ABSTRACT
Early modern Europeans lived out their lives by working within a number of different, overlapping networks. These webs of sentiment, obligation, reciprocity, and dependence help individuals navigate through a complicated, dangerous, and often arbitrary world. Neighbourhood and friendship networks could provide daily support as well as help in extraordinary circumstances, like death, arrest, or natural catastrophe. Extensive networks of kinship were clearly an important source, though not the only source, of support for orphaned children. Guilds were important complements to the civic and ecclesiastical infrastructure of early modern society. These professional and religious organizations help local members in times of need. Networks centered on a common trade could be the basis for the placement of a child into another household. As with many aspects of early modern life, there are many more records about the way communities and networks were supposed to operate than about the way they did.
