Trousseau according to the Ius municipale Magdeburgense by Paweł Szczerbic and the position of a woman in the craftsman family at the beginning of the early modern time

Abstract

In order to present the subject of this article, I have chosen the version of Ius municipale by Paweł Szczerbic, who was a lawyer practicing in Lviv and Cracow in the 16th century. The version published in 1581, in the Old Polish language, contains the largest amount of information about the woman’s trousseau in comparison with the earlier statutes: Latin statutes by Jan Łaski (1506) and by Mikołaj Jaskier (1535) as well as the first Polish language version by Bartłomiej Groicki (1558).
The analysis of the set of items belonging to a bride, a wife, a widow, which was then inherited by her closest female relatives, indicates that a woman owned not only all her clothes and garments (constituting, in the eyes of the lawmaker, complete female apparel), but also furnishings of all the household spaces in which she played the leading role. Also some possessions which could generate further income during a marriage (including livestock: sheep, geese and ducks) belonged to a women’s property. Moreover, some items constituting a trousseau, according to the law, were to be used by a woman in her craft, e.g. in professional weaving carried out on her own by a wife during a husband’s life (if he did not participate in that particular craft). In this case (there are no such legal stipulations for other crafts), not only raw materials, but also complete looms, despite them being the main tools of the trade, formed a part of the trousseau. In case of other trades, craft tools were a husband’s hereditary possessions, unless those brought into the marriage as part of a trousseau were leased to other people and not used by a couple to make their living. In the last instance, they stayed a part of a trousseau (e.g. sometimes brewing boilers).
Although a lot of space was devoted in the statutes of ius Magdeburgense and in the glosses to those statutes to characterise and establish what and when formed a part of trousseau, the lawmakers allowed to infringe its inviolability in some instances, e.g. by selling or pledging of items to support a sick wife. The profits from a trousseau and from a well invested dowry were sometimes higher than gains from the trade carried out by a family (household). Taking into consideration also a women’s work in a household, including her participation in a craft, it is difficult to view a wife as being dependant on a husband’s work and money. Therefore, in a wife’s “own income” constituting a part of daily living of a household, one can see an explanation of a strong position of some wives and later widows of master craftsmen, which is shown in, for instance, last wills of members of artisan families in Cracow.
Nonetheless, in accordance with the ius Magdeburgense, all newly becoming widows were provided with, apart from a dower and a trousseau, sustenance (in the mentioned legal statutes named as cibaria domestica, vitae provisionem, pulmentarium/pulmentaria, strawa jednego roku) equal to a half of food prepared yearly for a household. If it was not used as it was taken from the inheritance left by a deceased husband, it was to be returned to his heirs.