Koen Matthijs

The Role of Secularization on Marriage and Conception Seasonality Patterns: A Study of Antwerp (Flanders, Belgium) in the Second Half of the Nineteenth and the Early Twentieth Century

The period comprising the second half of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century in Belgium has been described as one of rapid societal transformation including industrialization, urbanization, and, also in some extent, secularization. This is the historical period in which first mortality and later fertility also declined, facilitated by socio-economic (structural) and cultural changes, and resulting in the first demographic transition. One of the characteristics of the secularization marking this period is considered to be the reduced compliance with religious rules concerning the timing of marriages and sexual intercourse (i.e., conceptions). Against this background, the purpose of this article is twofold. It first assesses the initial extent and evolution of church control in the rapidly developing port city of Antwerp, Flanders (Belgium), in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This will be studied through a so-called daily Lent and Advent marriage and conception index. By daily, we mean that we exactly measure the timing of Advent and Lent. We secondly try to explain the determinants of the occurrence of these marriages and conceptions through individual socio-economic, cultural, and life-course factors. We use data from the unique multisource COR* historical sample, containing individual information from population registers and civil registration records (1845–1913). We find clear signs of decreasing compliance with religious rules and therefore secularization but different patterns for marriages and conceptions. Even though compliance overall decreases for both events, rules are better complied with for marriages, and in particular, first marriages. Marriages are more influenced by social control than for sexual intercourse (i.e., conceptions). The influence of stronger compliance with marriage seasonality is observed through better adherence with first conceptions, although this is in much less extent for higher-order conceptions. The occurrence of these events, in particular marriages, is determined by a number of structural, cultural, and life-course factors. Noncompliances are found more in an urban setting, older women, and later historical periods, whereas compliance is found in high social class of men. For conceptions, relatively few (significant) effects are observed, although noncompliance for maternal literacy status and compliance for paternal social class is also found indicating gender differential effects.