STANDARDS OF LIVING, CONSUMPTION HABITS AND SOCIAL PROMOTION IN CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE RIOJA (15TH -16TH CENTURIES)

Standards of living, consumption habits and opportunities for social promotion for families and individuals belonging to intermediate social sectors in cities and towns in the Rioja are studied in this article. A chronological framework spanning the 15(th) and 16(th) centuries was chosen, albeit the latter centu-ry is better documented. Through an analysis of a selection of post mortem prop-erty inventories alongside other relevant documentation, including, especially, the records of several notaries in the Rioja and other archival collections, several issues will be studied. In particular, documents related with the economic posi-tion, standard of living, material culture and consumption habits of the families or individuals throughout the chosen period will be examined. The intention is to determine whether there were changes and differences regarding standards of living, material tastes and ways of consuming among farmworkers, artisans and liberal professionals in cities and towns and whether the economic status of some of them made it possible for them to imitate the consumer tastes of the urban elite and participate in local political life.