Women, Dowries and Agency - Marriage in Fifteenth-Century Valencia

Informationen zum Autor Dana Wessell Lightfoot is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Northern British Columbia Klappentext This book examines labouring-status women in late medieval Valencia as they negotiated the fundamentally defining experience of their lives: marriage. Through the use of notarial records and civil court cases, it argues that the socio-economic and immigrant status of these women greatly enhanced their ability to exercise agency not only in choosing a spouse and gathering dotal assets, but also in controlling this property after they wed. Although the prevailing legal code in Valencia appeared to give wives little authority over these assets, court records demonstrate that they were still able to negotiate a measure of control. In these actions, labouring-status wives exercised agency by protecting their marital goods from harm, using legal statutes to their own advantage.In looking at the experiences of labouring-status women, this monograph shifts the debate regarding women's access to and control of property in the medieval period. Exploring a group previously unexamined by scholars, it argues that our understanding of women's marital strategies changes, challenging the central role of blood and marital kin in these negotiations. Zusammenfassung Examines labouring-status women in late medieval Valencia as they negotiated the fundamentally defining experience of their lives: marriage -- . Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction1. The making of marriage in fifteenth-century Valencia: canon law, civil law and community opinion2. Marital alliances and the choice of spouse3. Marital property of labouring-status wives4. Germanía contracts: the exception to the rule5. Earning the dowry: domestic service and donations6. The right to property: dowry restitution in fifteenth-century ValenciaConclusionAppendix BibliographyIndex

Info autore

Dana Wessell Lightfoot is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Northern British Columbia

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Dana Lightfoot, Dana Wessell Lightfoot, Lightfoot Dana Wessell, Dana Wessell Lightfoot
• Con la collaborazione di: Pamela Sharpe (Editore), Penny Summerfield (Editore)
• Editore: Manchester University Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 30.11.2013
• EAN: 9780719089466
• ISBN: 978-0-7190-8946-6
• Pagine: 232
• Serie: Gender in History; Gender in History; Gender in History (Hardcover)
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Sociologia > Teorie sociologiche; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Storia > Medioevo; European History, Spain, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Marriage & Family, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, HISTORY / Women, Sociology: family & relationships, c 1000 CE to c 1500, Social and cultural history, Gender studies: women, Gender studies: women and girls, Sociology: family and relationships, HISTORY / Europe / Spain