Sotto l'occhio del padre. Società confessionale e istruzione primaria nello Stato di Milano by Angelo Turchini (review)

330BOOK REVIEWS works reinforced their teaching. Women were readers and in some cases, authors of works that presented a basicaUy monastic ideal of female comportment . Chastity,humility, and obedience were systematically exalted, and women were exhorted to be pious, dress modestly, and go about with head bowed and eyes downcast—in brief, to become paragons of behavior that would lead to good order in church, family, and society. The editor guided a team that compiled the finding-list or repertorio of 2626 works from printed sources like catalogues or bibliographies, and holdings of mostly Northern Italian libraries. By way of introduction, Paola Tantulli explains criteria for inclusion of works in the repertorio. Clear cross-references and several indexes, for example by title, author, or editor, greatly facilitate its use. Because no general catalogue of Italian rare books exists, this list will be particularly valuable to anyone doing research on early modern Italian women. The essays in the first part of the volume are grouped into three sections of unequal length, titled "Printed texts, books and women readers," the long second section on "DiscipUne and comportment: construction of a model" (subdivided into "Model," "Rule," and "Norm"), and lastly "The model interpreted." It goes without saying that some essays are more pertinent to the theme of the volume than others. But together, they illustrate the kinds of questions that might be raised by the books listed, and include some fine and informative discussions of models for virgins, wives, widows, and nuns. EspeciaUy interesting are essays examining the impact which Tridentine marriage norms had on famUy and society. This is an important reference work for students of early modern Italian society and religion. It is encouraging that the Italian government supported publication of this specialized volume. The relatively small number of its foreseeable readers wiU stand in no proportion to its significance for scholars. Elisabeth G. Gleason University ofSan Francisco Sotto I'occhio del padre. Società confessionale e istruzione primaria netto Stato di Milano. By Angelo Turchini. [Annali dell'Istituto storico italogermanico , Monografía 29.] (Bologna: Società éditrice il MuUno. 1996. Pp. 468. Lire 40.000 paperback.) This is a wonderfuUy comprehensive and detaUed study of pre-university education in the city and state of Milan from 1 500 to the early decades of the seventeenth century. Only about eight percent of the schools in the city and territory of Milan were public in the modern sense, meaning state-supported. Nevertheless, MUan and its territory had an abundance of free education provided by schools sponsored by church organizations, lay confraternities, and endowments . This exceUent book describes and measures the free schooling available to the boys and girls of MUan. BOOK REVIEWS331 The book begins by discussing the several endowed charity schools founded in MUan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, then notes the new educational initiatives of the Catholic Reformation. The largest and most important of these were the Schools of Christian Doctrine. Meeting on Sundays and hoUdays throughout the year, the Schools ofChristian Doctrine offered two and one-half hours of instruction and provided books, which were combination catechisms and primers, at cost. These schools taught religious instruction and reading first, plus writing to more advanced pupils and those who had no other opportunity to learn. From their beginning in 1536, the Milanese Schools of Christian Doctrine grew to embrace 7,000 lay volunteers who taught, or otherwise assisted the teaching of, 7,000 boys and 5,400 girls in 1599- Other free schools also existed, and Turchini mentions them all. While one might expect the metropolis of Milan to provide a certain amount of schooling, the most interesting and surprising aspect ofTurchini's research is the extensive free schooling available in small towns and rural areas. Although part of this was the consequence of charitable foundations, the Schools of Christian Doctrine were again the most important providers. Turchini found about 40,000 boys and girls in catechism schools distributed across 900 parishes in the diocese of MUan in the late sixteenth century. Other boys benefited from the so-caUed "teaching prebend" established by Archbishop Carlo Borromeo in the 1570's. A canon, supported by a prebend, was attached to a local...