Entre la casa institucional y la casa residencial: imagen social y justificación simbólica de la hidalguía en Galicia

Abstract

Galician rural nobility, known as "hidalguía", had an important presence in the territory of the precapitalist Galicia. A major social simbolic element were the houses "casas"-, analysed either as residencial places, or social-economic family institutions. In this point the imnportance of these houses is very representative by studyng Chantadashire inland Galicia-, where the number of stately homes is large and dense. Considering that in the social valuation of that time those houses were a strong point of the nobility essence, we concluded its character as the most important symbol of this elite.