Collections » Register of notices of marriage
Description
At the Council of Trent (1545-1563) the Roman Catholic churches were obliged to record marriages in registers in addition to the data of the baptized. After the Alteration in 1578, the Protestants adopted the rules regarding registration of marriages.
The legal wedding ceremony had to be preceded by the notice of marriage, the moment the future groom and bride officially indicated that they wanted to get married. With this act, the relevant personal details were recorded by a number of aldermen in a marriage register. A period of three Sundays followed. In this small three-week period, it was possible for family or outsiders to object to the intended marriage. If no objection was made, or "the commandments had gone unimpeded," marriage could take place.
Search the index on registers of notices of marriage
This index contains 1,023,045 historical person listings.
Sources
The registers of notices of marriage of the following sources can be searched here:
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