Ciclo vital - History Lab

Socio-professional distribution by heads of household according to age groups. Lorca, 1797

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

With this resource, the authors highlight the social mobility of the peasantry at the end of the Ancien Régime in the municipality of Lorca (Murcia). The relationship between day labourers, tenant farmers and tenant farmers shows a decrease in the number of day labourers over the course of their life cycle, while the group of farm labourers remains stable. The change of occupation among day labourers, who account for more than 50% of the heads of household aged between 20 and 25, becomes more pronounced from the age of 50 onwards.

The post Socio-professional distribution by heads of household according to age groups. Lorca, 1797 first appeared on History Lab.

The age of marriage of women in 18th century Spain. A regional overview

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:36 +0000

In 18th century Spain, women married on average at the age of 23 and men at the age of 25, as corroborated by the Floridablanca Census of 1787. These ages are lower than in Europe, where it was common for women to marry between 25 and 28 and men between 27 and 30. Even so, however, there was a tendency for first marriages to be later than in previous centuries. This trend, however, was not uniform, but seems to have followed a south/north-northwest upward direction, which confirms the existence of an unequal regional reality that we cannot fail to point out. According to Pérez Moreda (1988), in 1787 the first marriages of women in Extremadura were at 21.9 years of age, those in Andalusia at 22.3; those in Valencia at 22.7; those in Castilla La Nueva at 23.4; Castilla la Vieja, 23.7; León, 24.2; Galicia 25.3 and the Basque Country 26.1. Uneven behaviour for which it is not easy to find unicausal explanations. Rather, it is necessary to take into account a variety of factors that to a greater or lesser extent influence marital behaviour: living conditions, work possibilities, economic opportunities, the existence of complementary activities and levels of pluriactivity, the weight of migratory movements, the form of access to resources -and especially to the exploitation of land-, inheritance law, custom, inheritance practices, cultural aspects linked to the medieval past, the logic of family systems, social differences, marital strategies and other mechanisms of social reproduction.

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The post The age of marriage of women in 18th century Spain. A regional overview first appeared on History Lab.

Female widowhood in the Kingdom of Granada in 1787 according to the Floridablanca Census. Data in %

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:36 +0000

This map shows the percentages of female widowhood in the kingdom of Granada at the end of the 18th century using as a basis the information from the Floridablanca Census (1787). This census is considered to be one of the most complete of the Enlightenment, as the information it collects is structured on the basis of knowledge of the population by means of the following questions: according to type of accommodation and sex; classification by marital status, age and sex; classification by occupation; number of charitable and health centres; and religious communities. As can be seen from the map, the differences between the different regions stand out, where the figure barely exceeds 8% in towns belonging to Almeria, while values close to 15% are reached in areas of Malaga. Thus, the data shown indicate the greater weight of widowed women in the Malaga region. Undoubtedly, there are several factors that influence this issue, among them the greater or lesser access to remarriage, as well as the incidence of high male immigration caused mainly by the enrolment at sea.

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The post Female widowhood in the Kingdom of Granada in 1787 according to the Floridablanca Census. Data in % first appeared on History Lab.

Servants and the average age of women at marriage in the Crown of Castile in 1787

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:36 +0000

The graph shows that among men there was no direct connection between access to marriage and the abandonment of servant work. The three provinces with the highest number of servants (Madrid without the capital, Toledo and Albacete) show how the age of access to marriage is among the lowest in Castile, only surpassed by Ciudad Real, Extremadura, Andalusia and Murcia. The latter had the lowest percentage of servants; a fact that put it in line with the central and northern regions of the peninsula. Of all of them, Galicia, Asturias, León and Burgos stood out for having few servants and a high rate of marriage access (over 24 years of age). The demography, socio-economic structure and life cycles are reflected and differentiated geographically in this graph.

The post Servants and the average age of women at marriage in the Crown of Castile in 1787 first appeared on History Lab.

Age of children in the household in Albacete (1787)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

The number of children in the household varies with their age. Unsurprisingly, those under 18 dominate the data with a total of 2,431: 8 out of 10. Between the ages of 18 and 35 the figure drops sharply to 630 (2 out of 10). Finally, those over 35 account for 1% of the total (37 children). The data confirm the age-split structures that are configured with the life cycle of individuals. The greater the economic and legal dependency, the higher the rate of residence in the family home; on the contrary, when a marital bond is created, people leave home to form a new residential nucleus. Within these dynamics, variables can be differentiated according to the sex of the child. Thus, while men leave home more frequently, female guardianship was framed first under paternal parental authority and then with the husband. Consequently, the higher rate of celibacy among women meant that they were slower to leave the family home. If this happens at an advanced age, we find the contrast in the younger age of women, whose marriage age is lower than that of men (in proportion, they married less, but they married earlier), favouring the departure of women from the home.

