Nesantuokinių vaikų motinos Vilniaus dekanate XVIII a.: socialinis statusas ir geografinė kilmė

Abstract

MOTHERS OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY VILNIUS DEANERY: SOCIAL STATUS AND GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN This article explores the mothers of illegitimate children in the eighteenth-century Vilnius deanery from a perspective of historical demography. While historians in the Western world have produced many studies focused on the phenomenon of illegitimacy, the Lithuanian scientists have not done much in exploring illegitimacy in early modern Vilnius. This article is one of the first attempts to explore illegitimacy and its patterns of historical demography by paying attention to the women who had children outside the wedlock. The analysis of sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers firstly revealed the mystery of illegitimate maternities: while we do not have any information about at least a quarter of these mothers’ social and geographical origin, this issue reveals the dominant negative attitude towards these women at the time. Collected data from parish books led to the anticipated conclusion that the majority of mothers had lower social status, although some of them were part of the nobility. The analysis of given surnames of these mothers showed that the majority of them were unmarried. This fact suggests that for some mothers their illegitimate pregnancy was the first pregnancy. While the scarcity of sources limits our knowledge about the social circumstances of illegitimate births, the analysis of given surnames of these mothers, combined with other sources, leads to a likely conclusion that illegitimate births could occur as a product of failed promises of marriage, sexual violence or adultery. The analysis of mothers’ geographical background showed that the majority of them belonged to parishes where they chose to baptize their illegitimate children. While there is a possibility that some of these women received help from the fathers or relatives, the author of this article argues that the research findings demonstrate the lack of social and economic support of mothers rather than community acceptance and tolerance towards these women. A minority of the mothers were from distant places and this data allowed the author to form a compelling conclusion that some women, due to the lack of support, were forced to seek better opportunities in other parishes. Keywords: mothers of illegitimate children, illegitimate children, social status, geographical origin, the eighteenth century, Vilnius deanery.