ABSTRACT
The widely applied experience of guardianship produced an interiorization of control and a change in the self-perception and social behaviour of widows. Aimed at protecting widows and orphans in early modern Tuscany, the court of the Magistrato dei Pupilli functioned indeed as the legal scenario where women’s empowerment strategies were played out. The widow’s guardianship was enhanced by the frequent presence of the widow’s brother as guarantor of her administration. Moreover, urban households were more frequently governed by widowed mothers than rural ones, where the administration of land probably required traditional male skills. The deceased husband left no will and, after the birth of a second daughter, Benedetta Landucci, the widow was entrusted with guardianship and custody of her children. The second story shows how widows aimed at discussing the conditions of a remarriage, such as custody of the widow’s offspring by the new couple, and then bargained over issues concerning education and health.
