Judicial archives and the history of the Romanian family: domestic conflict and the Orthodox Church in the eighteenth century

Abstract

The present study explores the importance of judicial archives for the study of the family in the eighteenth century. In the absence of parish registers and of narratives of the self or other literary documents from the period, the judicial archives maintained by the ecclesiastical courts remain a unique source for the study of domestic conflict in the period. Amongst other instances of familial discord, divorce is the one which best reflects what was at stake both for the social agents and for the Church. In spite of the frequently reiterated claim that the wedding is an inviolable sacrament, in practice the Church, which had jurisdiction over family conflicts, allowed a growing number of couples to embark upon the arduous road to separation. On the other hand, it also manifested its reserve in some divorce cases. The present analysis looks at the narratives presented by the claimants as well as at the dossiers built during court hearings in order to identify the arguments invoked for or against separation and divorce.1