Family Composition and Remarriage in Pre-Transitional Italy: A Comparative Study

Abstract

It is well known that timing and intensity of remarriage were strictly dependent upon demographic, socio-economic, cultural and legislative factors specific to each community. Thus, the aim of this paper is to compare the extent to which such factors may affect the remarriage patterns of three pre-transitional Italian populations that were different in many respects. By using micro-level data of the sharecropping communities of Casalguidi and Madregolo and the Alpine village of Treppo Carnico, we highlighted similarities and differences in the respective remarriage patterns, in particular, the far lower intensity in the mountain community with respect to the sharecropping ones. Our findings show that along with differences in the demographic system, household structure and land tenure, normative elements concerning widows and the dotal system could in part explain the differentials we found.Il est bien connu que le calendrier et l’intensité des remariages dépendent de façon stricte des facteurs démographiques, socio-économiques, culturels et législatifs spécifiques à chaque communauté. Dans cette perspective, l’objectif de cette étude est d’apprécier le rôle de ces facteurs dans les modalités de remariage de trois populations très différentes de l’Italie d’avant la transition. En utilisant des données à l’échelle micro en provenance des communautés de métayers de Casaguildi et Madregolo et du village Alpin de Treppo Carnico, nous avons mis en évidence des similarités et des différences dans les modalités des remariages, et en particulier une intensité bien moindre du phénomène dans la communauté montagnarde que dans les communautés de métayers. Nos résultats indiquent que, en parallèle aux différences en matière de système démographique, de structure des ménages et de régime de propriété foncière, des éléments normatifs concernant le veuvage et le système de dot pourraient expliquer une partie des différences observées

Les agents du changement: fécondité et migration saisonnière dans une communauté des Alpes au 19e siècle

“…Access to marriage was highly restricted, which acted as a control on fertility (Breschi et al 1999;Breschi and Fornasin 2005). Age at marriage (31.4 years for men, 28.7 for women) and levels of permanent celibacy (14% for men, 17% for women) were, in fact, both high (Breschi et al 2009). Looking more specifically at the 5-year average values, a quite distinct drop can be seen in marital fertility rates between 1849 and 1859, followed by a rise in the next decade, and then by successive but smaller decreases until about 1895.…”

“…When constructing this database, parish registers were also used to correct for errors, mainly concerning under-reporting of newborn deaths (Breschi et al 2009). Information on family tax from the Austrian Cadastre of 1851 is also employed.…”

“…As in other mountainous areas, especially in Carnia, house ownership was almost universal. At the end of 1851, 229 out of 236 families lived in their own houses (Breschi et al 2009). Individuals were very attached to the land, which was both scarce and infertile due to its high fragmentation and also to geography, bad communication systems, cold climate and low levels of technology (Renzulli 1978).…”

Widowhood and Remarriage in Sardinia, Alghero, 1866-1925

“…Investigations based on individual data are even rarer (Corsini, 1980(Corsini, , 1981. Recently, three nominative studies (Breschi et al, 2007;Breschi, Fornasin et al, 2009;Manfredini and Breschi, 2006) were added to the pioneering work carried out by Kertzer and colleagues. The latter investigated the community of Casalecchio, in the Emilia region, during the middle period of the Italian demographic transition (1) (Kertzer and Hogan, 1989;Kertzer and Karweit, 1995).…”

Determinants of Territorial Exogamy in Friuli (North-East Italy) in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

“…Widowers, but also men in general, tended to pursue previously unmarried woman, confirming that widows were considered as undesirable within the marriage market. In addition, the interests of the defunct husband's family to preserve the widow's dowry could also have had an influence on the low quota of widows who formed an exogamic marriage (Breschi et al, 2009).…”