Belgian War Refugees

The Reading was about the Belgian War Refugees and Irish Protestant Refugees. Flora Shaw and later known as Lady Lugard. Flora Shaw was awarded the Dame of the British Empire award in 1916 for her help with the war refugees . In the two documents that are placed side by side each reflect the work she has done. One was her giving a speech at 'The work of the War Refugees committee" and the other was a speech given in her honor. When World War I started she stated that it didn't matter the political or religious beliefs. Not only did she provide the refugees with housing and with a livelihood. The committee also helped after the war with finding homes and livelihoods.

'Lady Lugard's Hostels for Belgian Refugees"
Was given in her honor given by Stuart Hogg. There are 11 houses and 400 people are housed in them. Two were used as hospital like locations. Part of Lady Lugard's goal was to make each of the houses a little like the home county. All of the expenses to make the houses like homes come from the committees accounts. Also the public helped by donating food and clothing. They also have a factory for the newly arrived refugees to stay. These are just a few of of the things that Hogg stated.

'The Work of the War Refugees Committee'
It an address given by Lady Lugard to the committee. She discusses the stories that she has heard from the refugees, She mentions ones about a family who lost all their children who were killed by the German soldiers. She tells the committee how and what needs to be done to help those who arrive . She expresses thanks to those who have helped. She says that those who have helped and volunteer should be written in gold.

The website has first hand accounts of those that lived through the war.

"Households and Families: Structure and Flux" by Alan Duben and Cem Behar

Duben and Behar used information from the 1885 and 1907 censuses of Istanbul and other areas of Turkey to discuss marriage and family patterns in pre-WWI Turkey. Their main conclusion was that Turkey followed the southeast marriage pattern in a some ways, yet resembled northwestern Europe in other ways. Men and women married relatively early in Istanbul, with the men about ten years older than the women. However, when married the new couples generally left their parent's house and started their own household free from their parent's influence. Extended families still had close ties with young couples but the men were free to make their own decisions for their families. In consequence of young couples moving out, households tended to be quite small which defies Hartman's arguments the SE Europe had more numerous family groups. Duben and Behar do agree with Hartman that the age at marriage is the key to many other aspects of domestic life. They also point out that patterns in Istanbul and rural Anatolia (Turkey) were quite different, with rural Anatolia conforming more to Hartman's idea os SE Europe. The Hainal line is mentioned in reference to the fact that Turkey supports Hainal's ideas in a few ways and does not support it in other. Duben and Behar shed some light on Europe as a whole by discussing Turkey in particular. The example of Turkey shows how no family pattern fits across the board - each culture had its own peculiarities.

"Marriage" by Josef Ehmer

In this passage, Ehmer discusses the idea of marriage in the 19th century and shows how demographics, the state, and other aspects changed during this time.

Many historians have argued that, beginning in the 18th century and carrying on into the 19th century with Romanticism, there was a shift toward romantic love as a reason for marriage. Young people were generally allowed to choose their marriage partners during this time. In addition, there began to be social disapproval for marriages forced by parents or with economic motivations. This did not mean that husbands and wives were considered equals in the marriage, though. In many occupations, husbands and wives had to work well together in order to achieve economic success. However, after the first half of the nineteenth century this began to shift and husbands were seen as the breadwinners and wives as the homemakers. Despite the idea of romantic marriage during this period, there were still social motivations involved. Forming kinship alliances was considered important in some rural societies and others considered marriage one of the few ways they could increase their social standing.

However, the state did not follow this ideal, and legal provisions argued for marriage to be “a moral and legal order independent of the wills of the two spouses.” Thus, control over marriage shifted from the Church to the state. Divorce was an issue that reveals the attitude of the state and marriage. In most countries in Europe until the mid-1800s, it was near impossible to legally divorce. However, even after divorce was later allowed under certain circumstances, in reality it rarely happened.

In discussing marriage demographics, Ehmer disagrees somewhat with the concept of the Hajnal line. Although the overall trends indicate that Western Europe married later than in the east, there was a great deal of regional variation. In Italy, for example, the marriage age for women could vary between 21 to 27 years, depending on which region you look at. This variation also holds true for celibacy rates across Europe. Marriage patterns did change during the 1800s, but in very different directions for countries. Ehmer believes this variation indicates overall that marriage was considered a choice for Europeans in the nineteenth-century.

Ages of Woman, Ages of Man by Chojnacka and Wiesner-Hanks

5 quite interesting readings from the book Ages of Woman and Ages of Man

Regulations of a City Brothel (Law State and Church)

In the 1500's prostitution began to have regulatoins set on it. In this essay it appears that although prostitution was looked down on, it was accepted. The article outlines the new regulations placed on brothel owners: whores should be treated fairly, not sold brought by brothel managers; whores should not be indebted to the brothel, but should be able to repay the debts of food and broad through their labor. This gives an idea that people "may have had difficulty regarding sexual realtions outside of marriage as a sin".

