Concealed power: The role of the female members of the city elite in the political, social and economic life of Zagreb Gradec

Abstract

Although women in medieval towns could not participate neither in the city government
nor in the election of the city officers, they had influence in the shaping
of the urban elite, as is demonstrated in this article on the example of Zagreb
Gradec. Women in the medieval city of Zagreb were able to obtain the full right
citizenship, which allowed them certain privileges. Besides that, they were treated
equally to male heirs according to the inheritance law. They were also treated
equally in many other aspects of the urban life such as trade or in the city court.
Some women were among the richest inhabitants of the city community, as were
Francisca Donati, Margareta Rybarica, Katarina, the widow of Sigismund Mauri,
or Katarina Soldinar. Furthemore, the usual way of integration of the new members
of the urban elite was marriage into a family which already belonged to the
urban elite, whether by marrying a daughter of the prominent citizen who was a
judge or a juror, or by marrying a widow of the former member of the elite. Good
marriage often proved to be more useful for political climb than regular kinship
ties by blood. In that way, prominent women played a great role in the integration
or consolidation of the urban elite.