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. 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. 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. The idea of `home' means much more than a pile of bricks and mortar but the archaeological evidence of physical structures provides valuable information about how people in the past have used the space in their houses. Similarly documentary evidence tells us much about the dispossessed. This study collects five essays which approach `home and homelessness' from a range of perspectives, using both archaeological and documentary sources. Contributors discuss the house of 16th-century Venice, Morisco houses in 16th-century Spain, povery and vagrancy in Spain and early colonial Peru, homelessness in early medieval Iceland and its sagas, and Anglo-Saxon England. Introduction / Nicholas Howe -- Not One But Many Separate Cities : Housing Diversity In Sixteenth-century Venice / Patricia Fortini Brown -- Space Of Resistance, Site Of Betrayal : Morisco Homes In Sixteenth-century Spain / Mary Elizabeth Perry -- Social Conscience And Social Practice : Poverty And Vagrancy In Spain And Early Colonial Peru / Sabine Maccormack -- Home And Homelessness In The Middle Of Nowhere / William Ian Miller -- Looking For Home In Anglo-saxon England / Nicholas Howe. Edited By Nicholas Howe. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. These essays serve as a set of case studies for exploring the ways in which people experienced home and homelessness between the eighth and sixteenth centuries.
