In the 15th century, the city of Valencia was a commercial emporium and a cosmopolitan location in the Mediterranean. The commercial boom of the city, accentuated in the 15th century, also implied an increase in social and economic inequalities and therefore an increase in the population on the threshold of misery. Prostitution also obeyed these general dynamics of misery, but also an opportunity for enrichment, given that the city was a continuous flow of travellers and merchandise, as Pablo Pérez García says. Prostitution was regulated by the kings of the Crown of Aragon, creating an institutionalised building, the brothel, which was under the authority of the cities. For the study of prostitution in Valencia, we have the Llibres de Cédules and the accounting books of the urban court. However, these sources have a number of problems, such as their preservation and the lack of precision of the actors in question (Pablo Pérez García). The practice of prostitution outside the legal channels was punishable and in this sense, records are kept of women who had problems with the justice system, where they were often fined and even imprisoned. The social profile of these women who practised clandestine prostitution, according to Pablo Pérez García, was that of single/widowed women who carried out other secondary jobs such as maids, seamstresses, maids, etc.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe., 7. Persecuted by justice and powers: rebels, political dissidents and criminals in the history of Europe., 8. Women and the change for gender equality in Europe.
Chronology: XV, XVI
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: http://rua.ua.es/dspace/handle/10045/4636
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: PÉREZ GARCÍA, Pablo. “Un aspecto de la delincuencia común en la Valencia pre-agermanada: la "prostitución clandestina" (1479-1518)”. Revista de historia moderna. N. 10 (1991). ISSN 0212-5862, pp. 11-41
Language: Spanish
Date: 1991
Owner: Djebril Bouzidi (Modernalia)
Identifier: PÉREZ GARCÍA, Pablo. “Un aspecto de la delincuencia común en la Valencia pre-agermanada: la "prostitución clandestina" (1479-1518)”. Revista de historia moderna. N. 10 (1991). ISSN 0212-5862, pp. 11-41
Copyright: © Pablo Pérez García y © Revista de Historia Moderna
Abstract: Table showing women prosecuted for the crime of unlawful prostitution between 1479 and 1518
Tags
