Divorce Cases Among the Gentlefolk of Sălişte within the Second Half of the 19th Century
Divorce Cases Among the Gentlefolk of Sălişte within the Second Half of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The article recasts the divorcing phenomenon at the level of the Romanian elite from Mărginimea Sibiului. The time framing comprises the second half of the 19th century, when ending the marriage and settling the marital divergences used to fall under the purview of the church. Starting from the example of the 13 church communes from the Orthodox archpriestship Sălişte, the article establishes the causes of marriage dissolution and the demographic features of the local front-rank people (age of divorce, period of marriage, locality of origin and residence, marital and socio-professional status, number of children). At the same time, we shall explain the historical sources available, their relevance and the manner in which we have laid down a database in Airtable format. Divorcing used to be a long, costly and complicated process from the perspective of canonical law. At the level of the local elite from the southern Transylvania, the main divorce reason used to be “aversion and mutual hatred”.

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