Dotes - History Lab

Wedding dowries and down payment

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

The dowry and the arras were two legal institutions that represented the contributions made by the husband and wife to the marriage. The dowry was the estate that the woman took with her when she married, which she received from her parents and which, although it was the wife’s property, would be administered by the husband for the duration of the marriage. It was common, especially in the upper classes, for families to go into debt in order to dowry their daughters in order to provide for their social advancement or to strengthen their social networks. The dowry could be made up of a variety of movable or immovable goods, or even public jobs. This would depend on the social origin of the women, with movable goods being more common in the case of maids, for example, and real estate in the case of women from wealthy families. In all cases, there would have been a trousseau, consisting of furniture, bed and table linen and household goods. The arras, on the other hand, was a donation made by the husband to the wife, which is interpreted as a contribution made for having access to the female body and the rights over the offspring. The work in the image, entitled “The Bride’s Dowry”, by José Gallegos y Arnosa, represents the formalisation of these contributions.

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The nature of the assets brought by the spouses to the marriage in the Vega baja del Esla (1700-1850)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

When studying family structures, it is easy to recognise the importance of the dowry strategy in fixing a large part of social reproduction, whether through sexual egalitarianism from the beginning of marriage, in the development of the conjugal nucleus over time or in the different stages of inheritance. This model of social reproduction reached its greatest heights in the second half of the 18th century, presenting the possibility of accumulating large amounts of property if these strategies were carried out satisfactorily.
Although theoretically the administration of the wife’s dowry is the responsibility of the husband, by separating the property of each of the spouses it is possible to appreciate the gains or losses that each of them has incurred. The same applies when analysing the nature of the assets brought into the marriage as a whole, differentiating also between what each brings to the marriage.

The post The nature of the assets brought by the spouses to the marriage in the Vega baja del Esla (1700-1850) first appeared on History Lab.

Average value of marriage dowries by artisan guilds. Albacete, 1646-1760.

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

The matrimonial dowry was an amount of movable or immovable property that the woman had to contribute to the marriage. It was a way of transmitting property between families, giving rise to a marriage market that sought consolidation or social advancement. This reproduction strategy was used by lineages and tended towards endogamy between the different social groups. The value of dowries was a reflection of the family’s economic situation: the higher the dowry, the wealthier the family that provided it. Consequently, the study of dowries can determine the material conditions of households according to their economic activity. An example of this is the city of Albacete. Between 1646 and 1760, within the group of artisans, the dowry could vary significantly according to the branch of production carried out. Thus, while the average value of the dowry for espadrille makers was 1,211 reales, that of boilermakers rose to 9,185 reales. Blacksmiths, hairdressers, weavers, riggers and carpenters were in the middle bracket, with figures ranging between 4,000 and 5,000 reais. The coveted trade of coppersmith is a reflection of the fact that the social prestige, material work and economic status of this group meant a good opportunity for a profitable marriage.

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Professions of the husbands and fathers of the brides of Lower Extremadura (17th century)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:07 +0000

The wife brought to the marriage, either by herself or other persons on her behalf, a series of assets from the paternal surplus, which constituted the anticipation of a legitimate inheritance received at the time of the constitution of a new family. It was the husband who received the assets and, on the other hand, became the administrator of them with the obligation to return them to the heirs or the wife herself in the event of divorce or death of the husband. These goods delivered could appear with the estimate of the prices -estimated price- or without it, indicating only the description of the goods. As for the male professions, labourers are owners of land and livestock in large quantities, while cangueros are small taxpayers with little land and a few animals. Day labourers did not own agricultural real estate and worked for wages. The artisans, on the other hand, have all the distributions made during the 17th century as small taxpayers satisfying local needs. On the other hand, the graduates are those people in the service sector who needed certain studies in order to exercise their profession. 72% of marriages took place between families with the same qualifications, and this was more pronounced among farmers (84%). Along with wealth, there were two hierarchies of power: the possession of council posts and cleanliness of blood. Honour, power and wealth go hand in hand, as all the mayors and councillors who appear in the letters of dowry fall into the category of peasants, as do those who declare their nobility.

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Approximation to the value of dowry letters in the Sierra de Alcaraz in the 18th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

The dowry was the movable and immovable property that the woman brought to the marriage. Its amount and composition varied according to the economic possibilities of the family: clothes, kitchen utensils, furniture and household goods were the most common. From the studies carried out in the Sierra de Alcaraz (province of Albacete) for the 18th century, we obtain that the average value of the dowry was 10,086 reals. This average is the result of a clear inequality between the few most valuable dowries (10% of the dowries were worth more than 25,000 reales, accounting for 44% of the overall amount) and the greater number of dowries with a value ranging between 1,000 and 5,000 reales: 52% of the cases. This 52% is a reflection of the general economic inequality, although regional variables can be observed; in the cities of Lorca and Murcia this percentage drops to 40; the party of Cáceres shows similar data, although the city of Cáceres doubles the average amount of the dowry in relation to the Sierra de Alcaraz. The variability is explained through socio-economic factors predominant in each place, as well as its demographic structure and property ownership.

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Contributions to marriage in the Sierra de Alcaraz according to wills (18th century)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

Wills, like wills and letters of dowry, were another way of contributing movable and immovable property to the marriage. Being a much more widespread practice than dowry deeds, their information is of great importance. From the set of wills studied for the Sierra de Alcaraz (province of Albacete) in the 18th century, we found that in around 35-45% of the cases the contracting parties had contributed something to the marriage. Of the total cases, 41.3% had brought no more than 500 reales, a small figure compared to the average: 3,566 reales. In terms of gender, women contributed more frequently than men, but their value was lower than that of men (averages of 2,687.5 versus 5,170.9 reais). The differentiation between men and women was also determined by what they contributed; while men tended to give tools linked to agricultural work (tools, chickens, small livestock or grain), women’s goods corresponded to the domestic sphere (clothes, frying pans, beds…). Affective relationships within the family were evident when the kinsmen helped their maidens with goods. In the same way, friends could contribute to the dowry of the woman, although these cases were more widespread the higher the social and economic status of the bride’s family.

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