The Change in Inheritance Issues in France from 1300-1600

A detailed Summary of The Change in Inheritance Issues in France from 1300-1600

During the period 1300 to the mid 1600s, Europe experienced its great boom in trade and commerce. Newfound riches were pouring in and a new class of people arose, basing their wealth on this influx. Economic instability ensued, upsetting many old trade patterns and businesses. Also during this time, disease, warfare, and economic downturns added to the turmoil of everyday European life. It was amidst this changing world that the residents of Douai, France reformed their traditional customary law to a new legal system. The Douaisiens' shift in inheritance preferences was not the consequence of any single specific factor. Rather it was due to the "instabilities in the socioeconomic system;" a slowly formed result of many issues in Douaisien life, including aspects of the economy, gender relations, and inheritance ideals. This shift from custom to contracts brought with it a dramatic change in the gender code as well as a greatly altered set of rules pertaining to the distinction between a wife's chattels and her husband's.

As Howell herself states, "The reform was not a direct response to any single event in this local history, or even to a particular set of events." However, one can identify some of the influential fac

And it was during this time that women were often able to manipulate the system to their own desires through invocation of principles from both the new regime and the old custom. Often, a widow would shirk the household's debt and draw instead what holdings she wished.

tors involved with this reform. The economy at this time, as was previously stated, was rapidly changing and Douai's chief industry, drapery production, was under constant pressure. During these years of economic uncertainty, "the drapery [of Douai] lost its distinctive mark as a major producer for export markets [in these years]; it fell into the ranks of simple producer for local markets, the same role that most cities had always played, and even then that role gradually diminished in importance." Douai's chief industry lost its importance to the world market, leaving Douai no longer a booming, prosperous, rich city. Instead, Douai's economy was reduced to that of the other nearby towns, relying on local trade and commerce instead of extremely profitable foreign exports. Thus, the transfer of wealth was an important process to those who had acquired it. In this time of instability, the maintenance of money became all the more important because bad investments more easily resulted in a permanent loss, and one could never be sure what the next financial shift would produce. Thus, as citizens watched the economy fluctuating around them, they began to change the ways they chose to pass on their material goods. These new methods strayed away from the customary scheme of a nuclear household, where the hous

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Approximate Word count = 1071
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History