Widowhood and Remarriage in Sixteenth-Century Paris

Abstract

This article analyzes the social, economic, and legal position of Parisian widows in the second half of the sixteenth century. Three principal aspects of widowhood are discussed: the position of the widow in the break-up of the family's economic community that occurred with the death of the head of the household, the continuing role of the widow in the management of family properties, and the situation of the widow who remarried. The author argues that sixteenth-century notions of feminine frailty and the legal incapacity of married women in sixteenth- century Paris must be understood within the context of a traditional concern for the protection of the family line and property, and that there is an ironic contrast between the presumed frailty of the female sex and the important responsibilities for the management of family affairs and property with which widows were in fact entrusted.