Baptism and Marriage Witnesses of the Catholics of Dubrovnik (1870-1871)

Abstract

Based on the data from parish registers, this article analyses godparents and marriage witnesses among the Catholics of the City Parish of Dubrovnik in 1870 and 1871. Also examined is the time gap between birth and baptism, proportion of emergency baptisms due to the infant’s weak state of health, weekly distribution of the marriage ceremony, number, gender structure, residence and social status of godparents and marriage witnesses, proportion of kin-based godparenthoods, criteria for the selection of godparents, incidence of godchild―godparent name-sharing, as well as multiple godparenthood.

Keywords

• baptism
• godparent
• godparenthood
• marriage
• marriage witnesses
• Dubrovnik