwives are generally sensible and effective. A variety of educational, sermonic, and catechetical materials is examined to glean child-rearing principles and techniques. Especially important was the inculcation of self-discipline and self- confidence in the child and the nurturing of altruism. Both severity and in dulgence were roundly condemned, although too little discipline was considered to be worse than too much. If the self-conscious comments of contemporaries are to be believed, the theological doctrine of original sin and the experience of high infant and child mortality had a negligible effect on the positive affection parents had for their children.
Industrialization, Proletarianization, and Marriage: a Reconsideration
Authors: Spagnoli Paul G.
Published: March 2007

This article examines demographic patterns in the Lille region of north ern France in an effort to test two hypotheses which explain nineteenth-century population growth by linking industrialization with high fertility via early mar riage : the old, increasingly discarded view attributing early marriage to a collapse of working-class morality and the working-class family, and the more sophisticated, and recently more fashionable, interpretation emphasizing in dustrialization as a liberating influence which made early marriage possible. As this article shows, neither hypothesis can account for demographic patterns in the mid-nineteenth-century Lille region. The article concludes that industrialization and proletarianization did not necessarily generate early marriage, and suggests that in some circumstances, industrialization could promote late marriage and high marital fertility.
Female Slaves: Sex Roles and Status in the Antebellum Plantation South
Authors: White Deborah G.
Published: March 2007

This paper analyzes female slave life in the context of female slave interaction and familial roles. It looks at the bonded woman's work, her control of particular resources, her contribution to slave households, and her ability to cooperate with other women on a daily basis. It suggests that in relation to the slave family, too much emphasis has been placed on what men could not do rather than on what women could do and did. It finds that the bonded female made significant "economic" contributions to the slave family, that the slave's world was sex stratified so that the female slave world existed quite independently of the male slave world, and that slave families were matrifocal.
Family and Fertility in Rural Ohio: Wood County, Oiuo in 1860
Authors: Graham James Q.
Published: March 2007

One of the lacunae in research on nineteenth-century American house holds is the relative scarcity of systematic studies using individual-level census data on rural populations. This essay uses individual-level data from the 1860 federal manuscript census of Wood County, Ohio to provide base-line data for comparison with similar studies by other scholars whose focus has been on regions other than the rural Midwest. The questions that were asked and the methods and techniques that were used to analyze the data in this essay were selected to increase comparability with other work.

The variables analyzed are wealth, age, sex, ethnicity, structural type of household, fertility, rural-urban residence, and the occupation of married household heads. The findings are, for the most part, supportive of other research on the same subjects.
Baby Bust and Baby Boom: a Study of Family Size in a Group of University of Chicago Faculty Wives Born 1900-1934
Authors: Weiner Nella Fermi
Published: March 2007

After over a century of declining birth rates, the fertility of American women rose during the baby boom of the 1940s and 1950s. The study group, of 60 University of Chicago faculty wives (30 of whom were born in the years 1900-1914 and the remaining 30 in the years 1920-1934) had a pattern of fertility similar to that of the U. S. population in general. Two models are proposed to account for the rise in fertility. Model I is based on Easterlin's hypothesis that postwar affluence, contrasted with remembered poverty during the Depression, made young couples feel able to afford large families. Model II is based on Ryder's finding of a high level of unintended fertility during the baby boom. The study was conducted by means of interviews. The findings support Model II. Case material is presented and possible reasons for the findings are discussed.
The Exchange of Children in Tudor England: an Anthropological Phenomenon in Historical Context
Authors: McCracken Grant
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the movement of children as servants from subor dinate to superordinate households in Tudor England. Drawing on anthropologi cal theories of reciprocity, it seeks to broaden and revise existing accounts of this phenomenon. It is argued that the exchange of children in this period may be seen as a means by which the ranks of the Tudor hierarchy were bound, differentiated, and defined. It is also argued that the exchange of children played an important role in their socialization. In general terms, the paper seeks to demonstrate the value of theories of reciprocity for historiographic analysis.
The Value of Children During Industrialization: Sex Ratios in Childhood in Nineteenth-Century America
Authors: Hammel E.A. , Johansson Sheila R. , Ginsberg Caren A.
Published: March 2007

Sex ratios in childhood in nineteenth-century America were skewed, with a relative excess of males in agricultural and frontier areas, and the reverse in urban and industrial areas. The pattern is consistent at the state, county, and (where data are available) community and household levels. The most likely con tributing causes are sex-specific migration of families according to the mix of their children, migration of children themselves, and mortality patterns arising from differential childcare based on the sex-specific economic value of children to the household in agricultural versus urban settings. These patterns confirm similar ones observed in developing countries and in the British Isles under condi tions of early agricultural modernization, in which the relative value of female labor declines in agricultural zones.
Aspects of Change in a Nineteenth-Century German Village
Authors: Goldstein Alice
Published: March 2007

