43.329 Childhood in Premodern Europe

Prof. Carlsmith, UML Spring 2007

Primary Source Bibliography for ‘Childhood in Pre-Modern Europe’

This brief bibliography of primary sources is intended to assist students in Prof. Carlsmith’s class to identify promising English-language primary sources that can be analyzed for a deeper understanding of children in the pre-modern period.  It is not intended to be comprehensive, and additions are eagerly welcomed. For example, there are dozens of literary sources (e.g., Canterbury Tales, Morte d’Arthur, Amadis of Gaul, Piers Plowman, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It) that can be used to analyze childhood in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, none of which are included here.    For further ideas, I recommend Margaret King’s online bibliography, at http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/king/BiblioChild.htm#Sources.

Primary Sources—Classical

Augustine, Saint. Confessions. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1961.

Chrysostom, John. “Address on Vainglory and the Right Way for Parents to Bring Up Their Children.” In M.L.W. Laistner, Christianity and Pagan Culture in the Later Roman Empire (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1951), 75-122.

Gardner, Jane F. and Thomas Wiedemann. The Roman Household: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge, 1991.

Plutarch. The Education of Children [Peri paidon agoges]  New York: DaCapo Press, 1969.

            Primary Sources—Middle Ages

Abelard, Peter.  Carmen ad Astralabium.  In The Repentant Abelard: Abelard’s’ Thought as Revealed in his Carmen ad Astralabium and Planctus, ed. Juanita Feros Ruys and John O. Ward. New York: Palgrave Press, forthcoming 2005.

Bartholomew Angelicus, On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa's Translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, de Proprietatibus Rerum: A Critical Text, ed. M.C. Seymour, 3 vols., Oxford University Press, 1975-1988.

Caesarius of Heisterbach.  Dialogue on Miracles.  Trans. H. Von E. Scott and C.C. Swinton Bland. 2 vols.  London: 1929.

Dhuoda. Handbook for William: A Carolingian Woman's Counsel for her Son. Tr. and intro. Carol Neel. Regents Studies in Medieval Culture. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.

Einhard,  Life of Charlemagne.  Trans. Samuel Epes Turner.  Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1960.

Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend.

            Primary Sources--Renaissance

Alberti, Leon Battista. The Family in Renaissance Florence. Trans. (of Alberti's Della famiglia) Renée Neu Watkins. Columbia: S. Carolina Press, 1969.

Ascham, Roger.  The Schoolmaster.  Ed. Lawrence V. Ryan.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1967.

Brucker, Gene, ed. Two Memoirs of Renaissance Florence, The Diaries of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dato. Trans. Julia Martines. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.

Bruni, Leonardo.  “Letter to Baptista Malatesta concerning education” [various editions]

Correr, Gregorio. "Letter to Cecilia Gonzaga." In M.L. King and A. Rabil, trans., Her Immaculate Hand (New York: MRTS, 1983), pp. 91-105.

Dominici, Giovanni.  On the Education of Children (Regola del governo di cura familiare), trans. Arthur Basil Cote.  Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1927.

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Erasmus Reader. Ed. Erika Rummel. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990. Pp. 15-20, 65-121.

Erasmus, Desiderius. Literary and Educational Writings, Vols. 3 and 4. Vols. 25 and 26 of The Collected Works of Erasmus. Ed. by J. Kelley Sowards. 2 vols. Toronto: Toronto Press, 1985.  See esp. Behavior Befitting Well-Bred Youth (De Civiltate morum puerilum.)

Guicciardini, Francesco.  Maxims and Reflections of a Renaissance Statesman (Ricordi). Trans. Mario Domandi.  New York: Harper and Row, 1965. Repr. Gloucester, Mass., 1970.

Montaigne, Michel de.  “On the education of children”.  In idem, The complete works: essays, travel journal, letters. Trans. Donald M. Frame.  New York:  A.A. Knopf, 2003.

Teresa of Avila, Saint. The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself. Trans. J.M. Cohen. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1957, pp. 23-38.

Valentine, Alan C., ed. Fathers to Sons: Advice Without Consent [letters from 1326-1847]. Norman: Oklahoma Press, 1963.

Vergerio, Pier Paolo.  De Ingenuis Moribus (aka “Letter to Ubertino of Padua”), in Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist Educators, ed. W.H. Woodward. Cambridge University Press, 1904.

Vives, Juan Luis. Tudor School Boy Life: The Dialogues of Juan Luis Vives. Trans. Foster Watson. London: Frank Cass & Co., 1970

Vives, Juan Luis. Vives: On Education. Trans. Foster Watson. Edinburgh, 1903; rpt. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1971.