ABSTRACT
This chapter uses Ahumada Batlle, since it is the most complete and annotated edition of both women's letters. The most appealing aspect of this excellent annotated edition is its inclusion of letters that deal not only with family issues, but also those concerning business matters. Hiplita's and Estefania's letters not only provide a window into the daily concerns of women of noble lineagethe raising of children, the care taking of sick relatives, the exchange of medicine and confectionary recipes, the selection and supervision of household servants, or troubles with pregnancy but bring to the fore the essential socioeconomic role of the mother as an educator and the administrator of her family's estate. Based on the letters Hiplita and her daughter Estefania write, mostly in Catalan, one can deduce that the Requesens were broadly educated women. As Helen Nader points out, Spanish women of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries live in a dual system, where matriarchy and patriarchy coexist.
