HERENCIAS DE LAS FAMILIAS DE COMERCIANTES DE LA CIUDAD DE BURGOS: ENTRE NEGOCIOS Y AFECTOS (1700-1850).

This research focuses on the patrimonial assets of the business families of the city of Burgos at the end of the Ancient Regime (1700-1850) and their hereditary transmission. We have used abundant documentary sources, especially wills and testamentary accounts, whose analyses shows the differences in behaviour between these bourgeois families and their counterparts in the city of León. It can be observed that in the eighteenth century, and more particularly in the second half of that century, families that had a sound financial situation favoured partible inheritance, as proved by the quantitative analysis of the testamentary accounts. They thus privileged equity among heirs over the economic interests of the family. Similarly, improvements and legacies did not only benefit the descendants that were expected to take over the business -- who were usually the first-born males. They were rather distributed on the basis of the affections felt for religious sons and daughters, underage children and the most unprotected, including also widowed spouses. Finally, pre-inheritance was hardly ever used and the transfer of properties from uncles/aunts without progeny was also rare, which reinforces the previous ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]