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For more than a century, scholars have understood the late career of singer, teacher, and composer Francesca Caccini through the prism of Alessandro Ademollo's La bell'Adriana, published in 1888. Citing as his source a contemporary ricordo or memoir, Ademollo concluded his brief account of Caccini's life with this footnote: "In 1626, her husband died; she remarried a Lucchese, leaving the service of these Highnesses (Tuscany) and died of cancer of the mouth. Excellent in singing, playing and composing."' This end to Caccini's story has been repeated by Masera, Silbert, Raney, Bowers, and various biobibliographical sources, including The New Grove. 2 Only Tim Carter's 1980 dissertation adds to the story: he documents what seems to have been Caccini's last court payment in May 1627, and one apparent return to Florence in February 1635, when she was involved in a court entertainment authored by Michelangelo Buonarotti the younger.3 The latter fact hints at a professional life for Caccini after her departure from Medici service and presumed second marriage. Yet most scholars have inferred from Ademollo's footnote that Caccini in

ied according to their tribal cul ture. All cultures prescribed dif ferent work roles for women and men, but the work of both sexes was valued and respected. Women in many tribes could achieve great status as warriors, medicine wo men, and artisans; in a few tribes, particularly the Navajo, women al so could become tribal leaders. In most tribes, women could divorce and remarry freely. Many tribes were matrilineal societies, tracing clan and tribal membership through the female lines. According to Maryann Oshana