Map of the areas of single heir predominance in Aragon during the Modern Age

During the Modern Age, the Kingdom of Aragon had a system of unequal transmission of inheritance, i.e. the testator had free disposal of his goods to bequeath them in any quantity and amount to the parent or parents he wished, obliged only to reserve 5 sueldos in money and 5 in white lands for each of the legitimate children. In effect, for all those with sufficient movable and immovable property to bequeath, a single heir could be chosen almost exclusively, in contrast to the Castilian system of equal distribution of inheritance. The resource shows the distribution in the Kingdom of Aragon of the areas where the family policy of the sole heir predominated; in the north, the Pyrenean valleys and the Cinca valley, and in Lower Aragon, the districts of Matarraña and Guadalope. For these areas, the author observes that the sole heir used to receive real estate on condition that it formed part of his matrimonial capitulation. However, the rest of the kingdom opted for an equal distribution, although there were several variants depending on family affinity or the carrying out of a “quita”: leaving the inheritance to the spouse and the latter, upon testament, distributing it among those children who showed the best behaviour, or reserving assets to be used for the salvation of the soul through the masses of souls, the foundation of chaplaincies, patronages or pious works.

Collection: Images

Project: 0. What is Europe? The European Spaces in the history of Europe., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.

Chronology: XVI, XVII, XVIII

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: https://revistas.usal.es/index.php/Studia_Historica/article/view/shhmo2016382137165/15939

Resource type: Image

Format: Map

Source: Jarque Martínez, E. y Alfaro Pérez, F. J. (2016). "Herencia, honor y conflictos familiares en el Aragón del siglo XVIII", en Studia Historica, vol. 38, nº 2, p. 143.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2016

Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)

Abstract: Map showing the greater implementation of the family policy of the sole heir in the Kingdom of Aragon during the Modern Age, as opposed to the egalitarian distribution of inheritance

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