Maria Teresa of Spain

What people wore

The essential Spanish national costume

Women of all social classes wore a black skirt called a basquiña and a head-covering shawl called a mantilla when going out in public or to church, removing them immediately upon entering a home.

Getting around

Road upgrades reduced travel time significantly

Road improvements around 1780, such as the new route between Madrid and Andalusia through the Despeñaperros pass, featured a ten-meter-wide paved road that reduced travel time by three days. Despite these advances, the heavy reliance on oxen for hauling cargo meant that long-distance freight travel remained slow, often limited by the animals' need to graze.

At the table

Diet of the Laboring Poor

Poor laborers often ate soup with oil or cornmeal porridge in the morning and legumes or salted sardines at midday. Wine was considered expensive, so these families typically drank it only on feast days, sometimes to excess.

Music

Home Parties and Popular Dances

Seguidillas and fandangos were iconic dances often held in private homes during informal parties called bailes de candil. These lively gatherings featured music from guitars, violins, and bandurrias, providing entertainment for neighborhoods.

Daily life

Difficult access to water supplies

Water was a daily constraint for ordinary people who lacked piped access and often fetched it from public fountains or bought it from water carriers. To supplement supplies, households collected rainwater in cisterns or relied on local wells, requiring significant manual labor to provision for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.

What it cost

Worker wages in the late 1700s

A typical daily wage for a common laborer was around 3.5 reales, though specialized workers like carpenters could earn between 6 and 11 reales.