Academic literature on the topic 'Catholic Church. Diocese of Antwerp (Belgium)'

Abstract In 19th-century Belgium, cemeteries and burials gave rise to a major conflict between the Catholic Church and different kinds of secular people in Belgium. While these confrontations are quite well known in large urban environments, far less research has been produced about their counterparts in small-town settings. This article studies the options secular people had in those ‘backwater’ contexts in the province of Antwerp from the first secular burials in the 1860s up to the turn of the century. Following Albert Hirschman’s ‘voice / exit / loyalty’-scheme, we focus upon the choices that could be made and who could make them within the framework of local power relations. We will show how the particularities of social integration (or the lack thereof) generated the profiles of the individuals best equipped to break with Church-dominated community rituals and help to enforce local funerary policy transformations.

A memorial for Mary, Queen of Scots, and for two of her ladies-in-waiting, Barbara Mowbray-Curle, wife of Gilbert Curle, a secretary of the queen, and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Curle is kept in St Andrew's Church in Antwerp (Belgium). The monument was founded by Barbara's son, Hippolytus. After the execution of the queen the ladies left England and settled first in Paris and afterwards in Antwerp. The article concentrates on the two sons of Barbara, who became Jesuits. Little is known about the elder, James. He died in 1615 in Spain, probably still a Jesuit student. The younger one, Hippolytus (who died in 1638), acted as a manager in the Scots College in Douai (France). He is praised as one of the principal benefactors of the college. More particularly the article comments on the testament he drew up when he joined the Jesuit order in September 1618, of which an authenticated copy is kept in the Scottish Catholic Archives. It offers a telling insight into the situation of the Curle-Mowbray family in exile. It reveals also the family's major concern: the restoration of Catholicism in Scotland through the training of a suitable clergy.

Ten articles and a rich selective bibliography demonstrate the vitality of Historical Demography research in Belgium. In the introductory article, the editors sum up the main progress of the discipline in Belgium since 1981 and present an updated impressive commented bibliography. Belgian researchers have broken down many stereotypes. For instance, the process of industrialization in mid-nineteenth-century Belgium did not affect the traditional urban network in a spectacular way. Old-established cities and towns like Ghent, Leuven, Verviers, and Charleroi—that receive a special attention in this volume—continued to be important urban centers as they were well before the Industrial Revolution. The stereotype of a massive rural exodus generated by the industrialization is definitively overcome. By adopting a micro-research approach, Katleen Dillen shows that migration was mostly a positive choice and less disruptive than usually considered because it took place in a dense and vivid social network (“From One Textile Centre to Another: Migrations from the District of Ghent to the City of Armentières (France) During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century,” pp. 431–52). This absence of dramatic change in migration pattern during the industrialization—which is therefore opposite to the situation observed in the Ruhr during the same period—explains why there was no difference in fertility intensity and calendar between migrant people and the sedentary population of the industrial area of Charleroi. Interestingly Flemish migrants to Charleroi adopted the same demographic behavior as the native Walloon people. So, according to Thierry Eggerickx, the main determinant of fertility behavior is the living conditions at the place of arrival rather than the geographical and cultural origin. Eggerickx also emphasizes that the beginning of the demographic transition coincided with the economic crisis of 1873–1892. However, until now the relationship between changes in demographic behavior and economic upheaval remains unclear (“The Fertility Decline in the Industrial Area of Charleroi During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century”). The social network should probably have played a key role during that period of economic crisis. Indeed, the importance of a dense social network clearly appears as far as the illegitimate fertility in Leuven during the economic crisis of the mid-nineteenth century is concerned. Jan Van Bavel demonstrates that the risks of pregnancy before age 26 and subsequent marriage chances did not result from isolation in town (Leuven), but that sexual activity of unmarried women of courtship age was, on the contrary, a sign of integration within the local community. However what was the role of the economic crisis on the behavior of these women? (“Malthusian Sinners: Illegitimate Fertility and Early Marriage in Times of Economic Crisis: A Case Study in Leuven, 1846–1856”). Leuven's urban society in the nineteenth century is also the place to explore the relation between age homogamy and the increasing importance of romantic love. Bart Van de Putte and Koen Matthijs question Shorter's theory by demonstrating that romantic love did not involve the lower classes. The only clear cultural change in Leuven was the spread of what is today called “a conservative model of marriage life” in which the patriarchal tradition was mixed with new family centered values (“Romantic Love and Marriage. A Study of Age Homogamy in Nineteenth Century Leuven”). This model of marriage behavior seems to correspond to the Catholic Church's doctrine on matrimonial matters. The Belgian Catholic Church managed quite well to adapt itself to social changes of the nineteenth century (Paul Servais, “The Church and the Family in Belgium, 1850–1914”). Mortality has attracted fresh research. Michel Oris and George Alter explore the relationship between migration to the city and mortality pattern. In industrial towns, migration had a positive impact on mortality in the short-term, because the newcomers were healthier than natives of the same age. However, the place of arrival—the new industrial milieu—rapidly affected the children of the migrants who were disproportionately exposed to urban epidemiological conditions. Alter and Oris stress the existence of a "epidemiological depression" between 1846 and 1880, which will need further investigation. Moreover, migration to the industrial cities was at the origin of a specific pattern of mortality: high level of infant and child mortality, lower level of adult mortality (“Paths to the City and Roads to Death: Mortality and Migration in East Belgium During the Industrial Revolution”). The persistent high level of infant mortality at the turn of the twentieth century is confirmed by Marc Debuisson's enquiry covering the whole territory of Belgium (“The Decline of Infant Mortality in the Belgian Districts at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”), meanwhile Jeroen Backs observes an increasing discrepancy between upper classes and poor people in front of death. The inequality results from a growing infant and child mortality (“Mortality in Ghent, 1850–1950: A Social Analysis of Death”).

Attempting to present eight centuries of Breton history in one article is of course a daunting task and my aim here is simply to provide an outline highlighting the major trends and events that will enable the reader seeking a historical introduction to better understand Breton history and culture. Covering such a long span of time necessarily implies selecting only the most salient historical events and aspects of Brittany’s cultural development. Until the Revolution of 1789, there were nine Catholic dioceses in Brittany and Breton history inscribed itself within the administrative framework of the Church. In three of these Breton dioceses (Léon, Trégor, Cornouaille) Breton was by far the dominant language; in the dioceses of Saint-Brieuc and Vannes people spoke Breton and French or Gallo (a romance language with Latin roots), while in those of Nantes and Dol, Gallo or French were spoken, with Breton used in an enclave situated in the area around Guérande. The diocese of Dol was particular in that its possessions were disseminated throughout Brittany and as far as the Norman border. This reflects the donations it had received from the Breton aristocracy. The use of the Breton language varied through the centuries, with the Breton-speaking areas receding westwards as time went by. The impact that this had on Breton history should not be underestimated: Brittany shares this linguistic plurality with other regions or states like Belgium, Switzerland or Canada and the Celtic countries. The linguistic status of Breton is considerably different though since it is not officially recognised by the French government. This should be kept in mind when considering the nature of Breton cultural and political identities until the present day.