summary. the open window fore, the wife’s and the husband’s inherited property were kept separate, which thus resulted in the couple not being able to claim shares in each other’s inherited property. The administrative rights over property in these marriages was mostly only held by the husband. The wife was first allowed access to the property she brought into the marriage or property that was acquired during the marriage only in the event she survived her husband. How these properties were defined differed depending on where one resided in Europe. DuringNorthern Europe’s latemedieval expansion phase, themarital law that governed property relations in city marriages placed a drag on the economic mobility that burghers sought. Burghers needed to free themselves from the restrictions that older laws placed on immovable property, so that individuals could use them freely, without interference from lineal heirs. Many cities were governed by customary laws, which in the Late Middle Ages were departed from through the creation of new forms of transaction, such as testamentary gifts between spouses or to the wife, marriage contracts that circumvented older laws, and sales that were disguised as loans. In Sweden, marriage contracts that deviated from the law were not allowed and people were obliged to hold to the Swedish town law, which was established just over 100 years prior to the starting point of the period under review. For the council and mayors of Stockholm to change the then existing permissible conditions, the city of Stockholm had to reinterpret the Swedish town law to its own advantage, which is a change that is examined. Also investigated are the prohibitions against property transfers that the council and mayors in Stockholm created to promote burgher commerce. The Swedish town law decree regarding inheritance and preemptive rights was set against the practices that had been developed in burgher households in Stockholm. What is especially considered in this study is what effects these reinterpretations and practices had on women. The importance of how inheritance and property rights were formulated should not be underestimated. The medieval owner of real property was allowed access to capital, to obtain credit for investments, to secure loans on interest, to buy an annuity for elderly maintenance as well as to attain other bene285
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=