Title: Individuals, families, and communities in Europe, 1200-1800 : the urban foundations of western society /
Authors: Lynch, Katherine A.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Families Europe History.; Communities Europe History.; Community development, Urban Europe History.
Abstract: "Katherine Lynch discusses the role of the family in society from the late Middle Ages to the industrial period. She argues that in western Europe an ongoing, and recognizably western pattern of relationships among individuals, their families, and communities emerged in the late medieval period. Tracing the pattern through the nineteenth century, this study explores the family's function as an organization on the boundary between public and private life, rather than as part of a "private sphere", and how this phenomenon has been influenced by political, religious and demographic factors." -- Publisher's description.
Contents: Fundamental features of European urban settings -- Church, family, and bonds of spiritual kinship -- Charity, poor relief, and the family in religious and civic communities -- Constructing an "imagined community" : poor relief and the family during the French Revolution.