The sample shown refers to the testamentary mandates that determined the inheritance of individuals. Despite the supposedly egalitarian inheritance, characteristic of the Castilian area, six out of every ten deeds contained an imbalance that broke with equality by improving certain family members. Of these, 31% were destined for sons and daughters, and of these, there is a greater predominance of males than females. With 17%, it was the servants who obtained an improvement, a significant fact as it reveals bonds of solidarity beyond the mercantile contract between master and servant. At the other end of the scale, only 4% of those who bequeathed more to their siblings were clerics, subject to celibacy, who bequeathed their possessions to siblings and nephews; and parents, with 9%. In the latter case, it was usually the children who died prematurely, without offspring, who improved their parents’ estates. It should be noted that improvements in inheritances were not produced as a means of ostensibly improving a child or relative, but as a type of compensation based on affection, work carried out or esteem. In short, despite the existence of improvements, they do not have a value that decisively breaks the egalitarian inheritance.
Collection: Graphics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVIII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Graph
Format: Pie chart
Source: Gómez Carrasco, Cosme Jesús (2007). Entre el mundo rural y el mundo urbano. Familia, parentesco y organización social en la villa de Albacete (1750-1808). Albacete: Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses, p. 333.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2007
Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Cosme Jesús Gómez Carrasco © Instituto de Estudios Albacetenses “Don Juan Manuel”
Abstract: Transmission of patrimony via inheritance broke the egalitarian spirit of the Castilian system. The improvements were motivated by sentimental reasons.
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