Abstract

The article examines inheritance practices of merchants from a trans-local perspective in the context of early modern globalization and their links to marriage practices, household structures, and business strategies. By analyzing inheritance practices of Tyrolean and Lombardian merchants in the Spanish port city of Cádiz during the eighteenth century, the relevance of intergenerational and trans-territorial resource transfers for merchant families is addressed through the lens of the relationship between kinship, trade, and inheritance norms. Most Lombardian and Tyrolean merchants who migrated to Cádiz formed family and household structures through marriages at their new place of settlement. Dowries received locally and the influx of capital, some of which came from Central Europe through trans-local inheritance, created or greatly expanded business capital. In turn, when merchants acted as testators they opted for local intergenerational rather than trans-local inheritance patterns. Prevailing inheritance norms played an important role in the mobilization of dowries and first-generation capital flows to Cádiz, but could be circumvented by various legal strategies based on social agreements with the aim of promoting the greatest possible concentration of capital. Despite official legal restrictions, women took an active role in this process. In addition to kinship, social relations based on trust and emotional attachment, which were strongly linked to household structures, played a central role in this process