'Creators of Property' in Antwerp in the 16th century?

The theory of "linear grouping," a late medieval or early modern shift of preference towards kinship to the disadvantage of the surviving spouse, has been widely debated. Howell (1998) pointed out that during this transformation from the old to the new marital property regimes in late medieval Douai, women were no longer "creators of property," or individuals with economic and social interests distinct from their husbands, who could actively manage assets. Women were rather seen as "carriers of property" and thus less productive as economic actors.

However, there are many reasons to believe that this was not the case in 16th-century Antwerp, the leading commercial metropolis between c. 1520 and c. 1565. In this project, we will be looking at the development and transformation of written norms in contractual and patrimonial affairs in Antwerp in order to show a preference for the conjugal pair and the household over the kin group. This emphasis on the conjugal pair demonstrates the fact that the household was legally understood as a partnership rather than a unit exclusively managed by the husband. These changes in matrimonial, inheritance, and contract law affected women's investment opportunities. Close examination of the marital authority of husbands and the encompassing extensive rights of husbands and men in general shows that the legal texts of Antwerp introduced exceptions, which gave women in these cases more rights than initially thought.

This paper will show how Antwerp's emphasis on the conjugal pair rather than kinship influenced women's investment opportunities.