Marriage patterns in 19th-century Vila do Conde: The study of an urban centre in northwest Portugal

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History of the Family 15 (2010) 34 – 54

Marriage patterns in 19th-century Vila do Conde: The study of an urban centre in northwest Portugal Cristiana Viegas de Andrade Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, University of Cambridge, Sir William Hardy Building, Cambridge, UK

Abstract This article investigates marital patterns in the urban town of Vila do Conde, northwest Portugal, during the 19th century. The analysis, which is based on the application of the family reconstitution method, reveals differences in marital patterns between rural and urban settlements. It was observed that Vila do Conde displayed different patterns of marriage than those that have often been described for the northwestern region of Portugal, with an emphasis on lower levels of celibacy, as well as lower fertility rates. It was discovered that migration played a very important role in these dynamics. It is a fact that the increasing outflow of male emigrants had a distortion effect on the marriage market. Nevertheless, the influx of in-migrants to the town contributed to alleviate the adult male shortage and resulting gender imbalance, generating lower proportions of celibacy and higher levels of total fertility. Although several important publications have already identified demographic trends in many parishes of the region in focus, few have been concerned with urban parishes. This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the population dynamics of urban centres in northwest Portugal when set within the context of a number of the structural changes specific to that region and Portugal as a whole in the 19th century. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: 19th century; Family reconstitution method; Marriage patterns; Portugal; Selective immigration; Urban parish

1. Introduction In the last few decades, there has been particular interest in describing marital patterns in the 19th century in Portugal. Parish-level research has made it possible to observe marriage patterns around the country (Amorim, 1973; Amorim, 1992, 1998; Brettell, 1986; O'Neill, 1987; Pereira, 1996; de Faria, 1998; Faustino, 1998; Gomes, 1998; Scott, 1999; de Castro, 2001; Solé, 2001; Juncal, 2004). The results show that Portugal as a whole seemed to have followed the western European marriage pattern, described by John Hajnal in his classic paper of

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1965, characterized by relatively high levels of definitive female celibacy (at least 10%) and older ages at first marriage (Hajnal, 1965). In the Portuguese case, older ages at first marriage and high rates of celibacy were a consequence of very low sex ratios, due to the constant and selective emigration of males observed over the century. The lack of males generated an unbalanced situation that directly affected marital behaviour. It is important to note, though, that in Portugal, the absence of males did not stop single women from conceiving, different from many other western European countries. Illegitimacy was a wellspread practice in this country. It is noteworthy that outof-wedlock conceptions compensated for the absence of young males in certain areas, increasing total fertility

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(Livi-Bacci, 1971; Brettell, 1986; Reis, 1987; Rodrigues, 1993; Alves, 1994; Rowland, 1997b). Although 19th-century Portugal may be characterized by older ages at first marriage and high celibacy and illegitimacy rates, there were some internal variation among its distinct areas. The comparison of the various Portuguese subpopulations pointed to the existence of two main distinct demographic regions: the northern and the southern sides of the River Tejo (Livi-Bacci, 1971; Amorim, 1984, 1998; Rowland, 1997b). Populations in the southern part of the country had on average younger ages at marriage, lower proportions of celibacy and also low rates of illegitimacy. Among northern inhabitants, higher levels of celibacy, older ages at first marriage and high illegitimacy rates were the rule. The demographic distinction between northern and southern Portugal has been described as a function of diverse factors, such as geography, climate, tenurial practices and historical contexts (Brandão, 1988; Durães, 2004). In the north, the economy was based on intensive agriculture in small landholdings, which became even smaller over the 19th century due to population increases and the principle of equal partibility of inheritance1 . The dependence on land for composing a new household and the increasing difficulty of getting landholdings made it hard to sustain an increasing number of rural families on a fixed quantity of land, contributing to the rise in the age at first marriage. In contrast, southern customs were different, given that most of the families did not possess their own farms and worked as hired labour on the big properties. As a consequence, there was no land to be passed on to their heirs, hence no need to wait for inheritance in order to get married. In addition to tenurial specificities, different emigration patterns also contributed to the distinct marital patterns observed between north and south (Leite, 1987, 1994; Alves, 1993, 1994, 1999; Rodrigues, 1996, 2005). The increase in population density in the north, associated with the limited availability of land, forced individuals to look for other ways to keep their quality of life, or even to improve it. Overseas emigration was the way followed by thousands of young men from the north, who were sent by their families in order to avoid land fragmentation, in the hope they would return in a good financial position to buy their own land to constitute their own households (Rowland, 1997a). In the south, the demand for labour to work in latifundia 1 According to Brandão (1988: 296), ‘no matter how great the inequality among the children was, it was never sufficient to allow a farm to pass undivided from one generation to the next.’

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kept most of the males from emigrating abroad, increasing seasonal immigration into the area. The Portuguese two-region model of marriage patterns is confirmed by the analysis of parish registers, as well as aggregated cross-sectional analysis of census data. However, it is important to note that these results were mainly based on data of rural populations, making them biased against urban patterns. Over the 19th century, Portugal could still be considered as a country based on rural settlements, but showing a sharp increase in the weight of urban areas over the second half of the century (Lains & da Silva, 2005). The predominance of rural over urban was certainly mirrored in the results of aggregated analyses, which mainly exposed the average rural reality. Moreover, most of the investigation at the parish level refers to small rural settlements, not taking into account any possible distinction of urban populations. The question that emerges is: can the two-region model also be detected in urban centres? In other words, did urban and rural settlements present the same marital pattern? Differences between urban and rural marriage patterns have long been discussed in historical population studies (Petersen, 1960; Habakkuk, 1965; Knodel & Maynes, 1976; Lynch, 1991). As pointed out by Knodel and Maynes (1976: 156–157), ‘the impact of urban environment on the lives of city residents as well as its repercussions for rural populations are intriguing and complex historical issues.’ It seems that no rigid rule can be applied on this matter. However, some factors, such as industrialization and migration, can definitely affect nuptiality, meaning that differential patterns of these two determinant variables would probably result in distinct marital patterns in urban and rural populations. In the case of 19th-century Vila do Conde, industrialization was not yet a factor of relevance, as the Portuguese industrialization process was still very incipient at that time. Nonetheless, emigration was an important event among northwestern populations, both urban and rural. Distinct migration systems between urban and rural areas could have contributed to delay or anticipate marriages. In addition, marital patterns would often differ between migrants and natives, and also among individuals with different economic occupations. Urban areas were normally composed of both natives and immigrants, with a wide range of occupations, making a selective analysis mandatory. In this way, this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of marriage patterns in 19th-century Portugal, by analysing the urban centre of Vila do Conde. The objective is to apply the family reconstitution method to identify the marital patterns of this urban

