ABSTRACT
On 11 December 1279, Sanca, widow of Duran de Pererar, underwent a solemn ritual in the presence of the vicar of Barcelona. Sanca had replaced her late husband as head of the family. This chapter argues that, like Sanca's friends and relations, most Christian families in thirteenth-century Perpignan expected the mothers of fatherless children to act as guardians. Widowed guardians were therefore empowered to function as full legal agents so that they could rise to meet their obligations. The chapter compares the contemporary ideals and norms that law codes and royal proclamations articulated with how these mothers proceeded in notarial practice. It analyzes the process of families attempting to prepare for and cope with a father's death as recorded in last wills and testaments, court cases, apprenticeship contracts, and marriage contracts, as well as all kinds of more quotidian transactions and receipts generated by widowed mothers and others acting as guardians for fatherless children.
