La invención de las noticias: Las relaciones de sucesos entre la literatura y la información (siglos XVI–XVIII). Giovanni Ciappelli and Valentina Nider, eds. Labirinti 168. Trent: Università degli studi di Trento, Dipartimento di lettere e filosofia, 2017. 858 pp. €15.

Abstract

wanted to marry Protestant women, even if the Council of Trent had condemned such "mixed" marriages. Overall, the attitude of secular and religious courts toward transgressions appears flexible despite the restrictive legal norms. Women, however, and in particular unmarried women from the lower ranks, bore the brunt of punishment and loss of honor. It was not a coincidence, writes Susanna Burghartz, that the "stereotype of the disorderly, sexually profligate servant" (189) took form at this time. This collection also highlights the limits in implementing institutional reforms. People persisted in following old traditions mainly for socioeconomic reasons. In Italy, the geographic mobility of men, particularly from lower social ranks, often led to bigamy, challenging the notion of indissoluble marriage but also permitting the creation of a new domestic union in the absence of a spouse. In both Protestant Germany and Switzerland, the upper ranks, interested in emphasizing the social position of the couple and preserving social exclusivity, violated the new rules concerning consanguinity and followed customary rituals that deviated from the prescriptions of religious authority. Even the aristocracy scorned institutionalized marriage codes, as shown by the clandestine union between the Duke of Orleans and Marguerite of Lorraine discussed by Anne Lefebvre-Teillard. Marriage in Europe is an important book about marriage as a "many-sided phenomenon" (9). Its wide geographic scope, broad chronological investigation, and detailed examination of marriage illuminate the manifold and complex rhythms that accompanied the institutionalization of marriage and its social practices. This book is an excellent place for scholars and graduate students of early modern Europe to start exploring this important topic from a comparative perspective.