summary. the open window the other hand, had the right to use her own immovable inherited property when she wanted to donate to religious institutions or purchase care for herself. Both Swedish law of the realm and Swedish town law, issued in the second half of the 14th century, stipulated that the widow would live off of that which she herself brought into the marital estate and what she received in the so called morning gift (mogongåva) from her husband on the morning after their first night together as a married couple. In addition, town law stated that she was entitled to half of the marriage’s personal property and cash. However, the investigation has shown that these provisions of the law no longer applied in Stockholm. In Stockholm, other practices had developed. The study shows that in Stockholm, the man and woman did not keep separate the property they brought into the marriage but instead merged them. It also shows that the spouses did not exchange the gifts stipulated by the law. The term “morning gift” was not used in the examined material to denote what the law meant, namely a life insurance policy for the survivor. In Stockholm, the property that the husband brought into marriage was designated in the same way as the woman’s: namely as a dowry. When the marriage ceased due to the passing of a spouse, the commonly held property agreement ended. All marital assets were then split down the middle, whether it was the man or the woman who died. Half went to the surviving spouse; the other half went to the heirs of the deceased. The debts that existed in the marriage were normally shared between the deceased’s relatives and the surviving spouse. If the widow or widower was fortunate, the household’s finances were in balance or at least were not heavily indebted. At that time, the surviving spouse had the opportunity to continue the household’s affairs and thus become a financially attractive partner in a future marriage. During the period 1479–1530, the widow in Stockholm had as much access to the property of the marriage as the widower had. When a woman became a 296 Marital Rights
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