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Bourbon Social Engineering: Women and Conditions of Marriage in Eighteenth-Century Venezuela*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Gary M. Miller
Gary M. Miller*
Affiliation:
College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota
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Extract

Historians have long debated the relationship between the Spanish Crown and its colonial subjects. The issue has taken on an additional dimension as our knowledge of the lives of women expands. Recently published works describe the statutes promulgated by royal authorities to regulate the institution of marriage. But what was the actual result of these laws once they crossed the Atlantic Ocean? Were they followed to the letter, partially enforced, or ignored? Did they apply to some groups and not to others? In order to answer these and other questions it seemed appropriate to focus upon the laws governing marriage and the effect of their implementation on a specific group of women—the wives of regular army officers who served in Venezuela during the last half of the eighteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , January 1990 , pp. 261 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1990

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Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge the support of the American Philosophical Society, the Bush Foundation, and the Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana for funding some of the research in Spain and Venezuela.

References

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3 Ibid

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23 Guillelmi to Valdés, Caracas, October 20, 1788, AGI CAR, leg. 112; Ibid., August 24, 1789, AGI CAR, leg. 113; Ibid., June 29, 1790, AGS GM, leg. 7224; and Memorial of José Pavía, Caracas, November 6, 1790, AGI CAR, leg. 92.

24 Juan Ramo, Bishop of Mérida, to Gálvez, Mérida, November 19, 1786, AGI CAR, leg. 882; Memorial of Jaime Moreno, Maracaibo, December 26, 1786, AGI CAR, leg. 882; Memorial of María Muñoz, Maracaibo, March 22, 1787, AGI CAR, leg. 882; and Pedro Carbonell to Juan Alvarez, Caracas, January 24, 1797, AGS GM, leg. 7229.

25 Instancia and Supporting Documents, in Guillelmi to Valdés, Caracas, June 10, 1788, AGI CAR, leg. 112.

26 Testamento of Antonio Ayala, Puerto Caballo, May 4, 1798, Archivo Arquidiocesano, Caracas, Testamentos, vol. 132; and Service Record of Antonio Ayala, Caracas, January 18, 1798, AGI CAR, leg. 843.

27 Agüero to Arriaga, Caracas, April 21, 1775, AGI CAR, leg. 83; Guillelmi to Valdés, Caracas, October 18, 1789, AGI CAR, leg. 113; and Memorial of Francisco Marmol, Margarita Island, October 10, 1799, AGI CAR, leg. 97.

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33 “Acuerdo del patronato de la Obra Pía de Chuao sobre asignación de dote,” Caracas, September 17, 1774, in Obra pía de Chuao (Caracas, 1974), 401; and Memorial of Rosalia Aguado in Unzaga to Gálvez, Caracas, January 26, 1778, AGI CAR, leg. 84.

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58 Real Declaración de su Magistad de 17 de Junio de 1773; sobre el método, y observación uniforme conque debe cumplirse en los Dominos de America lo dispuesto en el Reglamento del Monte Pío Militar expedido por su Magistad en 20 de Abril de 1761, Madrid, 1773, folios 1–3.

59 Reglamento (1761), fol. 8.

60 Ibid., fols. 12–35.

61 Ibid., fols. 72–126.

62 Ibid.; and Montepío Account Records, Guayana, 1781, AGI CAR, leg. 476.

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68 Montepío Account Records, Caracas, 1783, AGI CAR, leg. 484.

69 Service Record of Manuel Ayala, Caracas, April 30, 1755, AGI CAR, leg. 850; Memorial of Manuel Ayala, in Ricardos to Arriaga, Caracas, July 31, 1756, AGI CAR, leg. 864; and Memorial of Juana Soriano, Caracas, June 25, 1784, AGI CAR, leg. 872.

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81 Montepío Account Records, Caracas, September 29, 1784, AGI CAR, leg. 476.

82 “Testimonio de la Cuenta, Division, Partición y adjudicación de los bienes que por su fallecimiento dejo dońa Juan Jacinta Martínez de Gordon y Lugo, dentro de sus lexitimos hijos,” Cumaná, October 5, 1776, AGI CAR, leg. 129.

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90 Memorial of Pietola Roso, Cumaná, October 16, 1784, AGI CAR, leg. 479; and Guillelmi to Alange, Caracas, September 29, 1790, AGI CAR, leg. 92.

91 Memorial of Ana María González, Caracas, June 30, 1802, AGI CAR, leg. 100; and Memorial of Matías Letamendi, Caracas, October 5, 1803, AGI CAR, leg. 102.

92 Memorial of Josefa Moreno de Mendoza, Valencia (Venezuela), May 15, 1791, AGI CAR, leg. 93; and Real Cédula, El Pardo, March 6, 1785, AGI CAR, leg. 873.

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