Tra moglie e marito: Matrimoni e separazioni a Livorno nel Settecento (review)

With her study of matrimonial litigation in Leghorn (Livorno, 1766-1806), Chiara La Rocca has made a useful addition to the vast literature on the history of marriage. On the basis of about 250 petitions for separations, filed before either ecclesiastical or civil tribunals in this Tuscan port city, La Rocca seeks to examine both the control of matrimony and the prevailing popular mores concerning marriage. Most litigants were lower middle class, coming especially from the ranks of small merchants or artisans. Not at all surprising is La Rocca's finding that couples seemed to take the initiative in courting and subsequently sought parental approval. Mundane concerns, especially pertaining to the dowry, were key factors in the choice of mates. The records understandably provide more information about men's work than women's. Women, however, clearly made vitally important contributions to the family economy, most notably as spinners, seamstresses, and landladies. The author is quite persuasive in describing marriages as partnerships, as women and men shared the responsibilities of administering the household. Notwithstanding the author's claims to the contrary, historians have in recent decades amply described the vitally important contributions that women made to the domestic economy.

La Rocca argues against the notion that the late-eighteenth century witnessed increased emphasis on romantic love in courtship and marriage. La Rocca avers that the silence on romantic sentiment in Leghorn's court documents reflects the fact that the litigants were of modest means rather than members of the elite, who, she claims, were the pioneers in the creation of the modern family. Some historians, however, actually see the love match as first taking root among the popular classes, a development that was facilitated by the growth in wage labor. Variations in family structure could help explain the difference between her findings and those of other scholars; many litigants in Leghorn lived in complex households—some couples even shared a single room with other relatives—a striking contrast to so many other regions where the nuclear household was the norm.

La Rocca is undoubtedly correct in asserting that informal separations likely outnumbered those that were legally sanctioned. Few states in early-modern Europe had the means of convoking ex officio all couples who were guilty of illicit separations (although such police actions were quite common in other areas). Women, who composed 90 percent of plaintiffs who filed unilaterally for separations, were motivated by the desire to wrest financial support and control of the dowry from their husbands, who were most often accused of abuse. For most of this period, separation cases were under the purview of Leghorn's ecclesiastical tribunal. This court viewed the separatio thori as a temporary solution, with six months as the most commonly prescribed period. Civil and church authorities regularly collaborated in matrimonial matters, as the former tried to maintain public order by, among other things, admonishing abusive husbands. Following a law passed by the grand duke of Tuscany, secular courts briefly (1784-92) had jurisdiction over separation cases. Secular authorities accepted joint petitions for separations from couples, and such mutual requests subsequently became quite common before the church court. Judicial separations had traditionally been based on the premise that one party was guilty, and the decision to award separations requested by both parties reflected an important change in attitude on the part of the ecclesiastical judge. The overwhelming majority of petitions for separations that reached a final decision, be they submitted jointly or unilaterally, were granted.

La Rocca's descriptions of individual cases make for a good read. Ably comparing her findings to those of other scholars, she makes a solid case that marriage and its control in Leghorn differed in subtle ways from patterns found elsewhere.