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town, in order to detect similarities and disparities between urban and rural areas of northwestern Portugal. The analysis will take into account place of birth and economic sector of the groom. The results will provide solid information for the identification of urban demographic dynamics in this Lusitanian region. As it will be presented in this paper, the analysis of Vila do Conde confirmed its marital behaviour distinctiveness in relation to several rural settlements of the northwest region. It suggests the coexistence of different demographic systems in urban and rural areas, which would lead to distinct marital patterns. Before embarking upon the analysis of the parish registers of the community under focus, it is important first to present the data and methods used. 2. Sources and methodology The original documents used in this paper are to be found in the District Archive of Porto. They are composed of parish registers of baptism, marriage and burials for the whole 19th century, a total of 26,487 entries: 14,972 registrations of baptism, from which 12,727 were legitimate children; 3132 registrations of marriage; and 8383 registrations of burial. Once all the information was collected, digitized and checked, the family reconstitution method was applied. The initial plan was to link marriage registers to baptisms and deaths, so families would be reconstituted. In theory, once all databases are in place it should be a relatively simple task to link all information together. However, given that all linkages are based on the names of individuals, it is mandatory that this variable is accurately recorded. However, Portuguese parish registers have a very problematic characteristic of not presenting names consistently over time (Kitts et al., 1990). This makes the computer-automated reconstitution work far from straightforward, demanding continuous manual checks, and consequently very timeconsuming. The size of the population studied also aggravates the situation, as Vila do Conde was a medium-sized town, not a relatively small village, which has been the type of settlement to which family reconstitution has been most frequently applied. Despite the difficulties imposed by the nature of the documents and also by the size of the population, reconstitution was undertaken. Attempts to implement the family reconstitution method in Portugal date back to 1961, when Virgínia Rau (1961) proposed a systematic collection of 18thcentury parish registers from Lisbon. Information from baptism, marriage and burial registers were collected,

but no reconstitution was applied at that time. Instead, aggregative methods were used to analyse the data. The size of the parishes and the peculiarities of the Portuguese documents were probably the main reasons preventing the application of family reconstitution. It was in 1973 when Norberta Amorim first proposed her own approach to family reconstitution, adapting the classical model proposed by Louis Henry (1953) to the reality of the Portuguese parochial registers. She renamed the method as ‘Parish Reconstitution,’ which is distinguished mainly by the fact that the aim is to follow the life-cycle of all people who lived in the parish, in contrast to Henry's method, which aims to identify family patterns over time through a focus on married couples. In Amorim's words, ‘this alternative method consists in the genealogical study of the parish, including those who were born there and also those who were not born there but are listed in documents by the time they married and/or died’ (Amorim, 1991: 14). The Parish Reconstitution method aims to reconstitute life courses and genealogies. It permits the examination of each individual who had resided in the parish in the period of time observed. The goal is to follow a person's life to construct people's biographies through the reconstitution of family compositions (Amorim, 1992: 19). The method consists of matching the name of a baptised child to information from the other parish registers and also to other kinds of document. Following Amorim's path, many scholars have applied the parish reconstitution method, principally those from the University of Minho, but also from other institutions (for instance, de Faria, 1998; Scott, 1999; Solé, 2001; Juncal, 2004). Amorim's efforts to reconstitute parishes and compose a panoramic view of demographic patterns in northern Portugal and in the Azores were successful in terms of the number of parishes investigated and their comparability. In the present study, an initial attempt to apply Henry's family reconstitution method failed. It was practically impossible to make matches between marriages and baptism because of name inconsistency. As a consequence, an alternative method was adopted. The aim was to reconstitute families in order to identify differences and similarities in marital and fertility patterns of different cohorts. Having these objectives, an effort was made to adapt the reconstitution method using part of Amorim's method. Name inconsistency in the documents of Vila do Conde parish is a real impediment to linking marriage and baptism information. To overcome this problem, all siblings with the same parents were aggregated together and then matched to the marriage registers. To a certain extent

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this approach incorporates Amorim's idea of starting the reconstitution from baptism registers; however, it still retains Henry's principle of identifying family groups through the central point of the married couple, and not individual biographies. Once the families were reconstituted, it was time to analyse the data, in order to identify marriage patterns in the urban parish of Vila do Conde during the 19th century. 3. Marital patterns in Vila do Conde Application of the family reconstitution method made it possible to calculate the age at marriage of 1685 brides and 1573 grooms, from a total of 3132 marriage registrations, for the period between 1830 and 1899. The analysis of trends in age at first marriage for both males and females over the 19th century revealed variations over time and among the distinct social groups. Moreover, the analysis of bridegroom origin showed the important role of in-migration on the maintenance of marital levels. This section will present the main characteristics of marital practices in Vila do Conde, so they can be compared with those of rural parishes placed in northwestern Portugal. We will start by observing the general marital trends in the town of Vila do Conde, followed by the analysis of seasonality, mean age at first marriage, late marriages, age differences between grooms and brides, origin of bridegrooms, the influence of social position on marriage patterns and, finally, the role of the father on the decision to get married. But first, it is important to highlight the particularity of the Portuguese marital market of very low sex ratios and its relationship to international emigration, so marital patterns can be better understood. Portuguese emigrants had been crossing the Atlantic since the 16th century. The constant and moderate emigration observed in the first three centuries changed from the middle of the 19th century, when both population and overseas emigration rates increased considerably. The majority of emigrants were young single males with no defined skills going mainly to Brazilian urban centres; a pattern that tended to change by the end of the 19th century with an increase in the proportion of family migration to Brazil and to other American countries. The absence of young boys from their original marriage market resulted in a very unbalanced gender situation, restricting marriage and consequently increasing female celibacy. According to Veiga (2004: 76), the Portuguese sex ratio between 1864 and 1900 was between 92 and 94 males per 100

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females, whereas in the Porto region, the sex ratio varied between 82 and 87 males per 100 females. In the case of Vila do Conde, the absence of males was even worse, with sex ratios between 67 and 73 males for every 100 females. Regarding marriage trends in Vila do Conde, Fig. 1 shows the total number of marriage registrations during the 19th century. There was a clear increase in the number of registrations, which took place against a background of population increase over the century, with some drops in specific years. The correlation between the number of marriages and total migration did not reveal any strong relationship between these two variables; therefore, it seems that the annual variations observed are probably random movements. 3.1. Seasonality The seasonality of marriage shows two visible trends over the century (Fig. 2). Although the pattern is not particularly clear, it is acceptable to conclude that the first 50 years showed a predominance of marriages in the months of January, February, April, May, August, September and October. The trend is more clearly evident in the second half of the 19th century, with a predominance of events in January, February, as well as in July, with a drop in the second semester of the year. An avoidance of marriages in March and in the last months of the year was observed over the whole century. This behaviour could be partially explained by the Catholic Church restrictions on celebrating marriage in two specific periods: during the Lent period, and from Advent Sunday until Christmas. The impact of the Lenten ban on marriages is well observed during the whole century (Fig. 2), with deep falls in the index in March. The impact flowing from the Adventide ban can also be noted in the months of November and December, although not as evident as in the Lent period. Another factor that would probably have contributed to the decrease in the number of marriages in the second half of the year was emigration to Brazil. The optimum time for transatlantic travel was from August to November, not the winter time of January and February, nor in July, when it was the peak of summer in Europe. It is interesting to note that the first half of the century showed a pattern more in accordance with those of other rural parishes already studied (de Faria, 1998: 67; Scott, 1999: 181; Solé, 2001: 95; Juncal, 2004: 73), with a deep fall in the index in July and an increase after the harvest time (from the end of August until October). The pattern changed in the last 50 years of the 19th century, with notable concentrations of marriages in

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Fig. 1. Annual number of marriages registered. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800–1900.

