Home and Homelessness in the Medieval and Renaissance World

This collection of original essays serves as a set of case studies for exploring the ways in which people experienced home and homelessness between the eighth and sixteenth centuries. Arranged in reverse chronological order, the volume considers precise examples of the need for (or lack of) shelter and a place to call one's own in cultures ranging from Venice, Spain, and Latin America to Iceland and Anglo-Saxon England. Patricia Fortini Brown translates the floor plans of houses and the layouts of neighborhoods of Renaissance Venice into a broad understanding of that city's social and political arrangements. Mary Elizabeth Perry examines the ways in which the physical spaces and protected courtyards of Spanish homes allowed Moriscos to maintain their Islamic faith after the Reconquista. Sabine McCormack articulates the paradox that arose in sixteenth-century Peru when the conquering Spaniards made a triumphant new home for themselves by forcing homelessness on many of the indigenous peoples. William Ian Miller considers the unique case of home and homelessness in medieval Iceland, in which scattered settlements in ""the middle of nowhere"" were held together by a complex legal system. Drawing on the lexical and textual evidence that survives from Old English, Nicholas Howe supplements the available archaeological materials and offers new ways of examining home and homelessness in Anglo-Saxon England. Featuring the writings of some of the most influential scholars in history, art history, and literary studies, Home and Homelessness in the Medieval and Renaissance World presents fascinating studies that cover a wide breadth of cultural sites and moments.