Sistema de herencias - History Lab

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

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

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.

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Inheritance systems in Modern Spain

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

According to the authors of the resource, “the inheritance systems sought the joint stability of men and women, mixing collective solidarity and particularised benefits” in search of succession strategies. In contrast to the traditional simplification of inheritance transmission models, the authors show us the more complex reality of the systems in their distribution throughout the national geography. The systems of sole heirs are subdivided according to the testator’s intention to promote a male or without defined priority. Within the former, Catalonia and the north of Aragon stand out, while in the latter, the areas of Navarre and Vizcaya stand out. For the Castilian egalitarian system, two variants have also been identified according to family motivations: favouring one heir with the third of improvement and the fifth of free disposition, leaving 2/3 of the inheritance for the rest destined to the offspring, or relatives in the absence of the former. This ensured the predominance of one heir over the others, but safeguarded a part for the overall distribution. Guipúzcoa, Asturias, the mountains of Santander and the province of Lugo (the latter already in the 18th century) reproduced this system. In the rest of the Crown of Castile, equal distribution between men and women, elders and minors predominated, except in cases where, out of affection or help in the testator’s old age, the testator tended to improve the inheritance of the person who assisted him. However, in order to avoid excessive patrimonial atomisation, wills could establish a patronage, chaplaincy or entailed estate in order to fix the endowed assets and provide the successors with constant assets that could not be alienated; another formula was to use part of the patrimony as a matrimonial dowry to ensure the social and biological reproduction of the family.

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Typology of the heirs in the Sierra de Alcaraz in the 18th century

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

The transmission of property is fundamental to explain the material perpetuation of families. In most cases, children were designated as heirs, although in their absence, the property was passed on to other members of the family. Of the cases studied for the Sierra de Alcaraz, in the province of Albacete, in the 18th century almost 85% of the inheritances were destined to children, followed by spouses (9%), siblings (6.9%), grandchildren (4.6%) and nephews and nieces (3.3%). The data provided by the Sierra de Alcaraz follow the practices of the egalitarian model of the Castilian inheritance system; a descending level of transmission and with relative equivalences between men and women (53.76% and 46.24% respectively). In terms of matrimonial status, in the transmission of assets, an attempt was made to put unmarried children on an equal footing with gifted children if they had married, so that the eldest son did not benefit more than the others as a general rule. On the contrary, younger children could be given advantages because they had not yet left the family nucleus and were able to help with the work or assist the testators when they were ill. If the children were young, the spouses were appointed curators and usufructuaries or, in their absence, the closest relatives.

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