Kinship, property, and identity : noble family strategies in late-medieval Zeeland

Abstract

The practices of marriage and inheritance and the representation of kinship among the medieval nobility are often studied separately, despite the argument that changes in conceptions of kinship accompanied the evolution of family structures, property transmission systems, and political organization. This article combines the practical and ideological aspects of kinship by analyzing its meaning for the nobility in late-medieval Zeeland. It demonstrates that the variety in power, wealth, and status among the noble families resulted in different reproductive strategies according to their standing and objectives. Regional institutions and property structures had a great impact on aristocratic family strategies in Zeeland, but did not result in different family structures or conceptions of lineage compared to the surrounding principalities.