The post Age of children in the household in Albacete (1787) first appeared on History Lab.

Life cycle and peasantry in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

One of the most characteristic groups due to their mobility and social reproduction during the Modern Age were the labour and livestock labourers. The large number of this profession, together with that of labourer and farm labourer, marked the labour activities for young people up to 35 years of age in the Sierra de Alcaraz, a study area in central-southern Spain. Why did it increase so much up to that age? These activities were a good way to enter the world of work. Of the three dominant professional groups, from the age of 35 onwards, it was the young men who abandoned their work the most to seek another livelihood, normally sponsored by the clientele networks they had acquired in their old trade, while the day labourers and farm labourers remained relatively stable until the age of 45. This structure is influenced by the life cycles of the protagonists; the departure from the family nucleus, where many of the young men’s own tasks were carried out, led them to seek another form of independent life.

The post Life cycle and peasantry in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753) first appeared on History Lab.

Life cycle and widowhood in inland Spain in 1753

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

The graph shows the life cycle of widows. It shows that their proportion peaks between the ages of 50 and 60 with 27.2%. This remains stable at around 25.7% in the next decade of their lives, between 60 and 70. This is not the case from the age of 70 onwards, when mortality increases considerably, leading to a downward trend. In comparison, the life cycle of widowers evolves in a similar way, although at later ages we observe how they tended to be more lonely than women, a behaviour that can be explained by the fact that mothers, more than fathers, would go on to live with their children.

The post Life cycle and widowhood in inland Spain in 1753 first appeared on History Lab.

Long-term legitimate fertility rates in the Lower Minho (Pontevedra). Ages of women (thousand women). Before 1750. Age groups; Legitimate Fertility-Theoretical Descent

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

The pace of life of European populations seems to require more and more than a demographic micro-analysis, a new approach to traditional space, more prolonged towards the contemporary age. The lower Minho (Pontevedra) is one of the most industrialised areas of the country, where, in addition, the control of late births is presented as a privileged laboratory for the study of a complex problem of human reproduction. Michael W. Flinn, in a synthesis work of 1981, did not respect legitimate fertility as a privileged indicator of legitimate fertility rates by age groups of women. He distinguishes three periods: one before 1750, one from 1740 to 1790 and one from 1780 to 1820. The table shows that the pressure on fertility before 1750 is greater in France than in the other two countries, particularly in relation to England. However, Michael Anderson, in a paper published in 1988, presents research on the timing of marital fertility for the selected regions. Germany, England and France, which are divided in the table into four zones: north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east. As can be seen, in the three cases considered, before the middle of the 19th century, a decrease in the birth rate can be observed in France.

The post Long-term legitimate fertility rates in the Lower Minho (Pontevedra). Ages of women (thousand women). Before 1750. Age groups; Legitimate Fertility-Theoretical Descent first appeared on History Lab.

Shaping the Demographic Parameters of the Differentiated Household in a North Atlantic Model (1584-1670)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

Rural society in south-western Galicia, in the Bajo Miño region, was part of the North Atlantic demographic system. The study of the parish of San Martín de Caldelas, between 1584 and 1670, shows us the configuration of households according to their economic, material and status level within society: upper, middle and lower families. A first analysis reveals the predominance in number of the lower, more humble families. In these families, the average number of children per family was lower than in the middle and upper families, being 5.79, 7.67 and 6.6 respectively. Another significant difference is the age of entry into marriage, both for women and men, with the poorer families showing a tendency to delay entry due to a late exit from the family, while the upper families had a younger age of marriage for the male than the others. This age difference had an impact on the years of actual fertility, being higher in the more privileged families. The wide variety of information provided by the author helps us to understand the demographic dynamics of families; a structural issue for the analysis and explanation of the society of the Ancien Régime.

The post Shaping the Demographic Parameters of the Differentiated Household in a North Atlantic Model (1584-1670) first appeared on History Lab.

Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

The marital status of the heads of household, regardless of their sex, is directly associated with the stage of the life cycle. In 1753, according to the Ensenada Cadastre, in the towns of Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez in Albacete, the majority of married people were between 25 and 34 years of age, with men and women entering marriage at an age close to the lower end of the range. Among the single heads of household, there is a majority female presence among young women under 25, while men stand out in the 25-34 age range. On the other hand, the highest number of widowers is found in the 55-64 age bracket, and decreases in the over 65 age bracket (due to remarriage); widows stand out in the same age bracket as men, however, there is a significantly higher figure in the 45-54 age bracket with 32.14% compared to 17.78% for men. In this way we can follow the life cycle of these municipalities of La Manchuela: within the group of young bachelors, men married a few years later than women, women were widowed earlier and tended to be single, while men tended to remarry from the age of 55 onwards.

The post Age groups, sex and marital status of heads of household in Jorquera and Casas Ibáñez (Albacete, 1753) first appeared on History Lab.