Widows and the History of Insurance Gebunden

The aim of the present volume is to analyse the genesis of modern life insurance by focusing on one specific purpose which life insurance serves: seeking provision for widowhood. This focus follows from the understanding that the evolution of life insurance can only be understood if its genesis is embedded in the history of the many competing and often insufficient strategies for the support of widows and the many strategies which widows employed to support themselves. And this general framework was different across Europe.