Los inventarios post-mortem como fuente privilegiada para el estudio de la historia de la cultura material en la Edad Moderna

Abstract

This work analyses the importance for historians, past and present, of one of the richest legal sources in terms of information: the inventories of the deceased. These documents, which have often been criticised not only because of the gaps they contain, but because of their limitations with regard to representativeness or reliability, nevertheless constitute an ideal source for the study of the material culture of the communities of the Ancien Régime. An analysis of such inventories sheds light on aspects of everyday life such as food, housing, furniture, hygiene and dress, among others, providing a better understanding of both rural and the urban societies of the Modern Age.