The objective of this chapter is to outline the characteristics of the divorced population, whose number I have estimated at about 2000 couples1 (that is 4000 people; the cases of people who divorced more than once were rare and do not distort the general picture presented here). Of course, I am only able to shed light on those divorcees of whom I learned from source materials (about 900 couples). I will primarily focus on cases known from divorce decrees (about 700 couples), because they contain quite a deal of information about the people whom they concern and, extremely importantly in research of this type, all the data is available in a single document. I will also avail myself of auxiliary material, namely court files, which are a much more time-consuming source due to the fact that information is dispersed, and is not always cited consistently. My analysis will largely omit divorces recorded in church books and in civil marriage books maintained for divorcees, as they contain the least information of relevance for the intended characterization, and they are also relatively scarce.
7.1 Initiators of Divorces
Women prevailed in the group of spouses who filed for divorce. The summaries presented below (Diagram 11) reflect only data concerning individual tribunals (those as to which I was able to confirm that they pronounced at least 20 divorces). It merits a mention that the summaries do not account separately for divorces pronounced at the joint application of both spouses, nor for cases in which both the husband and the wife filed petitions for divorce for a determined cause (each of these two situations probably occurred several times). These types of divorces have been allocated to both genders in 50%. Their precise division is virtually impossible for the majority of those divorced that are known of exclusively from civil status records. This is because even when both spouses lodged divorce petitions, and even if both turned out to be justified, the divorce was still pronounced once only, in practice at the initiative of the party that was first to show up before a civil status registrar. Nevertheless, as
This disproportion is not difficult to account for. The collected material clearly demonstrates that men resorted to physical violence or developed drinking habits much more often, and these two circumstances were some of the main reasons for marriage breakdown. I will risk the statement that this tendency was universal rather than typical of the Polish territories in the first half of the 19th century. Another important factor was that 200 years ago women were legally subordinate to their husbands (see: subchapter 2.5).
Initiators of divorce proceedings before individual tribunals.
Due to the above, divorce was sometimes the only way for a woman to liberate herself from the control of her husband. It may have seemed like a particularly fitting solution when the real reason for the breakdown of marriage was squandering of the wife’s property by the husband.
7.2 Age of the Divorcees
Source materials usually provide information about the age of the divorcing spouses, but not always. Let me reiterate that recording the age of persons named in civil status records (including divorce decrees) was mandatory pursuant to Art. 34 of the cc. This type of information is also sometimes reflected in court files, although it is not a rule. Thus, civil status records are particularly helpful in establishing whether or not there existed a correlation between the age of spouses and their inclination to divorce. Unfortunately, civil status registrars did not always observe their duties in this respect, probably mostly because it was sometimes very difficult. Problems emerged especially if the defendant did not show up at pronouncement of the judgement, and therefore his or her statement on their age could not be taken. It was usually omitted in the divorce decree also. At the same time, it is impossible to tell whether the age of the defendant was unknown to the initiating party, or if the civil status
For my analysis of issues around the age of spouses, I have chosen the civil status records from Warsaw and Płock, because documentation concerning both marriages and divorces in these cities has been preserved, which makes it possible to compare the data concerning both newlyweds and divorcees.
In the first of eight Warsaw communes, all 57 divorce decrees recorded the ages of the parties. For men it was on average 38.7 years old, and for women 30.8. The average age difference between divorcees was 10 years. In 46 cases, the husband was older than the wife, and in 11 the opposite was true. Here, women initiated 68% of divorces (not a single one resulted from a joint petition). The average age of those women was 29.1 years old, that is 1.7 years less than in the general population of divorced women. 82% of female initiators of divorce proceedings (n.32) were aged between 21 and 40 years old (23 were between 20 and 30; 9 were between 30 and 40). 4 were teenagers and 3 were women over 40 years old (the oldest one was 54). As for the men, 16 out of 18 initiators of divorce proceedings were aged between 30 and 50; only 2 were older. The statistical age of male initiators was almost the same as the average age of the general population of divorced men.