July. The process of urbanization of the parish is the most plausible explanation for this change. 3.2. Age at first marriage Given the availability of information concerning age at marriage by marital status from 1830 until 1889, it was possible to calculate the mean, median and modal ages at marriage for the bachelors and spinsters. The ages were calculated by marital status of brides and grooms, as the older ages of widows and widowers would have distorted the average. Table 1 shows all

measures for each 5 year period. The mean ages at marriage are plotted in Fig. 3 to facilitate comparison with other studies that adopt the average. However, it is important to bear in mind the impact of old brides on mean ages. Fig. 3 shows that the mean ages at marriage of firstmarrying males and females remained approximately constant over the period, with some peaks in specific quinquenia. From 1830 until 1849, the mean age of brides was between 22 and 24 years, decreasing to 21.5 years between 1850 and 1854. After that it is possible to observe a rise in the mean ages to around

Fig. 2. Seasonal index of marriages. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800–1900.

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Table 1 Female and male mean, median, mode, minimum and maximum ages at first marriage by 5 year period. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1830–1899. Family reconstitution data, parish of Vila do Conde. Year group

n

Mean

Median

Mode

Minimum

Maximum

Males 1830–1834 1835–1839 1840–1844 1845–1849 1850–1854 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

13 28 19 16 6 49 120 148 148 158 147 161 179 181 1373

24.38 24.61 23.26 25.63 24.83 27.40 24.72 24.72 26.02 25.02 24.31 24.12 25.34 23.62 24.83

25 25.5 23 24 23.5 24 24 23 24 24 22 23 23 22 23

25 21 23 22 – 22 22 23 23 24 21 21 21 20

12 12 19 18 19 18 18 16 16 16 16 17 19 17 12

37 42 29 44 33 70 44 53 77 53 50 52 69 48 77

Females 1830–1834 1835–1839 1840–1844 1845–1849 1850–1854 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

28 53 39 39 26 68 123 162 162 168 155 177 190 176 1566

23.61 22.21 23.51 23.62 21.54 25.16 24.94 24.26 26.38 24.11 24.12 23.54 23.38 23.42 24.10

23.5 22 24 23 21 23 23 23 25 22 22 22 21 22 23

27 19 24 23 18 22 22 21 22 22 20 19 21 21

17 15 16 14 15 16 16 15 15 14 15 14 15 16 14

32 33 35 34 32 46 60 49 50 61 49 48 55 47 61

25 years until 1884 (with a peak of 26.4 years between 1870 and 1874), when it decreases again to around 23.5 years. The mean ages at marriages for grooms varied mainly from 24 to 26 years, with a fall between 1840 and 1844 (23.5 years) and a high increase between 1855 and 1859 (27.4 years). It is interesting to see that the period between 1850 and 1854, which presented the highest international emigration rates (Leite, 1987, 1994; Alves, 1993, 1994, 1999; Rodrigues, 1996, 2005), is also the period with the largest age gap between the mean ages of brides and grooms. Another interesting feature to be highlighted is the rise in the mean age of brides between 1870 and 1874, when the brides were on average older than their husbands (26.4 and 26.0 years, respectively). The difference was not very great, but it is clear that some factor was pushing brides' ages up at that moment. It is worth noting that

and 26 and 26 and 24

and 22

brides were also older than their husbands between 1860 and 1864, but in this case it was due to a decrease in grooms' ages and not an increase in brides' ages; the same happened again between 1880 and 1884. It could be said that the 1870s was a period of relative political calm and of economic growth, with an expansion of export products around the world (Câmara, 2005: 245). This moment of relative prosperity was probably felt in the parish of Vila do Conde. Good economic times by themselves do not explain the increase in the mean ages of bride. So, what was determining the increase in the mean age of brides between 1870 and 1874? The answer to this question could be hiding in the other side of the Atlantic. Portugal was experiencing a relative period of prosperity, with Brazil just out of the Paraguay War. The end of the war motivated emigration flows, which reached their highest numbers in the first 5 years of the

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Fig. 3. Mean age at first marriage. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1830–1899.

1870s. Relatively intense emigration definitely had an impact on the marriage market and on the mean age at marriage. But this was not the only factor determining mean ages at marriage. Internal immigration was also contributing to the changes observed over the period. In order to explain this phenomenon, it is necessary to understand in more detail the characteristics of brides and grooms, particularly their origins and occupations. An analysis of these characteristics will be presented later in this paper, and the results considered within the context of the relationship between economic prosperity and the increase of in-migration into the town in focus. It is intriguing to note the closeness of the mean ages of single men and single women. In the words of Peter Laslett (1977: 13), a high proportion of spouses with small age gaps could be indicative of ‘marriage tending towards the companionate.’ However, caution must be exercised in analysing mean ages, as they are an average number of the total and for that reason hide the existence of many couples with substantial difference in their ages. What could be affirmed is that a great proportion of single people were getting married in their early twenties, and those couples were marrying at younger ages over time. Unfortunately, the low number of cases of widows and widowers who remarried makes it difficult to further explore this specific group. 3.3. Late marriages An analysis of the proportion of bridegrooms marrying over 30 or 35 years of age casts light on the chances of getting married at older ages in the parish of

Vila do Conde. As can be seen in Table 2, most of the subperiods revealed between 12 and 16% of both males and females getting marrying over the age of 30 years, with the exception of some specific years. For both males and females marrying over 30 and 35 years of age there was a peak between 1870 and 1874. Twenty-one per cent of men marrying for the first time were over the age of 30 years, and for brides, during the same period, the peak reached over a quarter, 23% when corrected to exclude those marrying widowers. Towards the end of the century there was a decrease in the mean age at Table 2 Numbers of single men and single women marrying over 30 and 35 years old, by period. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1855–1899. Marriage registers and family reconstitution data, Archive of Porto District. Period

1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

Males

Females

Over 30 years

Over 35 years

Over 30 years

Over 35 years

A

B

A

B

20.41 15.83 12.16 20.95 13.29 16.33 9.32 14.53 8.84 13.78

16.33 7.50 6.08 10.14 6.33 5.44 5.59 6.70 2.76 6.46

22.06 20.33 15.43 27.16 15.48 16.13 14.12 12.63 11.36 15.50

18.18 16.81 11.11 23.13 13.33 13.14 10.32 9.71 10.63 12.46

10.29 9.76 6.79 13.58 8.33 7.10 9.04 5.79 5.68 7.41

9.09 6.19 4.17 10.45 6.00 3.65 7.74 4.57 5.63 5.36

A, those marrying widowers included; B, those marrying widowers excluded.

