In the 18th century, different social groups developed different inheritance behaviours. Although Castilian inheritance legislation tended towards equal distribution, there were improvements that could unbalance the amount of inheritance. In El Bierzo, in the families of the Dones or hidalguía, 85.4% of the assets were distributed equally in legitimate, being the improvements of Tercio and Quinto, separately, 0.4% and 0.2% respectively. It was common for both improvements to be combined into one, in what is known as “mejora del tercio y quinto” where, in this case, the percentage rose to 14%. This means that the nobility tended to favour a single member of the family. On the other hand, the bourgeoisie showed heterogeneous behaviour. In El Bierzo, the improvement of the Quinto surpassed that of the Tercio and the Conjuntas, but not the administrative bourgeoisie of the city of León, where the Quinto and the Conjuntas were comparable. The peasantry, together with the commercial bourgeoisie and, above all, the liberal professions, in the city of León, had the highest rate of legitimacy with 93.4%, 95.6% and 100%. The mentality and the patrimonial development of the families was, therefore, very much conditioned by the inheritance: the higher the percentage of legitimate, the greater the egalitarian distribution, while the higher the convergence of the Tercio and the Quinto, the greater the empowerment of one heir over the others.

Collection: Statistics

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

Link: https://www.adeh.org/revista/2009,%201/Bartolome%20Bartolome.pdf

Resource type: Statistics

Format: Table

Source: Bartolomé Bartolomé, J. M. (2009)."Las prácticas hereditarias en la provincia de León. Cantidades y bienes que escapan al reparto igualitario y a las legítimas (1700-1850)", en Revista de Demografía Histórica, XXVII, 1, p. 49.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2009

Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)

Copyright: ©Revista de Demografía Histórica ©Juan Manuel Bartolomé Bartolomé

Abstract: Distribution of inheritances to see the distribution of inheritances according to social groups, analysing the impact of the legitimate, third of improvement and fifth of free disposal in both rural and urban areas

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