Number of initiators of divorce proceedings in the first commune of the Capital City of Warsaw, divided into ages and genders
Number of initiators of divorce proceedings in Płock, divided into ages and genders
I decided to compare these data with information about the first 40 couples that got married in 1814 in the commune in question,4 but since the age of one of the parties was either missing or illegible in three cases, I used 37 couples whose information is complete as a point of reference. The average age of grooms was 34.9 years old, and for brides it was 26. The average age difference amounted to 9 years. Only one bride was older than her groom.
As for Płock, out of 45 divorce decrees, 29 contain information about the age of both spouses and will be further analyzed. The average age of divorcing women was 31.7 years old, and of divorcing men 37.1 years old. The average age difference between divorcees was 8.3 years. Most husbands were older than wives, but there were 6 exceptions to this rule (20%). Out of the 29 divorces analyzed, 21 were pronounced at the initiative of women, 7 at the initiative of men, and one at a joint petition.
The average age of the female initiators was 32 years old, thus almost coinciding with the age of all divorced women. Two of them were teenagers and three were women in their forties. The great majority, 76% (n.16) were between 21 and 40. All the women who were successfully sued for divorce also fall into
I compared these calculations with data concerning newlyweds. As a point of reference, I selected 38 couples who were married between May and December 1819.5 Also in this group, the husbands were mostly older than their wives (29 cases). The average age difference between the newlyweds was 7.6 years and, as in the case of the first commune in Warsaw, was about a year less than in the case of divorcees. The average age of the grooms was 30.8 years old, which makes them over 6 years younger than male divorcees. The brides were on average 26.4 years old, i.e. just over 5 years younger than the female divorcees. In 7 cases, the woman getting married was older than her partner.
The above comparisons may suggest that the age difference, greater in the case of divorcees than in the case of all married persons, could have been a factor negatively influencing the durability of marriages. Nevertheless, since this difference is of just one year, it is doubtful whether such a correlation indeed existed. A significant difference in age between the spouses was typical of those times. At the same time, we can surmise that divorce was attractive primarily for people considering or planning another marriage: both in Płock and in Warsaw, among the brides and grooms, there were women in their forties and older. Apparently, marriage was not perceived solely in terms of procreation. However, the elderly did not divorce, which was obviously also a consequence of the fact that people did not live as long as they do today. It is also noteworthy that among the initiators of divorces in both cities, only one was under 30 years old.
7.3 Duration of Marriages
Average duration of marriages of divorcees in the third commune of the Capital City of Warsaw, in Płock and in the territory falling under the jurisdiction of the second department of the Kalisz tribunal
Duration of marriages of divorcees in the third commune of the Capital City of Warsaw in Płock and in the second department of the Kalisz tribunal, divided into intervals
Unfortunately, the date of marriage was not included in all divorce decrees. Nevertheless, I have been able to select areas for which there exists complete or at least relatively extensive and representative data for the years 1816–1825.
As regards the third Warsaw commune, I have data concerning 31 divorces pronounced in this period, and the average duration of marriage of the divorcees was 8.5 years. Six couples had been married for 2 or 3 years; 15 (almost
For the same period, 36 divorce decrees were preserved in Płock, with one missing the date on which the dissolved marriage had been concluded. Here, the average duration of marriages was much longer: slightly over 12 years. Only 3 couples had been married for a short period of 2 to 3 years, while 11 for 3 to 10 years. 21 married couples had been together for over a decade (of which 4 for over 20 years).
Due to the specificity of the sources, it is much more difficult to establish similar data for the other cities, from which information about at least a dozen or so divorces has been preserved (not all civil registrars recorded the dates on which the dissolved marriages had been concluded, while information about marriage duration appears in different places and is given in a very inconsistent manner in court records). Nevertheless, I made an attempt to determine the length of the marriages of the divorcees who were litigating in the second department of Kalisz. 44 divorces were pronounced there, and in 21 of the cases I have been able to establish the duration of marriages. It was on average 10.5 years. In comparison to Płock and Warsaw, many marriages (6, which amounts to nearly 30%) lasted a short period of time, up to 3 years. Another 5 couples lasted between 3 and 10 years. The remaining 10 couples had been married for over a decade, and one for over 20 years.
