María Antonia of Spain

Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to King Victor Amadeus III. She was the youngest daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. She was the mother of the last three mainline kings of Sardinia.

Limited daily wardrobes

Ordinary women often owned only two sets of clothes: one for daily chores and another specifically for Sundays and feast days. Clothing was frequently made at home, where even the smallest scraps of fabric were repurposed to fit children.

The essential Spanish cape

For men, the cape was an essential garment that was never abandoned, even in death. It was so critical to one's public identity that even very poor men would be buried wearing one.

Dances at the Seville Corpus Christi festival

Corpus Christi processions in Seville were famous for their music and dances, including traditional performances by giants, a sword dance, and a Valencian dance that required eight dancers and two musicians. These celebrations were so popular that the Valencian group was specifically contracted to travel to Seville in 1722.

Dances at religious festivals

Religious festivals like Corpus Christi featured organized processions with fixed performances, including the dance of the giants and sword dances.

Fast travel via post stations

In the 18th century, post stations allowed travelers to rent fresh horses at intervals of 14 to 22 kilometers, enabling speeds of up to 150 to 200 kilometers per day. This was the fastest method of travel for those who could afford it.

Slow travel by ox-drawn carts

Ordinary goods were transported by ox-drawn carts that moved slowly, often covering only 20 to 35 kilometers per day, as they frequently stopped to graze the oxen. These carts carried around 460 kilograms of goods and often traveled in groups.

Communal cooking and eating habits

Cooking was done over a hearth or small stove using ceramic pots, and ordinary people frequently ate from a single pot using spoons rather than individual sets of plates and cutlery. Bread and wine were essential daily staples, often supplemented with vegetables, legumes, or a stew called gazpacho.

Dark homes and limited lighting solutions

Homes of humble people were often very dark, as they could not afford glass for windows and instead used small openings covered with oiled paper. Wealthier households used wax candles, but most people relied on oil lamps or tallow, as wax was expensive.

Eggs and fruits in the diet

Eggs were a vital and common source of protein for rural households, which often maintained small backyard flocks. In contrast, fresh fruit was consumed frequently by all classes, often eaten at the end of meals in various forms like raw, dried, or preserved.

Staple diet of ordinary families

Ordinary families relied heavily on bread, vegetables, and legumes as their daily foundation. Meat was a luxury and often inaccessible, though poorer households might consume small amounts of inexpensive organ meats or salt-preserved fish like stockfish.

Annual meat costs for a household

To feed a household, a daily ration of two pounds of meat—split between mutton and beef—was calculated at 730 reales de vellón per year.

Cost of shoes in 18th-century Spain

A budget calculation for a clergyman in Guipuzcoa estimated the cost for three pairs of shoes per year at 48 reales de vellón.

Chocolate and daily food budgets

Chocolate was a status symbol consumed by the wealthy, with lower-class workers occasionally using it as a prestigious item for visitors; domestic servants were sometimes allotted only eight maravedís per day for food.

Diverse and informal work for urban families

Working families often included laborers such as muleteers, shoemakers, weavers, masons, and traders, while women frequently worked as street sellers of food, nurses, and seamstresses. Due to economic instability, many people simultaneously held multiple informal jobs to survive.

High daily speeds for royal couriers

In the 18th century, royal mail couriers were required to travel approximately 30 leagues per day, which is equivalent to nearly 170 kilometers.

Long transit times for transatlantic mail

Letters sent between Spain and the Americas by ship took an average of 45 to over 50 days for a one-way crossing.