ABSTRACT
Recent studies of gender in early modern society suggest that the patriarchal model ought to be re-examined. Women's behaviour and the extensive influence which it demonstrated within the household, that the influence of men was not as strong and that the behaviour of both males and females was shaped by the other. Good moral behaviour was often underwritten by a reputation for piety, both inside the house and at church. 'Dishonourable behaviour' will also be discussed here on a number of different levels. Individual testimony by the witnesses nominated by the applicants and by those recruited by the Avogadori shows as always a great deal more about attitudes within Venetian society than the respondents intended. Finally, to locate the inhonest of the women considered in the prove di nobilt within the context of prostitution, female economic survival and double sexual standards practised by high-status men.