The presented numbers show that it was mostly people who had been in a relationship for either a few or over ten years who decided to divorce. Divorces among couples who had been together for over 20 years were rare, which should be considered in conjunction with their age. As I mentioned before, the elderly divorced seldom. As with the age of divorcees, this can be explained by the fact that divorce was attractive primarily for people with prospects for remarrying, and by the shorter life expectancy than today.
7.4 Ability to Sign
The ability to sign, which of course cannot be equated with the ability to read and write in general, is also important in the characterization of the divorced population. However, it is not always the absence of a signature of one of the spouses on the divorce decree that will be important in this analysis; some of them appeared through proxies or did not appear at all, although this of course did not apply to petitioners.
The ability to sign among male divorcees and grooms and among female divorcees and brides in the first commune of the Capital City of Warsaw. The diagram concerns the total divorced population and the first 40 couples married in the year 1814.
The ability to sign among male divorcees and grooms and among female divorcees and brides in Płock. The diagram concerns 29 couples divorced in 1810–1825 and 38 couples married between May and December 1819.
I have prepared summaries concerning the ability to sign for Płock (I have included the same 29 divorce decrees and 38 marriage certificates, which were
7.5 Predicates
In the feudal period, the surnames of people named in documents were also preceded by predicates that indicated the estate to which they belonged. Representatives of nobility were referred to, depending on their wealth, as nobiles (szlachetni [noble]), generosi (urodzeni [high-born]) or magnifici (wielmożni [magnificent]). Burghers were addressed as honesti (uczciwi [honest]), providi (opatrzni [prudent]), famati (sławetni [famous]), honorati (zacni [honourable]) and spectabiles (godni [worthy]). Peasants were laboriosi (pracowici [hard-working]). Jews in turn were called infideles (niewierni [unfaithful]) or perfidii (przewrotni [perfidious]).7
The hierarchy of predicates used by courts and civil status registrars on the Polish territories in the early 19th century
Throughout the entire modern era, these titles have been subject to progressive devaluation,8 which is best proven by the example of the szlachetny predicate, which literally means “noble”, but which in the early 19th century applied primarily to wealthy plebeians.9
Even though the constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw decreed the equality of all before the law (Art. 4), the estate nomenclature was still used, although in state documents, the predicates were given in Polish (in church documents, especially those drafted in Latin, their original forms were used).10
Therefore, the predicates as presented in this work must be approached with caution. One conclusion that can be drawn from them, however, is that divorcees were usually much better off than newlyweds. The predicates designating members of the higher social strata (wielmożny, urodzony) were used in reference to them a lot more often. Conversely, their names were left with no title less frequently (this was usually what happened to people who made a living with labour). It must also be kept in mind that divorcees were statistically older than newlyweds, for the obvious reasons, and people often climbed up the social and financial ladder throughout their lifetime (for example an apprentice became a foreman). Besides, it can also be surmised that people from the social margins did not marry at all, and thus the population of newlyweds certainly is not representative of the entire population. That said, these reservations do not undermine the general conclusion on the statistically better social position of the divorcees.
As regards the method of these calculations, it must be stressed that each divorced couple has been counted in them as a unit; if the spouses’ titles are different, then each one was counted as 0.5. Moreover, it also merits a mention that in Płock separate marriage books were kept for Jews, and thus in the Diagram 22 starozakonni are included in the group of divorcees, but not in the group of newlyweds. In Kraków, separate sets of civil status records were maintained for the Jewish residents of Kazimierz, which is why starozakonni appear only rarely among the divorcees.
Predicates used by the Kalisz tribunal to designate the divorcees
Predicates used to designate the divorcees in Kraków
Predicates used to designate the divorcees and newlyweds in the first commune of the Capital City of Warsaw. The titles such as wielmożny and jaśnie pan (jego mość pan) appear much more frequently by the names of divorcees, and fewer of them are named without any predicate.
