Viudedad - History Lab

Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia accompanied by Magdalena Ruiz

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

The Infanta Clara Eugenia, depicted by Sánchez Coello, is depicted with a portrait of her father Philip II in one of her hands. The Infanta was a woman of great intellectual worth and a great support to her father in the tasks of government, a fact that possibly authorised her to marry at the age of 32, handing her the government of the Low Countries and the duchy of Burgundy, where the Infanta earned the respect of her subjects. On the other hand, Magdalena Ruiz, pictorially depicted as subordinate to the Infanta, was part of the court of the Habsburgs and was considered a royal plaything, valued among the European courts. She was married, widowed and raised two children: the daughter was to become a nun and the son a servant to the king. In addition to being in the service of Joan of Austria (married to John Manuel of Portugal), she was appreciated by Philip II, who wrote several comments about her in letters sent to his daughters during his stay at the Portuguese court.

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Life cycle and widowhood in inland Spain in 1753

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

The graph shows the life cycle of widows. It shows that their proportion peaks between the ages of 50 and 60 with 27.2%. This remains stable at around 25.7% in the next decade of their lives, between 60 and 70. This is not the case from the age of 70 onwards, when mortality increases considerably, leading to a downward trend. In comparison, the life cycle of widowers evolves in a similar way, although at later ages we observe how they tended to be more lonely than women, a behaviour that can be explained by the fact that mothers, more than fathers, would go on to live with their children.

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Female heads of household in inland Spain in 1753 (%)

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

To speak of female heads of household in inland Spain is to speak of widowhood. Only a tenth were single and their number decreased even more from the age of 50 onwards. Women over 50 accounted for 60 percent of female-headed households, compared to 30 percent of men at the same age. This difference, apart from the higher male mortality rate, reflected to a large extent the unequal behaviour of the sexes when it came to remarriage.

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The post Female heads of household in inland Spain in 1753 (%) first appeared on History Lab.