Love Poem Demography (courtship)
Marriage in early modern Europe was still heavily reliant on "love" from both constituents. The poem talks of a "villa, a female spirit that inhabits streams and forests, ensaring the affection of naive men". This poem gives a few into the ideas of courtship and romance before marriage.

Letter from Nobleman his wife in Denmark ( Family relationships and family Economics)
This letter explains that the husband is away from his castle gathering men to fight for the king, in his absence the wife is in charge of " doing what [she ] thinks best with the business." Also the tone of the letter is not one of superiority, but more of equality. The husband and the wife are equal partners in the marriage relationship. This letter was written in 1502 and gives an inside look into the husband wife relationship in aristocratic families.

Battle for the Pants Germany late fifteenth century (family relationships)
A painting in the fifteenth century depicting a man on his knees reaching for pants on the ground while his wife is standing over him holding back his hand with her left hand and carrying distaff in the other hand raised in the air. This depicts the struggel taking place for control in the household and as this painting shows, the men no longer ruled house.

Petition to the king and queen, Denmark c. 1487 (Demography, Family relationships)
Petition made by a widow to the king and queen asking for money. She wanted to travel to Germany to find a journey man who can make saddles and other things to carry on the business of her dead husband. This shows the nuclear family setting, that when a spouse dies there are no others to support the remaining spouse. This also shows that women have a social status enough to write petition to the king and queen for help.

Family Relations, Gender, and Demography

"Women, Family, and Inheritance in Bologna During the Black Death" by Shona Kelly Wray addresses the topic of family decisions during times of difficulty and even death. Wray argues that families in Bologna, Italy were steadfast in maintaining functionality and normalcy within the family, despite the imposing threats of the Black Death.
As evidence, the author uses the last will and testaments of individuals in this region, both before and during the plague. These primary sources are very insightful when looking at demographics and inheritance trends. Yet, they are presented in such a dry and mathematical way that it is hard to engage in and interpret the significance of what is being said. The author incorporates very little secondary sources and it is hard to grasp the overarching view that such sources offer. It almost seems as if there are two arguments that are being presented. The first one, the one that technically is defined within the article, is that families functioned and maintained familial ties despite a primitive instinct to engage in the "survival of the fittest" mentality. The second argument is the issue of inheritance procedures and the significant changes that recognized women, namely daughters and sisters, as potential heirs. Both of these arguments are engaging and significant in our perception of history. However, I believe that the authors choice to try and join the two arguments into one unit only broadened and watered down the potential for one poignant and delightful article.

How Northwestern Europe was Strange: Marriage, Households, and History

In the first Chapter of The Household and the Making of History, Mary Hartman shows the link between the age of marriage, household structure, gender roles and how Western Europe progressed from what she called a "backward periphery on the western fringes"(pg 1) into one of the more advanced areas of the world. She argues that while in most social arenas men were the dominate players, but that through domestic arenas, and thus women, many of modern history's best features are the result of marriage and the household system. Despite the generally excepted notion of very young marriages in the medieval era, Hartman argues that people actually tended to marry at an older age. She says that by marrying later many women first worked outside of their homes and when they did get married the couple tended to pool their resources and start their own nuclear family. Hartman claims that streamlined households would explain, in part, why the economical changes that led to industrialization occurred. towards the end of the chapter Hartman once again reminds us that she believes that women helped shape the world and history just as much as men did, and that women are not often given the credit they deserve in the writing of history.

Herlihy's The Family and Religious Ideologies in Medieval Europe

Herlihy’s article, much like the title suggests, looks at the link between the family and religion during the medieval era of Europe. The goal of his article is to show how the role of religion interacted with the family, specifically concerning marriage and domestic organization. He looks at the changes that occurred in families and marriage as religion took center stage in the lives of medieval citizens.

First, Herlihy looks at the attitudes and ethics of the church during the medieval time. The church during this time did not see marriage as the highest priority for members. Celibacy was the highest form of worship to God and for that reason, many of the values ascribed during this period reflect that. This can be seen in the affirmation that sexual morality had to be equal for both sexes. The Church changed many marriage laws that were prominent in the medieval time, such as the law on incest. This change directly changed the laws that governed inheritance for families and the basic make up of families. Herlihy then looks at the effects religion had on the family. The church made it possible for families and marriage to occur more easily. Marriage was no longer something for the elites, but was extended to the serf class by changing the requirements for marriage. Now marriage only required consent of the two parties and did not require permission from families. Lineage was traced differently with the rise of the church. Families began to trace their linage through patriarchy and lineage became more ancestor focused. Herlihy’s article brought up a lot of good points concerning the laws that governed marriage and family and how that changed with the church. However, he seems to avoid the issue of the lower, unreligious or pagan class. Through not looking at the whole of society we are unable to see the real changes that occurred in marriage and the family. If we are unable to see the whole of society, then we cannot make a fair assessment of the changes that occurred during this time period. While the church was dominate, we cannot assume that every member of the European continent was Christian and followed the rules of the Christian church.