Preliminary Programme

This paper analyses the factors of widowhood and remarriage amongst noble women in medieval Sweden. During the Middle Ages, marriages were often terminated prematurely due to the death of a spouse and remarriage was common. Factors such as the duration of the first marriage as well as the occurrence of children and social status, influenced the widow’s opportunity to remarry. These factors and how they relate will be discussed.

Furthermore, changes in the remarriage pattern during the investigated period, from the late thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century, is visible. The paper will briefly discuss the possibilities, and the difficulties, in turning the information from genealogical tables for nearly one hundred medieval noble families into a statistically usable demographic material. (Show less)

The Custumals of the City of Lille and of the Lille castellany in France had been generous to widows: community of property was the rule, and widows benefited from generous usufruct provisions over the estate left by their husband. The Revolution did away with privileges, including Bourgeois ones like "Ravestissement", and the Civil Code which replaced the Custumals in 1804 were less favourable to widows.
The study will show anyway the continuing involvement of married women and widows in family business till the end of the 19th century. (Show less)

In early modern Japan as is the case in many societies in the past, marriage was often disrupted by the untimely death of a spouse and remarriage was common. Remarriage had an important bearing on the survivals of individuals as well as households and communities at large. Drawing data from the local population registers called "ninbetsu-aratame-cho," we analyze the patterns and characteristics of widowhood and remarriage in three different geographic and socioeconomic settings---two rural villages based exclusively on family farming, four villages in mountainous district, and a local market town, all located in the present day Fukushima prefecture. We examine how widowhood and remarriages were affected by household socioeconomic status and structure as well as local economic and demographic dynamics. The northeastern region is known for its custom of early and universal marriage, and frequent marital dissolution and remarriage. Our study will be the first attempt of a comparative examination on sex and socioeconomic differentials of widowhood in the diverse social and ecological settings of the region. (Show less)