Reference:
Makarova N..
Matrimony in Venice during Late Renaissance Era in light of judicial institutions
// Culture and Art. – 2020. – ¹ 8.
– P. 22-33.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2020.8.32947.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2020.8.32947
Read the article
Abstract: The subject of this research is the several government institutions of Venice during the Late Renaissance Era that dealt with questions of matrimonial relations. Marriage played not only a crucial social role, but was also considered a church, which contributed to salvation of the faithful. Therefore, the questions of the validity of marriage or claims for separation of the spouses were considered by the Church court alone. The government institutions dealt with for offences against marriage, observed the execution of laws regarding the property of spouses, resolved custody issues of the minors, and prevented inappropriate behavior between the spouses. Special attention is given to the judicial institutions of Venice in from the perspective of their activity on matrimony. The article employs descriptive method, complemented by comparative historical analysis of the political and religious institutions of that time. The author's special contribution consists in the analysis of cases, such as the abduction of women or a breach of promise, which were interpreted differently by the religious and secular courts. As a result, in the late XVI – early XVII century, the secular administration gained prevalence in these questions.
Keywords: violation of marriage promise, bride abduction, sacrament of marriage, courts, late Renaissance, Venice, marriage, guardianship, dowry, validity of marriage
References:
Bell, R., How to Do It: Studies to Good Living for Renaissance Italians, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Bellavitis A., ‘Women, Family, and Property in Early Modern Venice’, in Across the Religious Divide: Women, Property and Law in the Wider Mediterranean (ca. 1300-1800). J. Sperling and S. Kelly Wray (ed.), New York: Routledge, 2010, pp. 175-190.
Cesco V., Elopement and Kidnapping of Women For Marriage in the Venetian Republic From the Late Sixteenth Century Until the Late Eighteenth Century, Dissertation, 2012, URL: https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/7645
Chojnacki, S., ‘Nobility, Women and the State: Marriage Regulation in Venice, 1420-1535’, in Marriage in Italy, 1300-1650. Dean, T. et al. (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 128-151.
Cowan A., Marriage, Manners and Mobility in Early Modern Venice, London: Routledge, 2016.
Cristellon C., Marriage, the Church, and its Judges in Renaissance Venice, 1420–1545, London: Palgrave Macmillan