Abstract
In this paper, we present a new methodology for the reconstruction of individual life-histories based on information derived from the integration of different parish registers. This methodology makes it possible to associate the sequence and timing of demographic events not only with the structural features of the households in which they occurred, but also with more general historical context and the economic factors that shaped the lives of people and households. All these elements are then evaluated in a dynamic and temporal perspective, allowing the adoption of a longitudinal approach in the analysis of demographic processes for historical populations.
Highlights
Reconstruction of the demographic history of the Italian population can only be pursued at the cost of a great effort of research and commitment
The problem was described by Karl Julius Beloch, the most important scholar of Italian historical demographic documentation and author of valuable essays on the history of the Italian population in the unsurpassed study Bevölkerungsgeschichte Italiens (1994)1
In his short text advocating a new reconstruction of the Italian population (Beloch, 1887), Beloch notes that the sources are 'not a problem, the richness and quantity of historical materials create major difficulties to those who want to undertake research in that field
Summary
Reconstruction of the demographic history of the Italian population can only be pursued at the cost of a great effort of research and commitment. The problem was described by Karl Julius Beloch, the most important scholar of Italian historical demographic documentation and author of valuable essays on the history of the Italian population in the unsurpassed study Bevölkerungsgeschichte Italiens (1994). Most of the old Italian states and kingdoms preferred to rely on the centuries-long practice of priests and parsons recording registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials as well as Status Animarum, a sort of annual census carried out on Easter. These four sources, which were systematically recorded since the 16th century, are available for most of the over twenty thousand parishes spread across Italy.. The final section outlines further developments of the project, which will mainly expand the time frame
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