Widows in Venice
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Motivation
This is not really a motivation of the project, but rather a project description.
Goal:
The goal of this project is to analyze the socio-economic status and property dynamics of widows as recorded in two historical datasets, the Catastici and the Sommarioni. By comparing these datasets, the project aims to uncover patterns in property ownership, tenancy, and rent payments among widows and to investigate changes in their living conditions over time.
Who are the widows recorded in the Catastici and Sommarioni datasets? This phase will involve locating and identifying widows in both datasets, gathering key demographic information (such as name, property status, and rent details), and understanding their distribution.
Are widows more likely to be property owners (landlords) or tenants? This question focuses on determining the proportion of widows who owned properties versus those who rented them. Understanding this ratio will provide insights into their economic standing.
Do widows pay different rents compared to other tenants for similar types of properties? Here, the project will investigate whether widows receive any preferential treatment or experience discrimination in terms of rent compared to other demographic groups in the datasets.
How does the ownership or tenancy of widows change between the two datasets (Catastici and Sommarioni)? By comparing property ownership or tenancy records between the two datasets, this question aims to explore whether widows' economic positions (through property ownership or rent status) improve or decline over time. For example, do they acquire more properties, or is there evidence of downsizing?
What patterns emerge from comparing widows across the two years? By analyzing widows’ presence in both datasets, this phase will search for trends regarding widowhood and economic mobility. For instance, did certain social classes of widows fare better or worse in retaining or expanding their property holdings?
Extra: If time look at the Tassini and see if and how they mention widows
Historical background
Where do we want to find this information? What are good sources to use? --> Google Scolar?
When reading about the history, add knowledge here with references to the sources used.
Venice is part of the Venetian Republic. It falls to Napoleon in 1796. Venice is given to the Austrian Monarchy by the French Republic as part of the Treaty of Campo Formio. Then it became French again and then Austrian.
https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/diplomatic/c_campoformio1.html
There is no major Palgue Epidemy during our period of focus [1]
The Venetian Society has strong gender roles and has a class system:
- Patricians (there names are probably in the libro d'Oro - Citizens (Popolani) - Commoners
I wish I had access to : [2]
this looks cool : [3]
Project Plan and Milestones
| Week | Task | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 07.10 - 13.10 | Define project and structure work | Done |
| 14.10 - 20.10 |
| |
| 21.10 - 27.10 | Autumn vacation | |
| 28.10 - 03.11 | Who are the widows recorded in the Catastici and Sommarioni datasets? | |
| 04.11 - 10.11 |
| |
| 11.11 - 17.11 |
| |
| 18.11 - 24.11 | To be determined | |
| 25.11 - 01.12 | To be determined | |
| 02.12 - 08.12 | To be determined | |
| 09.12 - 15.12 | Finish writing wiki and prepare presentation | |
| 16.12 - 22.12 | Deliver GitHub + wiki on 18.12 and final presentation on 19.12 |
Methodology
Data
Catastici
| Column Name | Description | coverage |
|---|---|---|
| uidx | ? | |
| id | ? | |
| owner_name | The name of the owner associated with the record. | |
| owner_code | code of owner type | |
| owner_count | number of owners (type int) | |
| owner_count_remark | remark for owner count if exact number is not applicable (e.g. fratelli) | |
| owner_entity | owner entity name (blank if owner is not an entity) | |
| owner_entity_group | owner entity group standardisation (blank if owner is not an entity) | |
| owner_first_name | owner first name (blank if owner is not an person) | |
| owner_family_name | owner last name (blank if owner is not an person) | |
| owner_family_group | owner family group standardisation (blank if owner is not an person) | |
| owner_title | owner title (blank if owner has not title) | |
| owner_title_std | standardisation or propagation of owner title | |
| owner_mestiere | owner mestiere (blank if owner has no mestiere) | |
| owner_mestiere_std | standardisation of owner title mestiere | |
| ten_name | Name of the tenants. | |
| function | ? | |
| an_rendi | ? | |
| id_napo | whenever found, the correspondingparcel in the Sommarioni 1808 | |
| quantity_income | ? | |
| quality_income | ? | |
| author | ? | |
| place | ? | |
| sestiere | the sestiere (district) of the entry as an acronym. Possible values are SM (San Marco), CS (Castello), CC/CN (Cannaregio), SP (San Polo), SC (Santa Croce) and DD (Dorsoduro) | |
| uid | ? | |
| path_img | ? | |
| geometry | single point coordinate where the parcel is located in CRS84 format | |
| parish_std | standardized name of the parish |
| Italian | English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| vedova | widow | - |
| mestiere | profession | - |
| parrocchia | parish | Parishes in Venice were local ecclesiastical districts, each centered around a parish church. Every house in Venice belonged to a specific parish, creating a network of smaller communities within the larger city. |
| sestiere | district of Venice | The name given to the districts of Venice: San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce, Dorsoduro (which includes the island of Giudecca), Castello, Cannaregio. |
| frateli | brothers | plural of fratello |
| sorelle | sisters | plural of sorella |
| ved | widow of | short for vedova |
| quondam | literraly : previously | |
| nephew ? | |
Sommarioni
Analysis
Results
Should include graphs and plots of the data/ just some data visualisation
Interpretation of the data
it's essential to contextualize the findings within the broader political and economic shifts in Venice (e.g., Napoleonic occupation, decline of the Republic). How did these events impact inheritance patterns or gender roles in property ownership?
Deliverables
The GitHub page of this project can be found at the following address: Rich Widows
Limitations
what limitations did our analysis have, was the data lacking. How sure are we that the results presented are true?
Credits
Course: Foundation of Digital Humanities (DH-405), EPFL
Professor: Frédéric Kaplan
Supervisor:
Authors: Eglantine Vialaneix, Nathanaël Lambert, Lisa Marie Njå
Date: 18.12.2024