ABSTRACT
The expansion and growth of the market and the progressive connections between national, international and intercontinental trade routes in the Crown of Castile made the acquisition of a wide range of goods possible, as well as the formation of a large middle class with an improved standard of living. This acquisition of goods was linked not only to innovations in the material life of society, but also to changes which occurred in the ‘public sphere’.1 Such social transformations began to appear in both private and public spaces. In the former, the household was the main unit in which the ‘pater familias’ was responsible for maintaining and controlling the proper development of the family according to Christian beliefs; whereas in the latter, rules and conventions established by the civil and religious community were the main instruments used to control the socio-cultural behaviour of individuals.
