Prikrivena moć. Uloga pripadnica gradske elite u političkom, društvenom i gospodarskom životu zagrebačkoga Gradeca
Concealed power: The role of the female members of the city elite in the political, social and economic life of Zagreb Gradec

Summary/Abstract: Although women in medieval towns could not participate neither in the city government nor in the election of the city officers, they had influence in the shaping of the urban elite, as is demonstrated in this article on the example of Zagreb Gradec. Women in the medieval city of Zagreb were able to obtain the full right citizenship, which allowed them certain privileges. Besides that, they were treated equally to male heirs according to the inheritance law. They were also treated equally in many other aspects of the urban life such as trade or in the city court. Some women were among the richest inhabitants of the city community, as were Francisca Donati, Margareta Rybarica, Katarina, the widow of Sigismund Mauri, or Katarina Soldinar. Furthemore, the usual way of integration of the new members of the urban elite was marriage into a family which already belonged to the urban elite, whether by marrying a daughter of the prominent citizen who was a judge or a juror, or by marrying a widow of the former member of the elite. Good marriage often proved to be more useful for political climb than regular kinship ties by blood. In that way, prominent women played a great role in the integration or consolidation of the urban elite.

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