Historical legal age for marriage??

[nrepole]

Hi
I am just doing some family history (my family is from the Basilicata region)
and I am wondering if anyone knows if a girl/young lady had to be a certain age to be allowed to marry - I am speaking about the early 1900s.
Many thanks in advance,
Nick

[erudita74]

Hi
I am just doing some family history (my family is from the Basilicata region)
and I am wondering if anyone knows if a girl/young lady had to be a certain age to be allowed to marry - I am speaking about the early 1900s.
Many thanks in advance,
Nick

As far as I know, there was no specific age a female had to be in order to be allowed to marry. The only requirement was parental consent, and parents themselves did arrange the marriages. I have done extensive research in one Basilicata town (Stigliano) where females married anywhere between the ages of 16 to 25, with 18 to 20 being the average. However, you are talking early 1900s, which is more difficult to determine, as by then, many had relocated with their families to places like the United States. My own female ancestors who did emigrate from Stigliano to NY though still married between the ages of 17 and 19. They married men from other southern Italian towns whom they did not know in Italy.

In Sicily, however, I have found girls as young as 13 being married, but I also have found females who didn't have first marriages until their late 20s.

Erudita

[nrepole]

Thanks so much Erudita
I do think that you did have to wait until you were at least 16 years of age (at least that seems to be the case with my relatives). Wow! - 13 years of age in Sicily....and then babies...not much of a childhood.
Nick

[erudita74]

Thanks so much Erudita
I do think that you did have to wait until you were at least 16 years of age (at least that seems to be the case with my relatives). Wow! - 13 years of age in Sicily....and then babies...not much of a childhood.
Nick

You're very welcome, Nick. Just for your info-the sister of my direct line Sicilian ancestor, who married at age 13, had twelve children over a thirty year period.

As to childhood in Italy, most in Southern Italy and Sicily, whether male or female, didn't have much of a childhood anyway. As soon as they could walk, and had some degree of independence, definitely by about age 4, they were either sent out into the fields to work, had to care for younger siblings or, if they resided in an area where there were mines, were sent to them in which to work. These children also worked some 12 to 14 hour days and on Sundays and holidays. Italy did not have its first child labor law until 1886, but that did not really apply to those who worked out in the fields.

Erudita

[PippoM]

I suggest you to read somethinh by the sicilian writer Giovanni Verga to have an idea of life in Southern Italy at the time.

[erudita74]

I suggest you to read somethinh by the sicilian writer Giovanni Verga to have an idea of life in Southern Italy at the time.

Giovanni Verga is best known for his depictions of life in Sicily, and I highly recommend his book, Little Novels of Sicily, which has been translated from the Italian, to anyone researching family ancestry from Sicily.
Erudita

[erudita74]

I codici civili del Regno d'Italia del 1865
LIBRO PRIMO DELLE PERSONE
TITOLO V. del matrimonio
CAPO I
Sezione II

articolo 55. Non possono contrarre matrimonio l'uomo prima che abbia compiuto gli anni diciotto, la donna prima che abbia compiuto gli anni quindici.

TITOLO QUINTO - CAPO SECONDO

articolo 63. Il figlio che non ha compiuto gli anni venticinque, la figlia che non ha compiuto gli anni ventuno non possono contrarre matrimonio senza il consenso del padre e della madre...

+ art.68 : provvede eccezione ai casi speciali...





Codice per il Regno delle Due Sicilie del 1819
Parte prima leggi civili
TITOLO V.
Del matrimonio
CAPITOLO I

articolo 152. L'uomo prima di aver compiuto gli anni quattordici, e la donna prima di aver compiuto gli anni dodici, non possono contrarre matrimonio.

articolo 163. Il figlio che non è giunto all'età di anni venticinque compiuti, e la figlia che non ha compiuto gli anni ventuno, non possono contrarre matrimonio senza il consenso del padre e della madre. Nel caso che siano discordi, il consenso del padre sarà sufficente.

+ art.164
+ art.165

Grazie, Sabino, per le informazioni seguenti-

The civil code of the Kingdom of Italy from 1865-
article 55-the man could not contract marriage until he had reached his 18th birthday, and the woman until she had reached her 15th.

article 63-the son who was not yet 25, and the daughter who was not yet 21, could not contract marriage without the consent of the father and the mother

article 68 provides exceptions for special cases

The code for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1819-
article 152-the man cannot contract marriage before reaching age 14 and the woman cannot contract marriage before reaching age 12.
article 163-
the son, until he completed his 25th birthday, and the daughter until she completed her 21st, could not contract marriage without the consent of the father and the mother. In the case that the parents were in disagreement, the consent of the father would be sufficient.

Erudita

[nrepole]

Grazie mille Sabino and Erudita (for the translation). Fantastic information.
Nick