Women and wealth in late medieval Pisa (c. 1350-1420)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role played by women in inheritance practices in late medieval Pisa through an in-depth analysis of the city’s statues (Constitutum Legis) as well as a broad sample of wills dating from 1340 to 1420. To what extent could Pisan women freely own property, accumulate and transmit their wealth? How far did the situation in Pisa echo that of the north-central Italian cities where female property rights were gradually restricted and patrilineal succession reinforced? In this regard, the «Pisan model» was different from both Venetian and Florentine inheritance practices. Pisan law allowed women to inherit non-dotal assets with relative ease. Moreover, although testamentary bequests between spouses were not allowed, in their wills married men allowed a significant margin of freedom to the «widows-to-be» entrusted with managing the family estate on behalf of their children. Statutes and wills, therefore, encapsulate the different and overlapping identities of women (wives, daughters, mothers) thus enabling us to trace the profile of medieval Pisan women, who were perhaps less subjected to the male mundum than elsewhere.