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Daughters of the Alcaldes: Women of Privilege in Medieval Burgos

Guillen, Gabrielle S.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399563719

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
This thesis contributes to the historiography by locating active women of medieval Spain in sources that reveal the reality of women's actions as opposed to their ideal behavior. Evidence for women's activities comes from charters—legal documents that recorded property transfers—from various religious institutions in thirteenth-century Burgos, the historic capital of the Christian kingdom of Castile. Women participated in 60% of transactions. Empowering factors included connections to urban oligarchs, dense social networks, collective enterprise, and generous inheritances. Women were not inherently disenfranchised as property owners by virtue of sex, though their absence in the roles of witness and guarantor indicates efforts to exclude women from public space. Nonetheless, the valorization of private law and the commitment to patrimonial rights worked in women's favor to counteract (in part) the legal disabilities they faced on account of perceived feminine weaknesses. Socioeconomic status more greatly affected one's economic opportunities than did gender.
Miriam Shadis (Advisor)
Michele Clouse (Committee Member)
Katherine Jellison (Committee Member)
89 p.
History; Medieval History; Womens Studies
medieval; history; women; Spain; charters; archives; XIII; Burgos; Castile; Las Huelgas; Hospital del Rey; San Juan de Burgos; urban; oligarch; elite; widow; property; landholding; agency; inheritance; patrimony; heredad; witness; fama; community; law

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Guillen, G. S. (2014). Daughters of the Alcaldes: Women of Privilege in Medieval Burgos [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399563719

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Guillen, Gabrielle. Daughters of the Alcaldes: Women of Privilege in Medieval Burgos. 2014. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399563719.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Guillen, Gabrielle. "Daughters of the Alcaldes: Women of Privilege in Medieval Burgos." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399563719

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.