Family and inheritance in the Cyclades, 1500–1800: Present knowledge and unanswered questions

Abstract

First, the background of the islands in early modern history is provided, and customary law that regulated the system of property transmission is discussed. Second, present knowledge about the Cycladic family is summarized, and present problems that prevent documented generalizations are highlighted. The article concludes by suggesting a way to proceed systematically with the research using data retrieved from the notarial acts, from which most information about early modern island societies have been derived.

Keywords:

• Cyclades
• Family
• Inheritance
• Notarial acts

Notes

1 Dimitriou-Kotsoni (1993) contains a review of the debate. See also the discussion of the argument by Boissevain (1979), and particularly de Pina-Cabral (1989). A recent contribution to the issue of regional variability in the Mediterranean includes the examination of several Greek cases from the 18th to the 20th century (Bouchard, Goy, & Head-König, 1998).

2 A good starting point for the study of various aspects of the social history of the Cyclades is Hionidou (1995), complemented by Kalpourtzi (1994), Kasdagli (1999), and Dimitropoulos (1997a). Drawing parallels with other societies in the Mediterranean and beyond can also usefully illuminate most issues.

3 See, however, the work of Dimitropoulos (1997b), where the process of extracting quantitative information about the population and family size for various Cycladic islands in the early modern era was discussed briefly but comprehensively. For a later period (mid-19th to mid-20th century), Hionidou (1995) closely tested the formulations of the Cambridge Group (Laslett, 1983) with regard to Greece. A tentative comparison between the data available for the early modern Cyclades and Laslett's concept of the Mediterranean family shows that the model should be refined if it is to fit the specific case.

4 Dimitriou-Kotsoni (1993) speaks of a more wide-ranging, distinct Aegean cultural tradition, but based on the historical documentation I have examined, I think it premature to generalize about the early modern period.

5 I use the term customary to denote “the whole body of those shared behavior patterns in a particular group or society that are regarded as the traditional and established ways of the people” (see “Norms,” Williams, 1968). In an illuminating and comprehensive treatment of unwritten law, Renteln and Dundes (1995) opt for the term folk law. It, however, has undertones nearer to social anthropology than history. Influenced by the tradition of historical European unwritten law and the terminology of my sources, I prefer the terms custom and customary law and will use them throughout.

6 Romania was a geographical term of imprecise limits used mostly by the Venetians throughout the medieval and early modern period to describe territories that had once been Byzantium.

7 The possible origins of aspects of early modern legal practice in the Cyclades are not pertinent to this discussion, but literature on the subject by legal historians in the 1950s and 1960s is abundant. The work Ginis (1966) contains comments, a bibliography, and the texts of various charters.

8 Conflicts of law, however, and some form of legal pluralism, have been common in many societies (Renteln & Dundes, 1995, p. xiv).

9 In his writings, Maurer does not appear to have realized the intrinsically changeable nature of all unwritten law. Although a definitive assessment of Maurer's role and work in Greece has not been made yet, see the introduction and commentary in the work of Geib (n.d.).

10 Other examples from various islands may be found in the register by Sifoniou-Karapa, Rodolakis, and Artemiadi (1991, doc. 496) and by Ginis (1966). While this “extended” concept of customary law was independently formulated in my close study of notarial documents (Kasdagli, 1991a), the existence of essentially the same idea is confirmed based on very different types of societies: see the current definition of folk as “any group of people whatsoever who share a common linking factor. The linking factor could be nationality, religion, ethnicity, occupation, locality, family.…To some extent each of these different folk groups possesses some kind of folk law” (Renteln & Dundes, 1995, pp. 1–2).

11 The system of modern Anafi appears to be almost identical (Kenna, 1976). A wider review of the modern system in the Aegean Islands (Dimitriou-Kotsoni 1993) shows that some evidence conforms to the early modern Cycladic pattern; this once more highlights the need for caution when attempting comparisons through time.

12 For exceptions and the connection between enjoying the usufruct of the deceased partner's property and honor, see Kalpourtzi (1998).

13 A review of alternative terminologies for parental endowment at marriage for males (such as dower or marriage gift) is discussed by Bossen (1988). As none of these terms has gained wider recognition, I have retained the Cycladic usage of dowry for the marriage portions of both partners, representing the share of the patrimony (or the bulk of it) to which each was entitled. On dowry as a form of premortem inheritance, see Goody (1976).

14 That was the conclusion of an early attempt to review available information from other parts of Greece (Kasdagli, 1999, pp. 308–313). That this was not an isolated phenomenon peculiar to Naxos is not always clear in the bibliography; see, for example, the works of Papataxiarchis and Petmezas (1998) or Hionidou (1999, notes 47, 48), who does not make any sharp distinction between the 17th-century Naxian case and the much later evidence from Mykonos). Kaser's forthcoming book (personal communication) reviewing the Balkan evidence may shed new light on the question, but in the map appearing in his 1996 article, only the smaller Aegean Islands seem to have practiced a neo- or uxori-local nuclear household pattern (Kaser, 1996, p. 380). Here, too, the chronological limits of the investigation are not clear, and the apparently undifferentiated “traditional” household formation may be deceptive.

15 Students have been collecting material to add to my collection, while Fani Aggelopoulou has provided technical expertise. The program is under the auspices of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Rethymno. The database will be in English, and since it concerns social, economic and cultural history, it is hoped that it will be of interest to scholars of various disciplines. Also, the collected marriage contracts will be scanned electronically and will provide a valuable point of reference for scholars interested in linguistic, legal and sociological aspects.