Convents As Litigants: Dowry And Inheritance Disputes In Early-Modern Spain

Journal of Social History, Spring, 2000 by Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt

Any understanding of these conflicts should be grounded in a complete understanding of the dramatic transition signified by a daughter's profession in a convent. By the mid- to late sixteenth century, bowing to the dictates of the Council of Trent, this was an increasingly formalized ceremony. The woman making a profession stood at the door to the monastic cloister and answered a series of questions put to her by the bishop or some other ecclesiastical dignitary. These questions ensured that her profession was true and voluntary and that she was prepared to live by the disciplinary and pious standards of the monastic community. This ceremony also signaled the beginning of her novitiate--a year-long "trial" period in which she lived among the convent community, observing its rules and strictures. At the end of this year, if it was still her will to enter the monastic life, she made her formal profession and took her solemn vows, thereby becoming a fully recognized member of the community.

This transition involved her welcome into a new community, and as some have argued, a new "home" in the fullest sense of that word. [7] It was also supposed to mark a break with the woman's natal family and worldly connections. This severing of ties to the secular world was emphatically underscored by the contract that accompanied the ceremony made at the beginning of the woman's novitiate. This contract, which was both financial and religious in its implications, served to set the rules for all subsequent interactions between the woman and her family.

Not unlike a marriage contract, this document transferred the daughter from her natal home to her new family, in this case, the convent. In theory, this signified that she became "dead to the world" and all things temporal. A significant part of this contract was the renuncia with which a woman renounced all claims to future inheritances or familial property.

Although they were turning their back on the secular world, nuns were entitled to a dowry at the time of their profession according to Spanish inheritance law. This dowry was essentially an advance on the daughter's inheritance from her father (a system of partible inheritance, though subject to numerous manipulations, was in force in Spain) and was composed of her share of his bienes libres (the heritable portion of an estate). Because she was enjoying this inheritance during her father's lifetime and because she was entering a religious house and taking an at least modified vow of poverty, a daughter typically renounced her claims (made a renuncia) to all future inheritances. [8]

Yet the evidence suggests that the renuncia did not mean that daughters definitively severed their ties to familial property. For many nuns, the renuncia was a potentially empowering experience. Many women used the renuncia as a legal opportunity to administer at least portions of what it was they were renouncing. [9] As they renounced their rights to future inheritances these women designated who could receive them in their stead. Female relatives figured prominently in these designations. Juana de Heraso made her renuncia in 1597 when she entered Santa Maria de las Huelgas. She renounced any future inheritances to the benefit of her mother. [10] This renunciation, however, was conditional. In return, she requested that her mother pay her dowry, alimentos, and the costs of her veil (Juana's father was dead). If her mother did not fulfill these obligations then Juana ordered that her renuncia would go to her brothers. Luisa de Collantes made her renunciation in favor of the aunt who paid her dowry and other entrance expenses. [11] Ines and Manuela Villamicar used their renuncias to provide for their mother since their father was dead. Each woman, upon making her profession (the dates of their profession were separated by five years), left property to their mother, Manuela de Castro. [12] In 1600 Maria de Larieta re-made her renuncia. [13] Originally she had made her renuncia in favor of her brothers and sisters. Yet by 1600 they had all died and therefore Maria was redirecting her renuncia to the benefit of her aunt.