Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.21857/yk3jwhkwo9
The Role of Family Ties in the Formation of the Urban Elite of the Gradec of Zagreb
Bruno Škreblin
; Hrvatski institut za povijest, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Kinship and family ties exercised a great influence on the composition of the city magistracy, especially on the highest function within the magistracy, that of city judge and jurors. Belonging to an important family secured social reputation and status, and it was frequently the case that members of the same families held different positions within the same magistracy. It is particularly evident that city judges very frequently had some family member or kinsman who had served in previous years in the magistracy. Out of a total of 94 citizens who held the position of the city judge in the period considered here, from 1350 to 1525, family and kinship connections with some previous jurors and judges are established for 33 of them. Most frequently, the type of connection was affinal: that is to say, judges were most frequently sons-in-law or husbands of widows of former judges or jurors. There were fewer recorded patrilinear connections, and it is important to stress the rarity of cases of inheriting the function of judge on the basis of the patrilinear principle: it is established in only five cases that father and son held the position of city judge. Sons of judges more frequently remained only jurors or councillors. The importance of belonging to some distinguished family may be seen also in the fact that in Gradec at least fourteen different families could be identified whose closer or more distant members held the positions of judges for a shorter or longer period. However, the urban elite was not closed: many members of these families were in fact newcomers in the city, who obtained additional repute by marrying a daughter or a widow of some respectable citizen. Almost a third of the city judges in the period under research were newcomers, and for many of them it is established that they were connected by marriage to some older respectable family. In that fact, there may be observed the role of women in creating, integrating and consolidating urban elites. If only the biological aspect is considered, then we may say that long-lasting families in Gradec were the exception rather than the rule, because for only two families may it be established that they lasted in local politics for four generations, and very few lasted through three generations. The reasons for the disappearance of particular families were partly of a biological nature, caused by the high rate of mortality in medieval cities, and partly of an economic nature. The latter is frequently connected to inheritance-related matters, because sons and daughters of respected citizens had a right to equal shares of property, and thus, if a respected citizen had more children, an equal part of the inheritance belonged to each of them. Because of that, only rarely might sons live off their fathers’ inheritance, and they had to maintain their fathers’ success in business to retain their social standing.
Ključne riječi
Gradec of Zagreb; urban elite; family history; the Middle Ages; social history
Hrčak ID:
179581
URI
Datum izdavanja:
30.12.2016.
Posjeta: 2.006 *