Aproximaciones al estudio de los testamentos de mujeres en Cuenca: memoria y herencia, 1860-1900

Abstract

This report’s main purpose is to study the testaments of women from Cuenca as documents that permit the comprehension of 19th century cultural, religious, quotidian and moral code habits. Moreover, these eyewitness accounts enable the reader to make sense of the sociocultural mechanisms linked to the designation of legitimate heirs, property inheritance and religious praxis. Examples of the latter are as follows: the preparation of corpses and the bonds between testator and religious communities, all significant practices that involved economic or property interchange. This study also focuses on bodies of law connected with the repartition of estates. For instance, the Ecuadorian Civil Code of 1889 that dealt with the distribution of personal property.