summary. the open window This study was inspired and informed by the Belgian legal historian Philippe Godding and his discussion of the social characteristics in late Middle Ages cities in l ‘Europé du Nord Ouest, which he believed included northern France (except Normandy), the Netherlands (including Flanders) and some northern German cities. In these cities, the spouses jointly owned the household’s property; the wife’s inherited property was of the same type as her husband’s and equally large; relatives’ birthright claims on spouses’ property in the city was diminished, the nuclear family always took precedence over the spouses’ respective relatives’ claims, the couple’s direct descendants were most important. In the absence of direct descendants, the tendency was to strengthen the surviving spouse’s claim at the expense of the deceased’s relatives. The city had an elaborate system for establishing guardianship for orphaned children of city burghers; the city also was administratively prepared when dealing with remarriages, which was not as common in the countryside. In what follows, how well Stockholm, during the period 1479-1530, fit into the societal model described above will be discussed. These social characteristics are in direct contrast to the situation for the nobility and the taxed peasant households during the period 1300-1500, which I have previously studied. In these households, sons and daughters did not inherit equally; in marriage their inherited property was kept strictly separate, and the inheritance rights of the family heirs were stronger than the widow’s. When a woman and a man entered a marriage in Stockholm, both commonly brought with themmovable as well as immovable property in the formof a house or parts of a house and its household inventory. This property was referred to as a dowry. If one of the spouses died without the couple having had shared children, the property the deceased brought into the marriage went directly back to the deceased’s parents, which was completely in accordance with the intentions of the law. An important result of this study shows that the spouses had ownership of half of 287 Entering marriage and joint ownership
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