Los testamentosUna fuente documental sobre las mujeres en la vida del Emperador Carlos V

Abstract

Death and religiosity in the 16th century were two aspects very present in the society daily life of that time. The concern for the soul salvation was constant, because of all the different dangers in life (plague, famine, war). Therefore, the wills were compulsory for everyone who had something to bequeath and wanted to have a good death. For that reason, they are an extraordinary documentary source to study the beliefs and private devotions. At the same time, they also offer valuable information that allows to know other details of people’s private life. In this case, our goal is to approach the concept of female death in royalty and other aspects related to religion and daily life of royal women in the early modern period. To do so, we focus in the wills of some women related to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, as his wife Isabella of Portugal and his sister Catherine of Austria. Through their last wills, we have found out what was the cause to write them, their devotions, how and where they wanted to be buried, which relationship they had with members of their family and their service, what goods they had, etc.