ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the term urban elite to describe a heterogeneous middle group who were not the landed aristocracy, but who owned property and wielded power and influence within their own towns or cities. The urban elite in early modern Spain were a small group of propertied citizens who wielded power and influence within their town or city. They were often active in urban government, and as a group they encompassed a mix of social statuses with the possibility of social mobility. Marriage was a crucial institution for the urban elite who dowered their daughters and pursued carefully constructed marriage strategies to help them advance socially. Marriage facilitated social mobility and transferred power, wealth, and municipal offices between generations. Noble and elite women in early modern Spain lived in a world where gender definitions were flexible, responding to social and economic pressure.
