CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2009
| Author | Kunsmanaite, Jurgita |
|---|---|
| Title | Provisions for Widowhood in the Legal Sources of Sixteenth-Century Lithuania |
| Summary | This dissertation is on the property status of noble widows and their relation to the family property in the sixteenth-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The time frame chosen for the research is the time period between the First Lithuanian Statute of 1529 and the Second Lithuanian Statute of 1566. The materials used in the research are the sources of the normative law (the First Lithuanian Statute, the Second Lithuanian Statute, the ducal privileges and the decrees of the Council of Lords) and the records of legal practice (judicial records from the Lithuanian Metrica, the collection of the records of the chancery of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The dissertation concentrates on the analysis of the two coexisting legal models: the contractual provisions and the legal provisions. The aim was to trace the development of these two legal models, to compare them, and to see their reflection in the legal practice. The research showed that there were many similarities between these two models. The factors that were important for the property status of widows were their marital status and their parental status. The main change in the normative laws connected to dower was that of the size of the dower, and this was tightly connected to the general landholding laws. The coexistence of the two different models may be explained by the contractual provisions being easier to reinforce than the legal ones and the fact that the contractual provisions were not mandatory. In practice, many instances, although the law was followed in main features, the position of the widow depended not only on the law, but on the family circumstances, generosity of the husband, kindness and helpfulness – or animosity and greediness – of the children. |
| Supervisor | Szende, Katalin |
| Department | Medieval Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2009/mphkuj01.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University