The histories of six generations of the Strozzi, Gondi, Guicciardini, and Capponi families are traced from the fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries by focusing on the family household as defined by the economic bonds reflected in account books. These four families were among the best known of the city's patriciate and were influential in affairs of the city. Their histories serve as case studies in seeking to determine the nature of the patrician family as a specific kind of social institution and to assess its importance in Florentine history. A concluding chapter attempts to relate the changing composition of the family to the general development of Renaissance civilization.

Originally published in 1968.

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