A. Interactions between Genders:
1. Courtship and Marriage:
a. The Marriage Market in Brazil and the Rush to
the Convent
b. Sex Before Marriage. . . in a Catholic Society?
c. Inquisitors in the Bedroom
2. Illegitimacy and Social Status
3. Honor and Virtue
a. Dons, Doñas, Doñcellas
b. Plebian Honor and Virtue
B. Crime
1. Types of Crimes to Reach Courts
2. “He will be dragged half-naked by a beast of burden
through all the accustomed streets. . .”
Sentencing and violence
3. The Bourbon Reforms Part I
Key Terms:
Palabra de Casamiento
Hijo Natural Partible Inheritance |
Terça
Honor Cuarteles Mayores |
Charles III
Haircutting Legal Minority |
Ann Twinam, "Honor and Sexuality and Illegitimacy" in Sexuality and Marriage, pp.118-155.
Michael Scardaville, "(Hapsburg) Law and (Bourbon) Order, State Authority, Popular Unrest and the Criminal Justice System in Bourbon Mexico City" in The Americas, pp.501-525.
Susan M. Socolow "Women and Crime: Buenos Aires," in Problems of Order in Changing Societies, pp. 39-54.
Questions for Consideration:
1. How and why did the Spanish and Portuguese crowns legally treat illegitimate individuals differently than legitimates? How much did having an "illegitmate" marriage affect the elite women studied by Twinam? What about the children? Consider what your findings mean in terms of the relative strength of Spanish laws and hegemonic values.
2. What do the types of crimes committed and who committed them tell us about Spanish urban society and, especially, women's role within it? How did the changes in crime and punishment discussed by Scardaville reflect changing ideas about the nature of society on the part of the royalty in Spain?