“Her Children to Have as Children of Ours”

Abstract

The author explores family relations in the Orthodox Christian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, captured in the judicial archives of the civil and ecclesiastical courts. By analyzing both written sources (wills, dowry lists, probate inventories, and documents from divorce trials) and visual representations (wall paintings) of families, the author provides valuable insights into the construction of social and institutional discourses concerning families that had been restructured through remarriage. She argues that due to the common practice of divorce, stepfamilies with children from several marriages were very common. She demonstrates also that, contrary to the legal regulations concerning familial affairs by the Orthodox Church and courts, both widowed and divorced mothers as well as remarried ones were often allotted the custody and guardianship of their underage children. As a result, they brought up their children together with their stepfather husbands, who were more common figures in these communities than in northwestern regions of Europe.