Charting the 'extrados' (non-dotal goods) in Genoa and Liguria in the mid twelfth to thirteenth centuries

This article examines the origins, development and management of the extrados (non-dotal assets, that is, goods over and above the dowry) in Genoa and Liguria from the mid twelfth to the end of thirteenth century, when several restrictions on the capacity of married women to act freely were introduced. The wide sample of mostly unpublished notarial documents collected for this study makes it possible not only to arrive at a proper definition of the extrados, but also to evaluate in what ways married women could acquire and accrue goods beyond their dowries which, at least formally, were supposed to remain separate from their husbands’ property. The many instances in which women and their husbands appear in transactions where non-dotal goods were involved enable us to assess how these goods were used in family strategies and to what extent the introduction of restrictive legal prescriptions matched actual practice.