Using coordinated nineteenth-century birth, marriage, and death records for Catholics and Jews in Altdorf, this analysis investigates the relation between social, economic, and cultural factors and demographic behavior. The constraints of the village economy severely restricted the number of people who could make a livelihood in the village. Yet, improved adult mortality and high fertility created a potential population surplus. The Catholics-mostly farmers and craftsmen-responded not with a restriction of fertility but with the heavy out-migration of young people. Jews-primarily tradesmen and cattle dealers- exhibited mortality consistently lower than that of Catholics; Jewish fertility was initially high, but showed clear signs of limitation by 1870-1899. By midcentury, almost all the Jewish children born in the village who survived to adulthood had left Altdorf, as had a large proportion of their parents. The more dramatic response of the village's Jews is seen as a reaction both to their declining econom ic role in Altdorf and to their increasing assumption of more modern, urban values and life styles. Catholic response thus served to preserve the traditional village life styles whereas the Jewish response accelerated their modernization.
The Yugoslav Family in the Modern World: Adaptation To Change
Authors: Hammel E.A.
Published: March 2007

The analysis of family systems has four essential aspects: organiza tional, terminological, expectational, and behavioral. The family systems of Yugoslavia show, over their history and territory, a range of variation in all these equivalent almost to all we know of the range of Indo-European systems. Yet the variations are no evidence for linear development nor are they the simple reflex of macro-level environmental change. They are best understood as surface adapta tions, selective responses out of a consistent body of cultural knowledge. Behav ioral accommodations to social and economic change seem readiest to change, then organizational shifts. Expectations of behavior change more slowly. The cognitive structure inferable from native terminology changes most slowly, and within it the affinal terminology, then group terminology, and, finally, con sanguineal terminology reflect alterations in social environment.
Time and Social Structure: a Yugoslav Case Study
Authors: Halpern Joel M. , Wagner Richard A.
Published: March 2007

Cyclical and linear time perspectives on family household structures are defined. They are utilized in a case study of the father-son dyad in a central Ser bian village over the past 150 years. This relationship is critical to understanding the transitions in the South Slav extended family household, the zadruga. Data are based on oral recall and on vital, tax, and census records. Linear time measures include vital rates such as declining fertility and mortality as well as decreasing household size. Cyclical time measures, which have not varied in the period studied, include age at marriage and age of parent at birth of first child. All these elements are shown to affect the continued existence of extended house hold structures and condition their alteration from predominantly lateral exten sion including collateral kin to units of linear form emphasizing relations across three, and even four, generations. Analyzing these temporal processes is seen as a way of understanding the dynamics behind notions of stability and change in social structures.
Women without Men: Widows and Spinsters in Britain and France in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Hufton Olwen
Published: March 2007

In times of economic stress, the numbers of perpetually celibate and widows who would not remarry rose, and the women involved clearly had to fend for themselves in increasingly difficult circumstances. The traditional sectors of female work—domestic service, textile industry, and service trades—were poorly remunerated and women had to find some means of cutting costs by clustering together, living with relatives, or seeking work which provided accommodation. The various means of survival are explored together with suggestions for poten tial source material for examining further the daily lot of women alone. In addi tion, the particular contribution of single women, in terms of service and philan thropic effort, is pursued.
The Social Position of Spinsters in Mid-Victorian Britain
Authors: Anderson Michael
Published: March 2007

British society of the mid-nineteenth century contained a large excess of single and widowed women over single and widowed men. To contemporaries one important offshoot of this situation was a major "spinster problem, " which was focused especially on difficulties in finding suitable occupations and residen tial locations for single women as they aged. This paper uses a national sample from the 1851 manuscript census to explore the social situation of spinsters over the life course and to compare their situations with those of bachelors and of women of other marital statuses. The data show the importance of domestic ser vice and familial employment for younger spinsters and the significance of Poor Relief and property income for spinsters in old age. Residentially, institutions and living with kin were particularly significant for older spinsters. The paper concludes by relating the life cycle experience of spinsters to the growing body of evidence on the nature of the life cycle in Britain in the 200 years before the Second World War.
Blessed or Not? The New Spinster in England and the United States in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Authors: Freeman Ruth , Klaus Patricia
Published: March 2007

After 1870, single women in England and America began to speak favorably about spinsterhood. With new acceptable means to earn money and with a growing openness about the fragility of happiness in marriage, employed or financially independent middle-class women no longer regarded marriage as necessary for financial support or self-respect. In magazine articles, single women compared their lives to those of their married friends and told readers that spinsterhood, with its financial and intellectual independence, could be a rational choice. Though social commentators worried and warned of loneliness, these bachelor women enjoyed the amenities and companionship afforded by an urban setting. Novelists distrusted the spinsters' advocacy of single-blessedness as stories ended with the new female protagonists marrying. A minority that some times wavered, the new spinsters, by demonstrating a respectable option, helped to reverse traditional scorn for old maids and to pave the way for those who would later demand, like men, to combine work and marriage.
Out of the Shadow: Heretical and Catholic Women in Renaissance Venice
Authors: Martin John
Published: March 2007