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marriage for both sexes, although the proportion of grooms over 35 years increased between 1889 and 1894. Another peak period to be highlighted is between the years 1855 and 1859. The proportions were almost as high as those in the first half of the 1870s. The high proportions of late marriages had a direct influence on the mean age at marriage, which rose in the two peak periods (Table 1). The increase in the mean age at marriage of bridegrooms in the 1850s could be related to the relatively intense emigration of young adults observed over the period, due to agricultural crises. Between 1870 and 1874 there were also relatively high rates of migration, mainly due to the end of the Paraguay War and economic prosperity in Brazil. However, over these periods, international emigration and the unbalanced sex ratio were not the only reasons causing the mean age at marriage to increase. Another factor contributing towards an increase in the mean ages at first marriage in the 1850s and 1870s was selective internal immigration, with older than average brides- and grooms-to-be entering the marital market of Vila do Conde, which will be explored in detail later in this section. It is noteworthy that even the highest proportions of older brides and grooms calculated for Vila do Conde are not as high as those found for other parishes in northwest Portugal. For instance, Brettell (1986: 103) found 52% of single males and 57% of single females marrying over 30 years of age for the period between 1870 and 1879 for the rural parish of Lanheses. For the urban–rural2 parish of Barcelinhos, de Faria (1998: 70–71) calculated that 35% of grooms would get married after 30 years of age, and women would count for 28.5%, for the period between 1820 and 1879. Instead, in Vila do Conde the probability of marriage at these older ages would have been considerably lower, even if marriage was taking place with a widower (a maximum of 27% in the period between 1870 and 1874). The results presented in Table 2 are related to data concerning the mean age at marriage presented in Table 1. In the parish of Vila do Conde, couples were forming households and starting to have children at earlier ages than in many other parishes from northwest Portugal. The historiography points to a tendency for urban centres towards younger ages at marriage, and this seems to be the case for Vila do Conde. Older ages at 2 de Faria (1998) called the parish of Barcelinhos urban–rural. It is a parish situated very close to the urban centre of Barcelos, so it presented many urban characteristics as a periphery of a major urban centre, but it also had rural characteristics, such as agriculture. In 1878 it had a total of 1035 inhabitants.

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marriage are frequently seen as a form of population control, but in the case of the parish in focus here it seems that international emigration was assuming this function. Table 3 presents the frequency distribution for all individuals for whom marriage age information is available (singles and widows/ers). The results show the same peak seen in Table 2, in the period from 1870 to 1874. It is noteworthy that the following quinquennium displays a fall in the percentage of 30–34-year-old brides in conjunction with a rise in the proportion of very young brides of 15–19 years old (23%). Table 3 shows that there was a trend towards a rise in the proportion of brides marrying at age 15–19 years, which was repeated in the last quarter of the century, whereas brides at 30–34 years old showed a tendency to decrease. For men, a rising trend was seen over the period for grooms between 20 and 24 years old, reaching almost 60% in 1900. Overall, there was a trend towards younger marriage ages, with an increase in the proportions of very young brides between 14 and 19 years old and young grooms between 20 and 24 years old. 3.4. Age difference between brides and grooms The age difference between couples getting married is also worthy of comment (Table 4). From the total number of marriages analysed, 55.6% were grooms 1 or more years older than their brides, 8% were the same age and 36.4% of the couples analysed had brides older than their grooms. It is worth noting that the proportion of grooms 6–9 years older than the bride was often higher than the proportion of couples with a difference of 4 or 5 years. If we consider the proportion of grooms 6 or more years older than brides, it oscillates between 17 and 27% over the period analysed. It means that in some periods, a quarter of the couples were composed of grooms much older than their brides. Another noteworthy feature of the age difference between couples is that the proportion of women 10 years older than their grooms is for most of the period over 6%. Moreover, if we observe the group of brides 6 or more years older than their grooms, the proportion rises to 10% or more (except for the period of 1890–1894, 6.1% of the total). The period between 1870 and 1874 was again different, with a peak of 19% of the brides 6 or more years older than the grooms. It has already been noted that this same particular period displayed high peaks of bride mean age at marriage, so the results presented here not only confirm the presence of older brides between 1870 and 1874, but also show

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Table 3 Proportion of brides and grooms by age at marriage (all marriages with age information). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1855–1899. Marriage registers and family reconstitution data, Archive of Porto District. Period

Age at marriage (5 year groups) 10–14

15–19

20–24

20–24

30–34

35–39

40–44

45–49

50+

Total

Grooms (%) 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

6.3 11.1 6.5 5.4 8.3 13.7 8.4 4.0 8.4

50.8 43.0 50.0 40.8 43.1 49.4 47.1 53.8 58.4

22.2 23.7 21.2 20.7 27.6 13.1 25.7 20.1 18.3

4.8 8.9 8.2 11.4 8.8 11.9 5.8 7.0 7.4

3.2 6.7 1.8 4.3 6.1 0.6 4.7 5.0 2.0

4.8 3.7 3.5 5.4 1.1 5.4 2.1 2.0 3.0

0 0.7 3.5 3.3 2.8 3.0 1.6 1.0 1.0

7.9 2.2 5.3 8.7 2.2 3.0 4.7 7.0 1.5

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Brides (%) 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899

0 0 0 0 0.6 0 0.5 0 0

17.8 16.2 17.1 10.6 23.2 15.3 25.7 24.6 18.6

45.2 39.7 41.7 34.4 37.6 48.8 41.4 43.7 45.1

15.1 19.9 20.6 22.2 19.9 14.7 13.1 16.6 20.6

12.3 10.3 9.7 15.9 7.7 9.4 5.2 7.0 5.9

2.7 8.1 4.6 5.8 6.1 4.1 6.8 3.5 4.4

5.5 4.4 2.3 5.8 1.1 2.4 3.7 1.5 3.9

1.4 0.7 4.0 3.7 2.8 4.1 1.6 1.5 1.5

0 0.7 0 1.6 1.1 1.2 2.1 1.5 0

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

that around one fifth of them were considerably older than their grooms. The period between 1870 and 1874 shows a peak in the mean age at marriage, which seems to be a reaction to the previous decade, when there was a huge decrease in the total number of marriages. The chain reaction started in the 1850s when there was a considerable increase in the number of young males leaving the

village and immediately resulted in an increase in the proportion of older brides. In the next decade, the deficit of males in the population was enough to increase the proportion of young unmarried women. The 1870s show an accumulation of spinsters over 30 years old, who would be getting married to younger men. But where did those young men come from if many of that age had left the country? An analysis of the spouses'

Table 4 Age difference between grooms and brides by proportion of marriages in each category (those marrying as single only). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1855–1899. Marriage registers and family reconstitution data, Archive of Porto District. Period

Number of cases

% groom older than bride by years

% bride older than groom by years

1

2–3

4–5

6–9

10+

6+

1

2–3

4–5

6–9

10+

6+

1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

62 135 170 179 178 166 189 197 201 1477

4.8 8.9 7.1 7.3 6.2 9.6 11.1 9.6 8.5 8.4

16.1 17.0 20.6 11.2 12.9 15.7 15.3 14.7 12.9 15.0

11.3 9.6 8.2 5.6 12.9 8.4 9.0 13.2 10.4 9.8

6.5 9.6 11.8 10.1 16.3 5.4 12.2 13.2 7.0 10.6

11.3 7.4 10.6 17.3 9.6 13.9 11.1 14.2 10.0 11.8

17.7 17.0 22.4 27.4 25.8 19.3 23.3 27.4 16.9 22.4

12.9 8.9 5.3 3.9 4.5 11.4 5.8 8.1 9.0 7.3

9.7 10.4 10.0 10.1 9.0 9.6 9.5 9.1 9.0 9.5

6.5 6.7 5.9 7.3 5.6 7.8 4.8 5.6 8.5 6.5

9.7 9.6 8.2 12.3 7.3 6.0 5.8 5.1 7.0 7.7

6.5 6.7 1.8 6.7 6.2 6.6 6.3 1.0 8.0 5.4

16.1 16.3 10.0 19.0 13.5 12.7 12.2 6.1 14.9 13.1

Same age 4.8 5.2 10.6 8.4 9.6 5.4 9.0 6.1 10.0 8.0

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Table 5 Total numbers and percentages of brides and grooms (single grooms only) according to place of birth. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800–1900. Marriage registers, Archive of Porto District.

