"THIS HOUSE IS NOT WHAT IT WAS." SOCIAL TRAJECTORY OF HOUSES AND HOMES IN THE EASTERN LANDS OF LA MANCHA AT THE END OF THE OLD REGIME

Abstract

The aim of this work is to know the houses and household trajectories around the analysis of the different ways of relationship -between parents, childrens and other relatives- organization and social reproduction, key points to understand and explain the society structure and evolution and process of change. Our researching area is west La Mancha, currently better known as Campo de Montiel in Albacete, in the latest Ancient Regime. A new destiny is marked in the house as time goes on and the last wishes are carried out: divided between the heirs, united after earlier division, added to an adjacent house or sold to the family. The house's ageing is connected with the family's ageing, that was bequeathed to the appointed heirs as a part of the heritage. So, the house will be transformed with each generation that occupy it. The data interwining between the registry of the Catastro de Ensenada, notarial Protocols (testaments, inventory of belongings), Municipal and Parochial Book will be the methodology used and, apart from statistics, will allow a better knowledge of the complex social system and the functioning and reproduction mechanisms.