In late Renaissance Venice, a patriarchal ideology was not only the patrimony of noblemen but was diffused among male artisans as well. Drawing on the records of trials from the Roman Inquisition in the later half of the six teenth century, this article examines ways in which both Catholic and heretical women—in both cases the wives of artisans—responded to the patriarchy and the violence of their households. Catholic women found refuge in a variety of reli gious devotions ranging from confession to the rituals associated with childbirth. To a degree, these women were aided by certain of the Tridentine reforms. The heretical women, by contrast, sought solidarity with one another and demon strated remarkable self-confidence in their interpretations of religious matters. Yet there were similarities in both social and cultural dimensions of female reli giousness in sixteenth-century Venice which transcended purely religious dif ferences. These similarities, moreover, are suggestive of a world in which, despite the pervasiveness of a patriarchial ideology, women enjoyed considerable autonomy.
Nuptiality and Age At Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England
Authors: Woods R.I. , Hinde P.R.A.
Published: March 2007

This paper presents a reworking and extension of Anderson's (1976) analysis of Victorian marriage patterns. It utilises registration district data for England and Wales in 1861 and 1891 together with information on individuals drawn from the census enumerators' books for six case study districts, 1851-1881. The main focus of the analysis is on the role of occupational charac teristics, especially those of women, and the ways such characteristics condition the resultant level of nuptiality via age at first marriage and the proportion ever married. The need to supplement ecological multivariate analysis by the use of a 'collective biography' approach is emphasized and illustrated.
Combining Agrarian and Industrial Livelihood: Rural Households in the Saxon Oberlausitz in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Quataert Jean H.
Published: March 2007

The article examines the various strategies that members of rural house holds employed in the textile district of the Saxon Oberlausitz during the region's successful industrial development. The household was sustained by complex com binations of agricultural and industrial activities. These included home textiles and subsistence farming in the first half of the century and, later on, wage work in the new mechanized mills, the machine and garment industries, and construc tion. But these workers never gave up their ties to the countryside, residing in rural areas and commuting, if need be, up to two hours for industrial jobs. Main taining such close ties to agriculture provided subsistence and welfare security and offered a crucial buffer during episodes of unemployment. The perspective of the household, not that of the factory or construction site, most clearly reveals these intricate combinations of agrarian and industrial livelihood.
The Church and the Patriarchal Family: Marriage Conflicts in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century New Spain
Authors: Seed Patricia
Published: March 2007

Traditional European families have long been presumed to be char acterized by parental control over their children's choices of a marriage partner; a control aided by the support of the Catholic church. This essay focuses on the role of the Catholic church in family conflicts over marriage in the Spanish New World colony of Mexico. It demonstrates that the Spanish Catholic church not only failed to support parental authority over their offspring's marriages but that it intervened decisively to prevent families from interfering in the young couple's decision to marry. The Spanish Catholic church's actions stemmed from.a strong commitment to traditional Catholic orthodox views on matrimonial freedom as well as from a cultural heritage opposing marriages for social or economic gain.
Women and the Family in Eighteenth-Century Mexico: Law and Practice
Authors: Couturier Edith
Published: March 2007

During the eighteenth century, Mexican family law remained almost unchanged while the ways in which families chose to use the inheritance law altered significantly. At the beginning of the century, women of most economic classes—from artisan families to the nobility—usually received legally binding dowries that protected them at the death of their husbands and provided their children with inheritances. By the end of the century, however, the practice of awarding dowries had almost completely ceased. This essay explores possible explanations for this change through a discussion of the various ways in which women held power and property, depending upon their position in the family.
Advances in Italian and Iberian Family History
Authors: Kertzer David I. , Brettell Caroline
Published: March 2007

In the past decade a tremendous increase in family history research in Italy, Spain and Portugal provides new insight into family processes and has many implications for generalizations regarding the course of European family history. In this article many of these new findings are detailed and their historical and theoretical implications assessed. Previous generalizations regarding Mediterranean family history are examined in light of this new evidence. Among the topics discussed are the sources and methods employed in recent research, the household formation systems operating in Italy and Iberia, the role played by inheritance norms and by dowry, changing childrear ing practices—especially as regards child abandonment, marriage patterns, the family lives of the elderly, and the impact of migration on family life. The benefits of considering certain cultural topics in understanding the course of southern European family history are also considered
Rural Household Organization and Inheritance in Northern Europe
Authors: Gaunt David
Published: March 2007

By focusing on morphological continuity, family historians may be neglecting long-term changes within the family that are documented in non-numerical sources. Evidence from Finland suggests that researchers need to reexamine the history of the suurperhe ("large family"). Similarly, evidence from the Scandinavian peninsula suggests that the early modern centuries witnessed the growth of privacy in generational relations, the emergence of the father-son dyad as the preferred method of land transfer, the separation of landownership from household authority, and the use of the courts to solve family problems. Thus there may have been transformations in family life in the long term that unchanging measures of mean size do not capture.
Hajnal and the Household in Asia: a Comparativist History of the Family in Preindustrial Japan, 1600-1870
Authors: Cornell L.L.
Published: March 2007

When Hajnal (1982) argued that different types of household forma tion rules determine whether fertility is adjusted to economic conditions in traditional peasant societies, he deliberately ignored societies with stem family formation rules. This study examines the relationship between household formation, fertility, and family relations in such a society—eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japan. It sum marizes previous work on the history of the family in Japan and discusses the role life-cycle service played in adjustingfertility to economic conditions.