Table 6 Distribution of single grooms by place of birth (Concelho of Vila do Conde or other). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800–1899. Family reconstitution data, Archive of Porto District.

Place of birth

Year groups

No information (A)

Concelho Vila C. (B)

Other (C)

Total

1800–1804 1805–1809 1810–1814 1815–1819 1820–1824 1825–1829 1830–1834 1835–1839 1840–1844 1845–1849 1850–1854 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

6.8 15.3 15.7 28.6 15.4 13.0 15.0 9.2 11.0 17.1 14.2 12.0 1.8 2.8 5.8 0.7 3.5 3.9 4.5 2.0 8.1

67.0 60.2 61.8 61.9 78.8 73.9 60.0 68.7 66.1 54.3 54.9 53.0 61.5 62.2 56.1 64.7 59.9 63.6 68.4 66.4 62.4

26.1 24.5 22.5 9.5 5.8 13.0 25.0 22.1 22.9 28.7 31.0 35.0 36.7 35.0 38.1 34.7 36.6 32.5 27.1 31.6 29.4

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Brides n

Grooms %

n

%

No information 139 6.13 185 8.16 Parish of Vila do Conde 1715 75.68 1322 58.34 Other parishes of Concelho 70 3.09 92 4.06 of Vila do Conde Other Concelhos from Porto District 198 8.74 349 15.40 Neighbouring districts a 119 5.25 218 9.62 Other districts 9 0.40 67 2.96 Other countries 16 0.71 33 1.46 Total 2266 100.00 2266 100.00 a

Viana do Castelo, Braga, Vila Real, Viseu and Aveiro.

places of birth provides us with a partial explanation to this question.

3.5. Age at marriage and the origin of brides and grooms A consideration of the proportions of grooms and brides who were born in a parish other than Vila do Conde provides some hints as to what was happening. In the case of the women, most of them were natives of the village, 75.7%, another 8.7% were born in other Concelhos from the District of Porto and just 6.7% were born outside the District of Porto. However, males show a different pattern, in which 58.4% were from the parish of Vila do Conde, 15.4% were from other Concelhos in the Porto District and 12.6% from other districts (Table 5). A substantial proportion of grooms were coming into the village to get married, but when did they come, and at what ages? The distribution of single grooms by place of birth shows clearly that the Parish of Vila do Conde received a considerable number of males from other parishes and also from other districts during the second half of the 19th century (Table 6). Most of the ‘foreigners’ came from other Concelhos of Porto District3, and also from neighbouring districts. The parish of Vila do Conde was attracting males from other places, and most of the parishes that were ‘sending’ grooms were located in the interior of the district (not in the coastal area). These immigrants were probably coming from rural regions in search of employment in the urban centre of Vila do Conde. 3

In fact they came mostly from Póvoa do Varzim, a parish localized in the northern border of Vila do Conde.

It is interesting to highlight that the proportion of grooms born outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde was particularly high between 1855 and 1884, with a peak of 38.1% in the period of 1870–1874 (Table 6). It shows that the peaks in age at first marriage coincide with the increase in the incidence of foreign grooms. Although the proportion of brides born outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde was not as high as that for the grooms, the same correlation between older age at first marriage and high proportions of brides born outside the Concelho could be observed (Table 7). There was an increase in the proportion of brides from other Concelhos between 1860 and 1889. When couples with wives older than husbands are analysed separately, an increase in the proportion of grooms born outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde is observable (Table 8). Among those single grooms married to older brides, 56.1% were originally from the parish of Vila do Conde, 20.3% were from other Concelhos in the Porto District and 13.2% were from other districts. Such a picture suggests that a significant proportion of the young boys marrying older women were immigrants (33.5%). However, there was still a substantial proportion of grooms, 58%, from the village. We might ask if this group of Vila Condenses was

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Table 7 Distribution of single brides by place of birth (Concelho Vila do Conde or other). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800– 1899. Family reconstitution data, Archive of Porto District. Year groups

No information (A)

Concelho Vila C. (B)

Other (C)

Total

1800–1804 1805–1809 1810–1814 1815–1819 1820–1824 1825–1829 1830–1834 1835–1839 1840–1844 1845–1849 1850–1854 1855–1859 1860–1864 1865–1869 1870–1874 1875–1879 1880–1884 1885–1889 1890–1894 1895–1899 Total

2.3 4.1 7.9 33.3 36.5 34.8 15.8 2.3 8.5 15.5 10.6 4.2 0.0 2.1 1.4 2.0 2.8 3.9 2.8 0.0 6.1

92.0 90.8 85.4 61.9 63.5 56.5 76.7 90.8 81.4 73.6 77.0 81.4 78.9 82.5 77.0 76.0 74.6 64.3 80.8 80.3 78.8

5.7 5.1 6.7 4.8 0.0 8.7 7.5 6.9 10.2 10.9 12.4 14.4 21.1 15.4 21.6 22.0 22.5 31.8 16.4 19.7 15.1

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

distinguished in any way. In order to answer this question, we will first delineate the mean ages at marriage by place of birth and then we will consider the age at marriage in relation to the groom's occupational category. It is important to make clear that the isolated fact of high proportions of grooms originally from other parishes is not by itself an indicator that there was an inflow of potential husbands to Vila do Conde. There is Table 8 Total numbers and percentages of brides and grooms (single grooms younger than brides only) by place of birth. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1800–1900. Marriage registers, Archive of Porto District. Place of birth

Brides n

No information Parish of Vila do Conde Other parishes of Concelho of Vila do Conde Other Concelhos from Porto District Neighbouring districts a Other districts Other countries Total a

Grooms %

n

%

16 366 18

3.07 70.11 3.45

23 293 23

4.41 56.13 4.41

76 43 2 1 522

14.56 8.24 0.38 0.19 100.00

106 59 10 8 522

20.31 11.30 1.92 1.53 100.00

Viana do Castelo, Braga, Vila Real, Viseu and Aveiro.

a possibility that they were only getting married in the natal town of their spouses, but not establishing a residence there. However, when marital fertility is assessed, it is possible to observe that the average number of children of brides married between 30 and 34 years of age had increased in the same period. This fact leads us to suppose that the hypothesis of an inflow of males compensating in part for the imbalance in the marital market constitutes a suitable explanation. An interesting picture is obtained from the observation of the mean age at marriage according to place of birth (Figs. 4 and 5). Among brides, there was a clear increase in the mean age at first marriage of brides from all origins in the periods of 1855–1859 and 1870–1874. What is striking here is the fact that in these periods, women from all parts were marrying later than usual, and not only those originally from other Concelhos. Another interesting observation is the fact that brides from outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde had an older mean age at marriage in the same peak times observed in Table 1. It means that although the proportion of immigrant brides was not high, those who were coming from outside Vila do Conde and getting married in the parish were certainly contributing to the increase in the mean ages at first marriage in the 1850s and 1870s, resulting in an older age of brides than grooms in 1870–1874. The same could be said for the grooms. Fig. 5 shows the mean age at marriage for single grooms according to their origin. As shown in Table 1, grooms displayed an increase in their mean ages in the periods of 1850–1855 and 1870–1874. However, when looked at in detail, the mean age at first marriage of grooms originally from the parish of Vila do Conde did not change much, remaining very stable over the whole period of observation. Nonetheless, in the periods of 1855–1859 and 1870–1874, the mean age of grooms born outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde was considerably higher than that of grooms born in the Concelho. Between the years 1880 and 1884, it is possible to observe a fall in the mean age at marriage of grooms born outside the Concelho of Vila do Conde. It could be inferred that the variation in the mean age at first marriage observed in Table 1 was mainly a result of the selective in-migration of older grooms-to-be in the parish of Vila do Conde. It is also interesting to see that although grooms' ages tended to increase in the period between 1870 and 1874, there was still a great proportion of brides born in the parish who were getting married at even later ages. The favourable sex ratio for males is reflected in the stability of the age at marriage of those originally from Vila do Conde.

