An emotional biography of spousal abandonment: crisis and identities among women admitted to the Casa de Misericordia in Barcelona (eighteenth century)

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ABSTRACT One way of gaining insight into the lives of lower-class women who were abandoned by their husband during the early modern age is to analyse the admission files of urban care institutions. These institutions, which were gradually going to specialise in the reception of women in situations of social risk, were present in most important cities of Europe at that time. Indeed, although poverty and a lack of work were the primary reasons for seeking shelter in these places, the information that has in many cases been preserved within their admission files also reveals the role played by other challenges such as spousal abandonment. In this paper, and with the aim of shedding light on the emotional dimension of spousal abandonment, I examine the files relating to women admitted to the Casa de Misericordia in Barcelona during the eighteenth century. The statements presented in efforts to justify requests for shelter sometimes contained deeply personal and intimate detail. At other times, these statements were shaped or mediated by external forces like the authorities and prevailing moral frameworks. These accounts, documented in the admission files, serve as evidence of the profound impact that experiences of abandonment within the home have had on the individuals involved.