Standard of living of the medieval peasantry in Central Catalonia. The inventory of the Coromina farmhouse of Viladordis (1397)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the standard of living, material culture and the economic status which characterized the Coromina farmhouse of Santa Maria de Viladordis, a rural parish near the city of Manresa, capital of the Bages county. These aspects are analysed through the farmhouse post obitum goods inventory belonging to its heir and owner, written between 6–15 March 1397 at the request of his widow. Thus, this document provides data and information of an exceptional nature, on both quantitative and qualitative scales, which also gives us deeper insights into the economic and patrimonial level of some of the members of the rich peasantry of the vegueria of Bages during the late fourteenth century in this area of Central Catalonia.