Affective networks across the divide: singlewomen, the notarial archive, and social connections in the late medieval Mediterranean

Abstract

Though previous scholarship has presumed singlewomen in medieval Southern Europe were nearly non-existent and had few means, notarial sources from the late medieval Mediterranean reveal not only that singlewomen were present in the thriving port cities, but also that they created extensive networks among other women and men in order to survive and in some cases to flourish. Some had children out of wedlock, some were formerly enslaved, others traveled long distances and still remembered family members in their places of origin, and many built new communities in their homes. Indeed, it is remarkable that many of these migrant and formerly enslaved women created deep ties to both local and migrant neighbors, and their actions suggest a sense of responsibility to manumit other enslaved peoples and give charity to poor women. We investigate how singlewomen strategically used their final wills and testaments and other notarial documents to sustain, post-mortem, the networks that nurtured the women in their life, both friends and family members. We consider how women bestowed personal goods and financial legacies to maintain and memorialize their relationships and to sustain community, even in their absence.