Medieval Family Transfer Of Property In Western Europe And The Status Of Women

This thesis primarily studies the inheritance~ property transfer and women in Medieval Western Europe. It concerns the ways and the contents of the inheritance and the transfer. Its intention is to illustrate the position of the medieval women in the inheritance and the transfer.This thesis says that the position of the medieval women improved step by step. As the inheritance is concerned, in the early Middle Ages~ there were few women that possessed the rights of the estate inheritance; in the eleven century, after the primogeniture appeared, most of the women lost the rights of the estate inheritance; until the thirteen century had the women not got these inheritance rights again, especially~ the 揺ntail?could make the widow as the householder; in the late Middle Ages, the widows enjoyed more and more financial security. In terms of the property transfer, we can study it from the following three aspects: bridewealth~ dowry and dower. Bridewealth is a present or gift by a man to or for his bride. At first, the gift was to the wife抯 father; later, the present was to the bride herself. Dowry is the money or property the wife brings her husband, and the portion given with the wife. From the chattel to the estate, dowry had been getting weighted. Dower is the portion of a deceased husband抯 estate which the law allows to his widow for her life. In the high Middle Ages, the law regulated that the widows could inherit 1/3 property of her husband抯. But in fact, in the 14tb and l5~ century widows had inherited more than 1/3 property~ sometimes even 112---2/3. In a word, the medieval women had more and more property rights.