Predicates used in reference to divorcees (1810–1815) and to newlyweds (first 40 couples) in Płock
7.6 Profession
Besides adding predicates before the names of parties mentioned in documents, registrars often gave their professions as well. Unfortunately, this was not a rule, and thus in some cases we know neither the predicate nor the profession. There is also a clear tendency to replace predicates with annotations on professions. For example: in the Kalisz tribunal, until 1812, in only 3 out of 65 cases were the predicates of the litigants not mentioned. On the other hand, in the period 1813–1825, titles were placed before the names of the parties in only 12 out of over 200 trials (moreover, in 8 of the cases, the term used is obywatel [citizen], which can hardly be deemed an equivalent of a predicate). The opposite was true in respect of the divorcees’ professions. In the years 1808–1812 annotations on professions were made in only 1/3 of cases, and in the following period in 3 out of 4 cases.
As for the method of elaboration of the presented diagrams, I should explain that, as in the case of diagrams concerning predicates, each divorcing couple has been counted as a unit and placed in the category to which belonged the spouse whose profession had been recorded. This is because quite frequently only the profession of one spouse, usually of the husband, was documented. Similarly, statistics of those times provided only the profession of the head of the family, called osoba główna (the “main person”).16 If the professions of both spouses are given and are different, I calculated each one of them in the presented statistics as 0.5. Moreover, if someone had performed a given profession in the past, but their current work was not recorded, or if this person was unemployed at the time of trial, I took the old profession into account.
In Kalisz department I was able to establish the profession of at least one of the spouses in 180 out of the total of 270 couples. Nevertheless, since 22 military men and rentiers fell into this group, and since they are difficult to place within the classification adopted by census clerks, I treated the remaining 158 couples as 100% in Diagram 23. This list, similarly to those regarding predicates, shows that divorcees were statistically better off than the rest of the population. Above all, the divorcee population included few peasants, who predominated in the society of the time in terms of numbers.17 This social
Divorcees compared to the general population of the Kalisz department according to the 1810 census (H. Grossman, “Struktura społeczna i gospodarcza Księstwa Warszawskiego”, Kwartalnik Statystyczny 1925, vol. 2, fasc. 1, p. 58). The list does not include two groups of divorcees: military men and rentiers.
There is a clear over-representation of landed gentry (landlords and land lessees), especially since this class likely included most military men (of whom 3 were generals and 9 were captains). Of interest is also the great number of people employed in the judiciary, of whom there were 13 in the population in question (a justice of the peace, 2 podsędkowie, 2 patrons, 2 clerks of peace courts, 2 scribes and one payment collector of a tribunal, a former burgrave and 2 woźni). This circumstance of course has to do with the fact that knowledge of the law was more commonplace among these professions. There were also 9 people employed in health care, who accounted for one per mille of the general population. Merchants and craftsmen were also clearly over-represented.
