FEMALES ALSO RUN BUSINESS. MERCHANTS' WIVES AND FEMALE MERCHANTS IN THE CROPVN OF ARAGON (FOURTEENTH-FIFTEENTH CENTURY).

This paper explores the involvement of women in business during the Late Middle Ages. Our research has focused on the activities undertaken by women living in the most important economic centres of the Crown of Aragon, taking into consideration the contributions made by female historians who have carried out their studies in other areas. The research hypothesis is that mothers and wives took over businesses in critical periods with such efficiencythattheybecaniea threat to the interests of their merchant fathers and husbands. To demonstrate this, unpublished records preserved in the Historical Protocols Archive of Barcelona, the Historical Notarial Protocols Archive of Zaragoza, the Crown of Aragon Archive, and the Archivio di Stato di Prato have been studied together with other published references. Data arising from these files demonstrate that, in the absence of men, women carried out efficiently the management functions of the companies. Wives, widows, and daughters of merchants, were independent women that actively participated ill running the family businesses. The increase in women's involvement was at the root of men's unease and provoked a strong reaction from the male market sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]