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An illegitimate birth was a stigma in Renaissance Italy. 22 Families were the smallest and most important units of society; they—and, within them, the fathers—made the decisions about education and the choice of career and partner. Anyone who was born illegitimate never really belonged. Anything that such a child received was a favor. There were fathers who treated their illegitimate children as servants, especially when the mothers were slaves or maidservants. Others, like Ser Piero, took care of their natural sons (though not usually daughters), because they saw them as a reserve, in case they had no surviving legitimate sons. This “insurance” was worth the cost of an education, though as a rule it was less than for legitimate sons.
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