Elderly women in the cities of central europe in the eighteenth century

Abstract

This study examines the elderly during the age of late feudalism in urban areas of Central Europe. Based on 1791 censuses carried out in six Polish towns (diversified both in size and functions), the author determines the population of older people by gender, marital status, and family position. The article also highlights the economic role of older women in the pre-industrial town. Calculations have been performed using software designed to process mass source data (e.g., censuses or birth, marriage, and death registers).

Notes

1 Bairoch (1977, 1998) has characterized the urban development of European cities and their populations in the modern period, whereas Bogucka (1981) has outlined the development of towns in Central Europe.

2 Records of Civil-Central Record Office of Old-Time Records in Warsaw, Records of Committees of Keeping Order in the District of Radziejów, No. 4 (Radziejów), Records of Committees of Keeping Order in the District of Wielun and Ostrzeszow, No. 3 (Praszka), No. 4 (Wielun); Varia Grodu Warszawskiego, No. 25 (Warsaw); State Record Office in Cracow, Interlocutory Catalogue, No. 180 (Cracow), No. 182 (Olkusz). See Kaiser (1992) for the data on Russian censuses.

3 See Bideau, Garden, Goubert, and lmhof 1982. Also noteworthy are Smith 1984, Johansen 1987, Gutton 1988, and Troyanski 1991.

4 Readers interested in other definitions of old age should examine Rosset 1979 and Perrot 1985.

5 Similar shortcomings were present in other pre-statistical censuses ranging from 0.2 percent in Dobre Miasto (the District of Warmia) in 1695 (Borowski 1975, p. 132) up to 8.9 percent in the small towns of Wielkopolska in Szubin in 1766 (Polaszewski 1977, p. 165) or Wielun on the river Notec in 1791 (Brodnicka 1969, p. 186). Omitted by the 1750 census were 2.1 percent of males and 4.7 percent in Ceska Kamenice (Dusek and Fialova 1989, p. 152).

6 According to the decree of the Parliament, registrars attached extracts from baptism, marriage, and death books of 1790 to the census. Children born and baptized in 1790 were not registered by the census. Some babies a few months old were registered as being 2 years old!

7 The age of the youngest was reported in much detail, in weeks or even days. Children not baptized also entered the census lists; however, their ages were not reported.

8 The same situation existed in Western Europe. For example, in Reims in 1802, there were 1.9 persons in the feminine household as opposed to 3.6 in the masculine one. The situation was similar in Valenciennes as early as the end of the seventeenth century (Fauve-Chamoux and Wall 1997, p. 359; Smith 1984, pp. 439–440).

9 Troyansky, David G. 1985. “Le vieillard dans la société française du XVIIIe siècle: images et réalités.” Annales de Demographie Historique 1985: 155–170. Analyses changes in the attitude towards elderly people within French society during the ancien régime.