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

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

In the case of Catalina de Luna, the renuncia was a de facto will. [14] Claiming the right to "dispose of her estate as well as the legitimas from my parents" (her parents were dead and her grandmother appeared with her when she made her profession), she endowed the chapel of the Incarnation at the convent of San Quirce where she was making her profession. Ines Gasca used her renuncia to "will" 600 ducados to her female servant to be put towards the young woman's dowry. [15]

The renuncia could be subject to other qualifications. At Adriana Helso's profession she did not renounce all of her legitimas or rights to the future partible inheritance of her parenrs. [16] She reserved at least 300 ducados, specifying that her brothers and sisters could not withhold this amount from her. If her legitimas exceeded 300 ducados, the surplus was to go to her convent, Santa Isabel. Similarly, Maria Turregano reserved 20,000 maravedis of her legitimas for herself, specifying that the sum would go to her convent, Santa Catalina, upon her death. Her sense of proprietorship was clear: she referred to this amount as "her estate." [17]

Other financial considerations, in addition to the dowry, tied daughters to the familial patrimony. Families were usually required to pay a fixed yearly maintenance allowance or alimentos to cover their daughters' incidental expenses beyond those met by the convent. Further, most convents distinguished between the period of a woman's novitiate and her formal profession. Families were supposed to provide in both instances. Thus, when Gregoria de Pereda expressed her intent to enter Santa Isabel her family obligated itself to provide a dowry of 800 ducados when she made her formal profession. During the year of her novitiate it was supposed to give the convent 100 ducados as a maintenance allowance. Finally, the family was to furnish 12,000 maravedis every year after her profession for her food and clothing. [18]

Convents also required other payments. Over time, these became more and more complex. The profession of Vitoria Espinosa y Guevara at San Quirce in 1629, for example, obligated her family to make the following financial provisions: 1000 ducados for her dowry; 50 ducados of alimentos during the year of her novitiate; 130 ducados for wax and other necessities on the day of her profession; 200 reales for an altar cloth when she took the habit; and 50 ducados yearly for her necessities, clothes and furnishings. [19] At Maria Antonia Gardoyque's profession in 1671 she and her family pledged to pay an entrance fee (literally propinas, a tip or "extra") of 100 ducados, a profession fee of 100 ducados, and 50 ducados as a type of trousseau on the day she took the habit. [20] All of these payments were in addition to her dowry and alimentos. Upon agreeing to pay the dowries required by Santa Maria de las Huelgas, the father of Gregoria de Vera and Juana de Vera y Herrera also pledged to provide the "customary fees" ( propinas acostumbradas) of 220 ducados that went towards wax, food, and collations, on the day they took the veil. [21] Because these payments were made as supplements or incrementally, they necessarily required the female relative to maintain a connection to family property. If they were not paid promptly, the nun and the convent had a financial stake in securing the family's compliance.