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Fig. 4. Brides' mean age at first marriage by place of birth (Concelho of Vila do Conde or other). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1855–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

3.6. Age at marriage and economic situation of the groom If we consider the mean age at first marriage by economic sector4, different patterns emerge (Fig. 6). The grooms employed in the primary sector were older than their brides, with the exception of the period between 1870 and 1874, when the wives were 0.2 year older, on average, than their husbands. The couples in which grooms worked in the secondary sector presented a less stable pattern, with some variability during the period. Brides from this group had older mean ages at first marriage in three periods: 1870–1874, 1880–1885 and 1895–1999. The grooms born outside Vila do Conde and also the native grooms marrying older brides were mostly employed in the secondary sector. Those individuals were employed as carpenters (30%), masons (24%), painters (12.8%), shoemakers (11%), blacksmiths (3%) and locksmiths (3%). The tertiary sector presents a very consistent pattern, in which women were over 2 years younger than their husbands. Another observation that can be taken from Figs. 7 and 8 is that couples working in the primary sector started the period with higher mean ages at first marriage 4 In the town of Vila do Conde, the primary economic sector was mainly represented by occupations related to the sea, such as fisherman, although there were also some people working in agriculture. The secondary sector was mainly composed of shipwrights, builders, masons, painters, shoemakers, blacksmiths, goldsmith and carpenters. The third sector was made up of people in jobs in the public sector, owners and people working in commerce.

than those from the secondary sector. However, those ages decreased over time and by the end of the century they presented the lowest mean ages (Figs. 7 and 8). Furthermore, the gap between the mean ages of both sexes did not vary greatly in any sector. Nonetheless, couples in which the groom was employed in the tertiary sector were the eldest at marriage, and they also presented the largest constant age gaps. The three patterns identified reveal different life strategies according to the economic sector of the groom. Couples from the primary economic sector5 showed a fall in the mean ages at first marriage for bridegrooms over the second half of the 19th century. For this group, it could have been the case that the growing urbanization of Vila do Conde increased the chances of an individual securing a relatively stable income early in life. The expansion of trading and fishery would increase the demand for wage workers, making possible the establishment of a household at an earlier stage in the life course. The non-dependence on land for workers in maritime industries would allow them to leave their parents' house as soon as they were able to get a job. The general expansion of salaried jobs, and the more general economic improvement in Portugal in the 1870s would have certainly contributed to early parental emancipation. Economic expansion could also explain the fall in the mean age at marriage for those from the tertiary sector. Couples from the secondary economic sector did not 5

Most of those in the primary sector worked in activities related to the sea (78%) and only 22% worked with agriculture.

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Fig. 5. Grooms' mean age at first marriage by place of birth (Concelho of Vila do Conde or other). Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1855–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

show a defined pattern, but a changing one over the period. Other variables may have influenced the age at marriage, such as the death of the father of bridegrooms. This possibility will be more deeply explored later in this paper. A final thought about the high proportions of older brides among those from the secondary sector between 1870 and 1874 would be that the increase in the mean age at marriage is often related to postponing marriage and limiting fertility. However, in the case of Vila do Conde it seems that there was a considerable number of

older women composing the celibate group who had failed to marry previously but who married after the age of 30 years to younger males coming from other parishes. So, in this case, the increase in the mean age did not reduce the number of brides, but increased those at older ages. Consideration is now given to the proportion of celibates in the village and the relationship between the age at first marriage and the death of the bridegroom's parents. The first analysis will test whether the outflow of males was creating spinsters; the second will try to

Fig. 6. Mean age at first marriage for men and women, husbands working in the primary economic sector only. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1865–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

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Fig. 7. Mean age at first marriage for men and women, husbands working in the secondary economic sector only. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1865–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

Fig. 8. Mean age at first marriage for men and women, husbands working in the tertiary economic sector only. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1865–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

Table 9 Proportion of celibates aged 45–50 years. Concelho Vila do Conde and mainland Portugal, 1864–1900. Portuguese Censuses of 1864, 1878, 1890 and 1900. Year

Vila do Conde

Mainland Portugal

1864 1878 1890 1900 1864–1900

21.02 26.23 23.62 15.72 20.70

22.82 22.51 16.53 19.50 20.41

detect the role of the family and inheritance practices in the constitution of a new family. Definitive celibacy was calculated using the proportion of individuals aged 45– 50 years who were declared as single in the censuses. 3.7. Celibacy In Vila do Conde during the second half of the 19th century, between 26.2 and 15.7% of women between 45 and 49 years of age were single, according to the

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Fig. 9. Bride's mean age at first marriage by 5 year period, and if parents were alive or not by the time of the marriage. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1860–1899 (those marrying as single only).

censuses (Table 9). These high proportions of female celibates were in accordance with northern Portuguese standards, with an average of 20.7% for the period between 1864 and 1900, only a little higher than the mainland Portuguese female celibate average, which was around 20.4% (Table 9). It is worth noting the decreasing trend over the period, for both Vila do Conde and mainland Portugal, although for the first case it was not as smooth as for the country. It could be said that Vila do Conde presented high celibate levels, as it was often observed in other parishes of the Minho region.

3.8. Age at marriage and the presence of the father The final issue to be discussed concerns the relationship between age at first marriage and the presence of a father. There appears to have been some relationship between parents' age at death and the mean age at marriage of both sons and daughters in Vila do Conde (Figs. 9 and 10). Brides and grooms with no father, mother or both, married earlier than those whose parents were still alive. Most of those who had lost their fathers prior to their marriage were working in primary

Fig. 10. Groom's mean age at first marriage by 5 year period, and if parents were alive or not by the time of the marriage. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1860–1899 (those marrying as single only).

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Fig. 11. Groom's mean age at first marriage by economic sector. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1865–1899 (single grooms marrying single brides only).

and secondary occupations (42 and 36%, respectively), meaning the less wealthy people were working in more physically demanding jobs. This would partially explain the later ages at marriage found for couples from the tertiary economic sector (Figs. 11 and 12). Even in an urban centre, where agriculture was not prominent and the acquisition of land was not sine qua non for the establishment of a household, the presence of a father seems to be a very important influence on the decision to get married. This issue has already been

presented in the literature (Ohlin, 1961; Smith, 1973). As Ohlin pointed out in his study of the relationship between mortality and age at marriage, the father's death would open up opportunities for the siblings that would not exist if they were still under parental rules. It might be supposed that in most instances the absence of a father would immediately generate a demand for emancipation or at least for entry into the labour market for siblings who were not yet employed and, hence, would bring about an earlier escape from paternal

Fig. 12. Bride's mean age at first marriage by groom's economic sector. Parish of Vila do Conde, Porto District, Portugal, 1865–1899 (single grooms marring single brides only).

