MARRIAGE RATES OVER TIME IN THE PARISH OF ROZMBERK NAD VLTAVOU IN THE 19TH CENTURY

This study is based on extracts from the marriages records lodged in the State Regional Archive in Trebon, and it deals with the changes in marriage rates during the 19th century. The aim of the study was to discover to what extent changes connected with the transition from the old to the new demographic regime were reflected in the industrially less advanced Sumava mountain region. The continuing stagnation of this region along with the lack of employment and financial opportunities resulted in an increase in the number of postponed marriages, which was particularly notable among men. Women married on average at the age of 28 and men at the age of 31; the average age of first-time spouses peaked in the period of 1850-1874. Only during the final period of the century, evidently as a result of the abolition of the institution of consent to marriage in 1868, did the marrying age of first-time spouses again slightly decrease. Conversely, the age structure of widows and widowers remarrying remained relatively unchanged. As in the 18th century, the average age of widows remarrying was 35-39, while the average age of widowers remarrying was between 40 and 50.