Luisa de Guzmán

Getting around

Freight carts daily travel speed

Freight carts typically carried up to 1,000 pounds of cargo and traveled at a speed of ten to twelve miles per day.

What it cost

Annual clothing needs in Madrid

In early seventeenth-century Madrid, the estimated annual expenditure for one person included two pairs of shoes.

What people wore

Price of smoke cloaks

In 1680, the price for a yard of smoke cloak, a popular thin black accessory, was set at seven and a half reales.

Daily life

Cooking in the kitchen

Cooking was done over low-burning fireplaces, using iron trivets to support pots or a "llar" chain to hang caldrons. Food was often prepared and eaten in the kitchen, which served as a primary gathering space for poorer families.

Work

Work of the water carrier

Water carriers, known as azacán in Andalusia, supplied houses without private wells by transporting water in jars or barrels using donkeys or mule-drawn carts.

Music

Taborers Guiding Festival Dancers

Taborers were hired for festivals like Corpus Christi to guide dancers, often charging for their services by performing in town streets or during processions.

At the table

Affordability of basic food items

With 1 blanca, which was worth half a maravedí, a person could buy nine salted or fresh sardines. At the time, an average laborer or muleteer earned 17 maravedís per day.