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authority. At the same time, it would liberate the siblings to compose their own household, exempting them from the obligation of providing for their parents' household. The findings presented suggest that the population of Vila do Conde was behaving in a way that differed somewhat from the northwestern Portuguese average. Older ages at first marriage, a classical population growth regulator, was not being applied in this parish at the same level as it was observed in some rural settlements. Instead, outflow migration was already serving as a growth regulator, which had its effects minimized by the inflow of males in the age of marriage. The migratory pattern in Vila do Conde may be the answer to the distinctive behaviour observed. 4. Discussion According to the analysis presented in the previous section, the determinants of the age at first marriage in Vila do Conde were not only the place of residence (rural/urban), gender, whether an immigrant or not, but also occupation and the presence of a father. All these factors seem to have had an impact on the decision to marry. But were these determinants also applicable to other populations of northern Portugal? The investigation of nuptiality in Vila do Conde led to two important conclusions. First, that Vila do Conde, as an urban location, presented relatively low mean ages at first marriage, when compared with the regional average. In other words, a higher proportion of young people were getting married there when compared with the District of Porto as a whole. Second, differences in marital behaviour were certainly related to the occupation of the groom, which could be considered as a proxy for social status, and the presence of a father. Social expectations, economic opportunities and family structure were definitely affecting the decision of when to get married. The mean ages at first marriage in the parish of Vila do Conde were much lower than those of the Porto District calculated by Rowland (1997b: 105–106). Grooms and brides in Vila do Conde married at younger ages than the district average. This difference could be related to the fact that Vila do Conde was an urban centre and the high mean ages for the district reflected the higher mean ages at marriage seen in rural areas, which were compositionally dominant. Brettell (1986: 101), studying marriage patterns in the parish of Lanheses6, Viana do Castelo District, calculated the mean age at marriage for the period 6

The parish of Lanheses is located in the Concelho of Viana do Castelo, which is located in the District of Viana do Castelo.

between 1700 and 1970. For the 19th century, she found bachelor grooms with mean ages at marriage of 28.7 years for the first decade of the century, falling to 26.3 years in the 1830s and rising to 31.9 years in the 1890s. For the spinster brides, the mean age at marriage was 27.1 years between 1800 and 1809, 25.8 years in the 1820s, 30 years between 1860 and 1879, and started a steady fall in the last decades of the 19th century. It is clear from these numbers that the mean ages at marriage in Lanheses were considerably higher than in Vila do Conde. Even when compared with the district, Lanheses presented higher mean ages at marriage than the District of Viana do Castelo as a whole. Scott (1999: 200–201), studying the parish of São Tiago do Ronfe7, Braga District, calculated the mean age at first marriage for grooms during the first half of the 19th century as 27.4 years; 27 years in the second half. For brides, the ages were 29.1 and 27.7 years. In this case, the data were grouped in long periods, and cannot be compared with the district ages, but the ages were still higher than the ages found for Vila do Conde. The rural parish of Meadela (Solé, 2001: 106), Viana do Castelo District, also had older ages at first marriage, 26.8 years for males and 28 years for females. Barcelinhos (de Faria, 1998: 71), Braga District, is another example with 29 and 27 years for grooms and brides married between 1820 and 1879. Pereira (1996: 475–488) calculated the mean age at first marriage for the urban parish of Cedofeita, in the city of Porto, for the years 1881 and 1882. In this case, grooms were on average 24.2 years old and brides 23.5 years old. The numbers here are closer to those for Vila do Conde than the other cases. The parishes of Lanheses and São Tiago do Ronfe have in common the fact that they are all rural areas located in the northwestern part of Portugal, far from the coast. Both parishes had smaller populations than Vila do Conde. According to the Portuguese Census of 1864, Lanheses had 1044 residents and Ronfe had 888. Vila do Conde was an urban centre by the coast and had 4127 residents in the same year. The parish of Cedofeita, however, was located in the largest urban concentration of northern Portugal, the city of Porto, and had a population of 11,828 residents in 1864. Different life conditions and expectations probably affected the decision to get married. In the countryside, land was essential for subsistence. Inheritance was almost the only way through which land could be obtained. Therefore, in order to form a family, land was 7

The parish of São Tiago do Ronfe is located in the Concelho of Guimarães, which is located in the District of Braga.

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essential. Of course, the wait for inheritance was only feasible if the parents had land or property to pass on. As Brettell (1986: 110) pointed out, many rural families ‘owned very little land or none at all, inheritance of property from father or mother would certainly have mattered little.’ In this case, Brettell argued that the marriage postponement was related to the ‘desire of parents to maintain the labour or potential income of unmarried children (…) for as long as possible.’ In urban centres, however, land was of far less significance in household formation. Most of the people worked in the secondary economic sector and did not have to wait to get married. In coastal towns, such as Vila do Conde and the city of Porto, there was also the possibility of fishing, but in this case the sea was open to anyone, without the need to inherit it, although there was still the need for boats. The young age at first marriage in Cedofeita accords well with the hypothesis of differential ages for urban and rural populations. However, this latter study covers only the years of 1881 and 1882. More research must be carried out in other urban centres for a better understanding of the relationship between nuptiality and socio-economic conditions. The size of the population of urban villages has probably made historians reluctant to study them. This is indeed a major problem, but it is important for Portuguese historiography to undertake a more effective investigation of the demography of urban areas in the 19th century. Vila do Conde presents two different scenarios regarding spouses' age gap. First, high proportions of young women were getting married to older men. Why did young brides enter marriages with older men? An answer to this question requires some consideration of the role played by male return migrants. Some of those young males who left for Brazil did return. They were no longer young, but they were probably wealthier than those living in the village. Alves (1994: 251) showed that although the return migration was not as large as the flow in the opposite direction, it was still important. Alves estimated that the total number of returned emigrants to Portugal would have been 2416 in 1858, 2860 in 1859, 3971 in 1860 and 3828 in 1861. Moreover, the majority of returned migrants had succeeded in Brazil and brought their fortunes to Portugal. Monteiro (2000: 321) effectively presented this phenomenon in his study of the parish of Fafe, Braga District. He showed that return migrants had brought not only wealth, but also prosperity and modernity. Hence, they would be in better financial circumstances than many of their parish fellows. If they were still single, they would have occupied a privileged position in the marriage market.

