Consanguineous Marriages within Greek-Catholic Communities from Transylvania: Demographic Behaviour and Specific Mentalities during the Second Half 19
Consanguineous Marriages within Greek-Catholic Communities from Transylvania: Demographic Behaviour and Specific Mentalities during the Second Half 19

Summary/Abstract: During the second half of the 19th century Romanian communities in Transylvania adopted the same demographic regime which was specific to Eastern and South-Eastern European regions. These particular demographic practices were mainly influenced by customary law provisions observed in the area. Social and economic conditions led to the multiplication of certain atypical marital practices such as consanguineous marriages, as revealed by archive documents called "marriage licences". The current study aims at analysing the way in which these consanguineous marriages produced specific behaviour and mentalities. After examining the above mentioned archive documents, from a quantitative and comparative point of view, one can draw a few very interesting conclusions. In this period, in comparison with Romanian Orthodox communities from Transylvania, Greek-Catholics developed and preserved a specific demographic behaviour and mentality in what matrimonial problems in general were concerned. The same attitudes were noticed in what consanguineous matrimonies, as a particular matter, are concerned. This meant a more rigorous respect of ecclesiastical canons and a more peremptory attitude towards deviance from norms. From this point of view, consanguineous marriages were the most frequent exception from the rule. Nonetheless, they were tolerated on account of the system of inheritance.

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