Les réseaux de marrainage en Italie du Nord du XVè au XVIIè siècle: coutumes, évolution, parcours individuels

In European societies of the past, godparenthood ties, strengthened by a special kind of kinship ("spiritual kinship") had an important social role. "Godmotherhood", however, has many dark Sides, because it has often been assimilated to masculine godparenthood (if not completely neglected), even if it has important specific characteristics. Before the Council of Trent, godmothers were thought to be less important than godfathers; in many Italian communities they were usually not present at baptism. It was the Council that revalued godmothers, by imposing a scrict restriction to the acceptable number of godfathers that promoted the participation of women to complex systems of spiritual kinship. In this changing situation, the activity of godmothers is organized in a kind of "career", that regulates and conditions the progressive construction of a network of ties often integrated with that built by male counterparts (fathers or husbands)