Similar conclusions are afforded by an analysis of the list concerning people named in marriage certificates and divorces in the first Warsaw commune (24). Noticeable is also the over-representation of white-collar workers (it should be mentioned that three out of nine people in this category were associated with the justice system), rentiers, people deriving their income from gastronomy (running cafes, tap-rooms and similar establishments), the military, military
7.7 Religious Confessions
The Napoleonic Code, in the name of respect for the principles of secularity of the state and of the equality of all citizens before the law, did not require the disclosure of the confessions of the persons appearing in civil status records (and, at the same time, explicitly prohibited the inclusion of information not provided for by the law). Nevertheless, it is possible to establish the religious affiliation of a large part of the divorcees based on the civil status records. It is the easiest in the case of Jews, whose names are often preceded by the starozakonny predicate.18 As for all those with other predicates, it is fairly safe to assume that they were Christians. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to establish the Christian denominations to which individual people belonged, although not always impossible. Above all, quite often divorce decrees contain
The situation is slightly more complicated in the case of marriages concluded after the introduction of the Napoleonic Code. Their divorce records also often indicate the time and place of the wedding. Instead of a place of worship, however, the records reveal the municipality of the officiating civil status registrar. Even if the civil registrar was a clergyman of a particular denomination (usually Catholic, but there were also priests of other faiths – see section 2.7.2), it is much more questionable than in the case of the earlier period whether he was a priest of the same denomination as the newlyweds. Nevertheless, an attempt may be made to establish the religious affiliation of such spouses as well. Civil marriage records prove to be particularly helpful in this regard. Even though they too omit the confession of the newlyweds (Art. 35 of the cc), they mention their age. The age, in turn, was established either based on church birth certificates, or on the basis of akty znania (witness statements) drafted in their stead by the civil authorities. Especially mentions of the former are useful when it comes to figuring out the religious affiliation of the newlyweds, because they provided information not only on their age, but also of the origin of the church birth certificates (usually the locality of the church and its patron were recorded). Almost 100% of them are from the times before the introduction of the Napoleonic Code: people born after 30 April 30 1808, who could receive a secular birth certificate, rather had no chance of divorce before the end of 1825, when the Code was derogated in most of the Polish territories. Thus, as in the case of a wedding, receiving a birth certificate from a particular church makes it highly probable that the person in question belonged to this confession. A clue suggesting that a party to the act was of a Catholic denomination is the information that his or her father held
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to locate the divorcees’ birth certificates. Even if they have survived to our times, they are often scattered around the various archives. This is why I limited the comprehensive study of divorcees’ religious affiliation to the third commune of the capital city of Warsaw. This choice was dictated by the relative good state of preservation of the divorce books from the years 1814–1825, as well as by the fact that the local civil status registrar was in the habit of recording the place at which the marriage dissolved had been concluded. The surviving documentation from this commune contains information about 39 divorces. In 19 cases I have been able to establish the religious affiliation of the divorcees with a high level of probability. In 17 cases, the data available suggests that one of the spouses was Catholic (sometimes annotations of this type concern both spouses). Whenever one of the spouses belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and information about the other is not available, it is most likely that they shared the same confession. One divorce concerned a Jewish couple, and one probably a mixed Catholic-Lutheran.21 I have not been able to find any other clues as to the denomination of other couples. Nevertheless, the presented proportions clearly suggest that Catholics predominated in the divorced population.
This conclusion is also supported by numerous remarks in the court files. Even though there too the information about the religious affiliation of the parties was omitted, we can often find information about the confession of the witnesses, who were often close relatives of the divorcing spouses. Here, too, Catholics prevailed. For example: this confession was declared by the parents,22 children,23 siblings24 or affinal kin25 of one of the parties. The witnesses
