View Full Forums : 18th Century Women didn't have it so bad...


Panamah
03-30-2006, 03:45 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicisbeo

Italy, the cicisbeo (IPA: [tʃitˈʃisbeo]), or Cavalier Servente, was the professed gallant and lover of a married woman, who attended her at public entertainments, to church and other occasions and had privileged access to his mistress. The arrangement is comparable to the Spanish cortejo and, to a lesser degree, to the French petit-maître. The etymology of the word is unknown, but it probably derives from Italian cicisbeare, "to whisper" or is an inversion of bel cece, "beautiful chick (pea)".

This arrangement, called the cicisbeatura or cicisbeismo, was widely practiced, with knowledge and consent of the husband, especially among the nobility of the cities of Genoa, Nice, Venice, Florence and Rome[1]. While many contemporary references to cicisbei and descriptions of their social standing exist[2], scholars diverge on the exact nature of the phenomenon. Some maintain that this institution was defined by marriage contracts[3], others question this claim and see it as a peculiarity of eighteenth-century customs that is not well-defined or easily explained.[4] Other scholars see it as a sign of the increasing emancipation of aristocratic women in the eighteenth century.[5]