Download or read book Marriage, Manners and Mobility in Ealry Modern Venice written by Alexander Cowan and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, marriage has been used as a method of creating and strengthening bonds between society's ruling elites. Nowhere is this more apparent than in early modern Venice, where members of the urban patrician class looked to marital alliances to help maintain their position and social distinction in a fluid society. This book explores these social relationships and the ways in which they were mediated through the links created by marriage. It looks at the changing composition of the Venetian ruling elite during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, examining the complex relationship between the patrician class and the rest of society.