The predominance of Catholics among the divorcing population is also suggested by the fact that in more than 10 cases Roman Catholic priests were involved as witnesses in court27 or before civil status officials.28 Other various mentions should also be noted, such as the annotations concerning a divorcees’ wedding in St. Mary’s Church in Kraków,29 the baptism of the divorcing couple’s daughter in a Catholic collegiate church,30 remarks on the sacrament of confession,31 participation in the Corpus Christi procession,32 or the wife’s stay in a Catholic congregation during the divorce proceedings33 or during the separation period determined by Article 259 of the cc.34 Additionally, some couples also initiated proceedings before consistory courts alongside the lawsuits filed with common courts.35
Thus, proportions of representatives of the various denominations in the divorced population were not far off from the structure of the entire society (in the Duchy of Warsaw Catholics accounted for 84.4% of all people).38
7.8 Place of Residence
Data concerning the place of residence of parties to divorces is relatively easy to find. Nevertheless, in order to be useful for a reliable characterization of the divorced population, it must be complete and it must concern a large enough territory. My query has shown that what could be called “divorce tourism” did not exist in the period in question.39 This means that the divorces pronounced
The destruction of the actual files of the Warsaw civil tribunal of first instance, as well as the poor state of preservation of civil status records in Mazowieckie Voivodeship make it impossible to tell where the parties appearing before this tribunal resided in the province. On the other hand, the documentation from the Republic of Kraków and from Kalisz Voivodeship is complete. Unfortunately, in the former case it encompasses a relatively small territory, in a way dominated by the capital city of Kraków. Nevertheless, from the demographic point of view, this dominance was not true. At no point in time throughout the existence of the Free City was the population of Kraków higher than the population of other localities in this mini-state. Meanwhile, according to the calculations of Bronisław Fidelus, out of over 120 divorces pronounced in the years 1816–1833, only about a dozen concerned couples residing outside of Kraków.41
Therefore, I chose the preserved files of the Kalisz tribunal for my detailed calculations concerning the place of residence. This was dictated both by their state of preservation (they are complete) and the fact they cover a large territory (which makes them representative). Owing to the great wealth of data (about 270 divorce cases), I restricted my analysis to the years 1808–1812 (65 couples). The results are shown in Diagrams 25. Only in one case information about the place of residence of one of the parties is missing, as a result of a clerical error. In five cases, the place of residence of one of the spouses was unknown (of course, this was only true for defendants). Four of the participants to proceedings lived in another department of the Duchy of Warsaw, and one abroad.
Of the 116 people whose place of residence was known and located in the Kalisz department, 57% (n. 66) lived in towns and 43% (n. 50) in the countryside. This means a serious over-representation of the urban population among the divorcees. In the Kalisz Department, more than 436,000 people (85%) lived in rural areas and over 76,000 (15%) lived in cities.42 However, the number of
Place of residence of parties to divorce proceedings brought to the Kalisz tribunal in the years 1808–1812
7.9 Summary
The presented statistics demonstrate that representatives of all social classes divorced, including peasants, townspeople and Jews. It seems that divorce was more egalitarian than the canonical declaration of invalidity of marriage,
See: Chapter 6.
In 2015 67 296 divorces were pronounced in Poland, of which 44 876 as a result of suits filed by wives and 22 420 by husbands (Central Statistical Office, Rocznik Demograficzny 2015, Warszawa 2015, p. 242).
For example: Cyrkuł iii, vol. 23, entry no. 2, vol. 40, entry no. 1; TCKal, vol. 7, fol. 234v, vol. 297, p. 722.
Cyrkuł i, vol. 30.
State Archives in Płock: Akta stanu cywilnego gminy Płock, powiat płocki [fond: 50/375], vol. 32.
Most of the population of the Duchy of Warsaw, especially in the rural areas, was illiterate (T. Mencel, “Gmina wiejska w Księstwie Warszawskim”, Czasopismo Prawno-Historyczne 1984, vol. 36, fasc. 1, p. 61).
W. Dworzaczek, Genealogia, Warszawa 1959, p. 29.
Z. Gloger, Encyklopedia staropolska, Warszawa 1985, vol. 4, pp. 410–411, entry urodzeni.
J. Lelewel, Polska. Dzieje i rzeczy jej rozpatrywane …, Poznań 1856, vol. 4, pp. 136–137. All the people whose names were preceded by this predicate in the source material, and whose profession I was able to establish, were burghers rather than nobles. For example: Wojciech Berksztajn was a mason (TCKal, vol. 4, fol. 111), Fryderyk Melcer was a pharmacist (TCKal, vol. 13, fol. 129), and Salomea Sicińska was a textile merchant (TCKal, vol. 301, fol. 332).
For example: Archdiocesan Archives in Poznań: Konsystorz Generalny w Poznaniu – Acta Causarum 0252, Acta viccari gen. et offic. Posn. Clementis Wierusz Walknowski custodis Posn., fols. 134, 225 and 238.
For example: Katarzyna, the wife of the aforementioned Wojciech Berksztajn, is once referred to as jaśnie pani, and another time as szlachetna (TCKal, vol. 2, p. 120, vol. 4, p. 111).