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The second scenario concerns the high proportions of women getting married to younger men. In the years 1870–1874, 19% of brides were 6 or more years older than their grooms. This was the highest peak, but the proportions were high during the whole period of observation. The same can be seen in the rural parish of Lanheses. Brettell argued that this phenomenon was an effect of the Portuguese inheritance system, which gave equal rights for males and females. For a young man, marriage to an older woman would be advantageous. The wife would already have established a household, and would probably have received her inheritance. According to Brettell, a great part of those women marrying at later ages ‘were the ones that had remained with their parents until their death and were therefore the recipients of the terços’ (Brettell, 1986: 127). The same could be said of the older brides from Vila do Conde. They would be attractive to young males, especially those who came from rural areas in search of opportunities in the urban centre. It is important to highlight that oscillation in the mean age at first marriage (for both brides and grooms) and also changes in emigration flows seem to follow economic stability. In this way, emigration could be considered a regulating mechanism of nuptiality, being greatly determined by exogenous forces, such as the agricultural crises of the 1850s or the Paraguay War (1865–1870). Differential marital behaviour by place of birth was another distinctive finding. Brides born in other Concelhos had older mean ages at first marriage than those born in the village. In the opposite direction, grooms originally from other parishes were younger than those born in Vila do Conde. It seems to be the case that women delayed their marriage in order to migrate to the urban centre, whereas young men found the opportunity in the urban centre for future prosperity through marrying an older women. Young males who migrated to the village probably found opportunities in the secondary economic sector, as most of them had probably moved there to escape under-employment in rural areas. Hence, couples in which brides were older than grooms would have probably been located in the secondary economic sector. This is confirmed by the comparative analysis of mean ages at first marriage by economic sector. It is important to highlight the increase in the proportion of mixed marriages (natives and migrants) over the period of economic crises. A similar trend was observed by Van de Putte (2003), when studying homogamy by geographical origin in Flemish cities. Van de Putte observed that in moments of economic crises there was an

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increase in the proportion of mixed marriages. In his words, ‘geographical mobility causes heterogamy as a mechanical effect’ (Van de Putte, 2003: 366). In the case of Vila do Conde, low sex ratios (the result of genderselective international emigration) combined with the increase in internal emigration of males from other parishes resulted in an increase in the offer of migrant bachelors in the marriage market, increasing mixed marriages. Another noteworthy point concerns the age gap between husband and wife, which varied according to the economic sector in which the groom was employed. Those working in the primary sector showed a very small gap, whereas the age gap was larger when the groom worked in the tertiary sector. Couples from the primary and the tertiary sector presented more stability in the age gap over the period in focus, whereas those from the secondary sector displayed a great deal of variation. Pereira (1996: 214–215), studying families from Porto over the last two decades of the 19th century, concluded that couples from the ‘Superior Class’8 had higher proportions of grooms much older than brides. However, those he referred to as the ‘Popular Class’ had very similar ages. Pereira (1996: 218) argued that the ‘Superior Class’ adopted some socio-economic strategies for the maintenance of the family patrimony and status. The groom from this class had to achieve his maturity to be able to create a solid marriage. The bride, instead, had to be younger, ‘pure,’ and still a virgin. It was a kind of alliance in which the reputations of the families would be preserved. In the case of the ‘Popular Class,’ Pereira argued that both spouses were young because in an urban centre there was no land to cultivate and so they needed to search for employment at a young age, thereby reducing their father's control over them. Celibacy is another demographic condition that calls for attention. Vila do Conde showed a higher proportion of definitive spinsters when compared with mainland Portugal as a whole. Other parishes in northwestern Portugal have also shown high proportions of female celibacy over the 19th century. For the parish of São Tiago de Rofe, Scott (1999: 204–205) estimated that 35.5% of the women over the age of 49 years were celibate during the first half of the 19th century. By the second half of the century, the proportion had fallen abruptly to just over 10%. However, this last estimation

was calculated on information from just 18 women, which certainly affected the results. de Faria (1998) calculated that 37.3% of females over 49 years old from Barcelinhos were celibate in the first four decades of the 19th century. For the parish of Lanheses, Brettell (1986: 132) estimated that female celibacy stood at 33.9% in 1860–1869, 33.3% in 1870–1879, 18.2% in 1880– 1889 and 24.3% in the last decade of the century. For the year 1881, Pereira (1996: 208–209) estimated that 17% of women were celibate in the parish of Cedofeita (Porto). However, he pointed out that this figure would vary according to the occupation of the head of the household. It is important to highlight that for Vila do Conde, the proportions were calculated using census data, whereas the results for the parishes just mentioned were calculated by the analyses of burial registrations. Hence, they cannot be directly compared. Nonetheless, it could be said that levels of celibacy in Vila do Conde were not far from those observed for the country average, meaning that the parish in focus did not present the extremely high proportions observed in some populations in northwestern Portugal. It could be inferred that rural areas had a higher incidence of celibacy than urban areas, which would explain the relatively moderate levels in Vila do Conde. This feature is probably related to the fact that in the countryside the need for land was crucial for the composition of a new household (Brandão, 1988). The lack of land would mainly generate three options for those without land: emigration, celibacy or consanguinity. In the case of Vila do Conde, the last option does not seem to have been very common, as many couples were not even from the same parish9. It seems to be that in this particular place, immigration was offering the inhabitants the option of mixed marriages (natives and immigrants), which would have been more popular than consanguineous unions, as already observed by other authors (Lagido, 2009). It seems that men often chose the first option, whereas several women were left behind alone. Low sex ratios had certainly contributed to celibacy, as there were simply not enough males available. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that in Portugal, celibacy was not synonymous with abstinence from sex. The impossibility of marriage did not stop people from having sex and conceiving. The final point to discuss is the relationship between having a father and getting married. This finding accords with findings from other case studies

8

Pereira had classified occupations into three different groups: Superior Class (owners, capitalists), Medium Class (owners of small plots of land or small business, artisans, state employees) and Popular Class (labours, servants, fishermen, beggars).

9 In order to quantify the impact of consanguinity, a genealogy study would be needed. However, given the huge size of the population studied, it was not possible to undertake such an analysis.

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concerning inheritance practices in northwest Portugal. Brettell (1986: 109), studying the parish of Lanheses, affirmed that in the case when ‘individuals relied upon land for their livelihood, each new generation had to await the passing on (or retirement) of an earlier generation before it could assume control of the family patrimony.’ In this case, rural areas would present higher mean ages at marriage. What the study of Vila do Conde suggests is that not only those in need of land would postpone marriage when the father was still alive, but it was a feature that applied more generally to everyone. The presence of parents, particularly the father, was definitely a strong determinant of the age at first marriage, as it was also determinant of the decision to emigrate. This finding is in accordance with other findings in the literature, which show the importance of the father on regulating marital patterns (Ohlin, 1961; Smith, 1973). 5. Conclusions Marital patterns in 19th-century Portugal were a very complex issue, varying according to socio-economic and demographic factors. The study of the town of Vila do Conde aimed to contribute to an understanding of marital dynamics by analysing its characteristics in an urban centre. Being a medium-sized town, placed by the Atlantic coast, Vila do Conde presented very different socio-economic characteristics from those found in inland rural parishes of northwest Portugal. In this town, land was not the most important means of survival. The bulk of the individuals working in the primary economic sector had occupations related to the sea, such as fishermen. Those from the secondary and tertiary sectors were mostly involved with typical urban occupations, such as carpentry, building and trading, apart from posts related to the town's administration. In a region where land was a precious, if not vital, means to support a family, the non-dependence on it was a real bonus. It allowed for a somewhat precocious emancipation from the family, as well as earlier family formation. Another distinction was the fact that the parish of Vila do Conde was not only a place from where people decided to leave, but also a place to move into. The urban centre attracted immigrants, who seem to have been very important in the maintenance, and even the increase, of population in the town. The detailed study of marriage patterns in Vila do Conde undertaken here has shown that the model once used to describe the population in northwest Portugal as a whole can no longer represent all settlements in the region. It has pointed to the necessity of more studies of the

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