State Archives in Płock: Akta stanu cywilnego gminy Płock, powiat płocki [fond: 50/375], vol. 82, entry no. 4; TCKal, vol. 5, fol. 281.
Sometimes the titles were later stricken out, for example: TCKal, vol. 23, fol. 439.
H. Grossman, “Struktura społeczna i gospodarcza Księstwa Warszawskiego”, Kwartalnik Statystyczny 1925, vol. 2, fasc. 1, p. 55.
Henryk Grossman writes: It is indeed inexplicable why people who “lived off cash”, that is rentiers residing usually in cities, were classified as manorial employees.
Ibid.
According to the 1810 census, peasants accounted for about 2/3 of “main persons”. The exact number is unknown to the large class of day labourers (ca. 16% of main persons), which included labourers who worked both in the cities and in the country H. Grossman, Struktura społeczna …, pp. 58–59).
Even in the absence of a predicate, frequent signatures in the Hebrew alphabet are still an indication.
For example: Cyrkuł iii, vol. 101, entry no. 1.
Although Włodzimierz Dworzaczek asserts that, especially until mid-18th century, some dissidents used Catholic birth certificates (W. Dworzaczek, Genealogia …, p. 59). For more about such practices among Muslims in late 18th and early 19th century: A. Kołodziejczyk, “Przyczynek do historii Tatarów bialskich. Księga Małżeństw, Urodzin i Zgonów gminy mahometańskiej w Studziance ze zbiorów AP w Lublinie”, Archeion 1986, vol. 80, p. 229. This is something that surely did not happen on a large scale in Warsaw, where churches of all popular Christian denominations were located.
Divorce decree of Karol Wilhelm Friedenrich and Elżbieta née Marks. Cyrkuł iii, vol. 82, entry no. 1; marriage record: Cyrkuł iii, vol. 44, entry 12. The deceased wife of the groom had been buried at a Lutheran cemetery. The bride, in turn, presented a birth certificate issued by the Church of the Visitation of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in Warsaw’s district of Nowe Miasto. This indicates that the second marriage was probably mixed. Seeing as Karol Wilhelm Friedenrich originated from Leipzig in Saxony, it seems likely that he may have been Protestant. Another example of a mixed marriage, this time Catholic-Jewish: State Archives in Płock: Akta stanu cywilnego gminy Płock, powiat płocki [fond: 50/375], vol. 82, entry no. 4.
TCKal, vol. 7, fol. 234v, vol. 17, fol. 2, vol. 23, fol. 75v, vol. 296, p. 622, vol. 300, fol. 152v.
TCKal, vol. 294, fol. 218–218v.
TCKal, vol. 298, fol. 135–135v, vol. 299, fol. 337.
TCKal, vol. 303, fol. 399v, vol. 304, fol. 113v; Cyrkuł iii, vol. 110, fol. 43.
For example: TCKrak, vol. 431, case no. 205.
For example: in one of the cases, a Catholic priest attempted to ease a marital conflict even before the lawsuit was filed, and then he testified at court: TCKal, vol. 8, fol. 422. Other cases of calling a priest as witness: vol. 8, fol. 422, vol. 21, fol. 405v-406v and fol. 411v, vol. 22, fol. 3v and fol. 7v, vol. 299, fol. 423v, vol. 312, fol. 51v, vol. 731, p. 133. vol. 738, p. 277.
Sometimes, a priest assisted as a witness in the drafting of a divorce entry by a lay civil status registrar: Cyrkuł iv, vol. 17, fol. 98. State Archives in Płock: Akta stanu cywilnego gminy Płock, powiat płocki [fond: 50/375], vol. 82, p. 15.
TCKrak, vol. 187, fol. 571.
TCKal, vol. 292, pp. 136–137.
TCKal, vol. 318, fol. 480–480v; Diocesan Archives in Łomża: Fond ii – Akta ogólne, ref. no. 166, fol. 50.
Cyrkuł ii, vol. 99, fol. 114v.
TCKal, vol. 738, p. 389; Akta rozwodowe z terenu gmin, powiatu i miasta Krakowa, vol. 22, p. 376; Krakowskie sądy wyższe, vol. 307: Sentencjonarz sądu apelacyjnego (1823), p. 5; Cyrkuł i, vol. 16, p. 2.
TCByd, vol. 4, fol. 51.
Archdiocesan Archives in Gniezno: Trybunał Metropolitalny Gniezno, vol. 188 (the Wojciechowski spouses case), vol. 276 (the Radoński spouses case); Archdiocesan Archives in Poznań: Konsystorz Generalny w Poznaniu – Acta Causarum 0252, Acta viccari gen. et offic. Posn. Clementis Wierusz Walknowski custodis Posn., fols. 134, 225 and 238; Diocesan Archives in Siedlce: Akta Konsystorza Generalnego Diecezji Siedleckiej, ref. no. 7, fols. 60–63 Diocesan Archives in Łomża: Fond ii – Akta ogólne, ref. no. 5, fols. 147, vol. 400, vol. 407; Diocesan Archives in Włocławek: Akta Konsystorza Generalnego Włocławskiego – zasób kaliski, vol. i 17 [s.l.]; Summariusz spraw rozwodowych za administracji części Archidiecezji Gnieźnieńskiej do Diecezji Kaliskiej przyłączonej, w której strony rozwiedzione zamieszkują od roku 1816 do r. 1819; Akta rozwodowe z terenu gmin, powiatu i miasta Krakowa, vol. 6, p. 214; Metropolitan Curia Archives in Kraków: Marital court cases, paper files no. iii, viii, xv, xx, xvii, xxiii, xxv.
Akta rozwodowe z terenu gmin, powiatu i miasta Krakowa, vol. 90.
State Archives in Lublin: Akta stanu cywilnego Parafii Rzymskokatolickiej w Zamościu [fond: 35/1954/0], vol. 40; State Archives in Kielce: Akta Urzędnika Stanu Cywilnego Powiatu Kieleckiego [fond: 21/1143/0], vol. 1–6.
H. Grossman, Struktura społeczna …, p. 46.
Or, at least, it was not a popular phenomenon. Allegedly, the poet Antoni Malczewski considered moving from the Western Krai to the Kingdom in order to secure the divorce of his lover Zofia Rucińska. This idea never materialized, however (M. Dernałowicz, Antoni Malczewski, Warszawa 1967, p. 160 et seq.). “Divorce tourism” was well-known in the interwar period, when entirely divergent marriage law systems were effective in the various parts of the Republic of Poland. Yet, Szymon Paciorkowski recently proved that this was not a particularly widespread trend: Trwałość małżeństwa cywilnego w Orzecznictwie Sądu Okręgowego w Poznaniu w II. Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Ph.D. thesis placed in a digital repository, accessible from the computers of the University Library in Poznań), Poznań 2017, pp. 78–83.
For example: Cyrkuł iii, vol. 24, fols. 99.
B. Fidelus, Rozwód w orzecznictwie sądów Wolnego Miasta Krakowa w latach 1815– 1833 na tle przepisów prawa małżeńskiego osobowego, Kraków 1982 (Ph.D. thesis: Archives of the Jagiellonian University), p. 398.
H. Grossman, Struktura społeczna …, p. 45.
For example: TCKal, vol. 301, fols. 596: for the purposes of this case, she has indicated the address of Ernest Faltz, patron of the tribunal, at Maryańska Street 71.
For example: TCKal, vol. 2, p. 138, vol. 294, fols. 287, vol. 301, fols. 308.
Footnotes
As regards Kalisz, the parties of all initiated proceedings, regardless of how they ended, are taken into account. In respect of other tribunals, only cases resulting in divorce are included. For Polish courts–own elaboration of data; for Rouen–R. Phillips Family breakdown in late eighteenth-century France. Divorces in Rouen 1792–1803, Oxford–New York 1980, p. 58, for Lyon–D. Dessertine, Divorcer a Lyon, Lyon 1981, p. 189.