Through the examination of a set of baptismal records from Aveiro, a coastal town between Lisbon and Porto in northern Portugal, this study explores the ways in which women were identified in relation to their families and community, and in relation to their economic occupations. The findings show that of the approximate 2,600 names of parents and godparents who were noted in the parish registers in the years between 1624 and 1638, the vast majority of them were not provided with a work label. Yet, the inconsistent manner in which women and men were identified suggests that what the church scribe deemed worthy of note did not necessarily reflect the views of the broader community. Although officialdom generally relegated women to their marital or family links, it was possible for a woman to acquire an occupational status of her own.
For Portugal, see the work of Amélia Polónia , "Women's Contributions to Family, Economy, and Social Range of Maritime Communities in Sixteenth-Century Portugal," Portuguese Studies Review13, Nos. 1 and 2 (2007): 269-85; Nuno Luís Madureira and Inês Amorim, História do Trabalho e das Ocupações, Volume II, As Pescas (Oeiras: Celta Editora , 2001). For The Netherlands, see Manon von der Heijden and Daniëlle van den Heuvel, "Surviving Strategies of Dutch Seamen's Wives, 17th-18th Centuries," in Riccheza del Mare, Riccheza dal Mare, Secc. XIII-XVIII: Atti della "Trentasettesima Settimana di Studi," 11-15 aprile 2005, ed. Simonetta Cavaciocchi (Prato: Istituto Inernazionale di Storia Economica " F. Datini," 2005), 1103-20. For France, see the work of Alain Cabantous, in particular "Dieu, la mer, les femmes, un christianisme maritime au féminin (XVIIe-XIXe siècles)" in Anthropologie Maritime: Statuts et fonctions des femmes dans les communautés maritimes et fluviales (table ronde des 14 et 15 mai 1990), Cahier no. 4 (Paris: Centre d'ethnologie en milieux aquatiques [CETMA], 1992).
2.
For recent overviews of the challenges with population studies in Portugal, see Maria João Guardado Moreira and Teresa Rodrigues Veiga, " Modelos de Mortalidade em Portugal," Ler História49 (2005): 145-69, and Maria Norberta Amorim, "Comportamentos demográphicos de Antigo Regime na Península Ibérica," Ler História47 (2004): 147-70. For older but often-cited studies on the population of pre-industrial Portugal, see Julia Galego and Suzanne Daveau, O Numeramento de1527-1532. Tratamento Cartográfico ( Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Geográficos , 1986); Virginia Rau , "Para a História da População Portuguesa dos Séculos XV e XVI (Resultados e Problemas de Métodos)," in Estudos de História Medieval (Lisbon: Editorial Presença , 1986); António Oliveira, "A populacao de Caminha e Valenca em 1513," Bracara Augusta, XXX, Tomo I (1976 ): 125-65; "A População das Comarcas de Leiria e de Santarém em 1537," Revista Portuguesa de História, Tomo XV (Coimbra, 1975): 235-99.
3.
Many general Portuguese histories rely heavily on descriptive narratives from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to estimate numbers, whether of people, revenues, or other "quantitative" elements. See, for example, João Cordeiro Pereira, Portugal na Era de Quinhentos (Cascais: Patrimonia Historica, 2003); José Mattoso, ed., História de Portugal no Alvorecer da Modernidade (1480-1620) ( Lisbon : Editorial Estampa, 1997 ).
4.
Virginia Rau, "Sources pour l'étude de l'économie maritime portugaise," in Les sources de l'histoire maritime en Europe, du Moyen Age au XVIIIe siècle: actes du quatrième colloque international d'histoire maritime, ed. Michel Mollat du Jourdin ( Paris: SEVPEN1962).
5.
For an early modern commentary on various regions of Portugal, including Aveiro, see Duarte Nunes do Leão, Descrição do Reino de Portugal ( 1610), 3rd ed., ed. Orlanda Gama (Lisbon: Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa, 2002); see also António de Almeida Silva e Christo and João Gonçalves Gaspar, Calendário Histórico de Aveiro (Aveiro: Oficinas Gráficas da Tipave, 1986); João Gonçalves Gaspar, "Formação da Ria e Povoamento da Região de Aveiro," Aveiro e seu Distrito, no. 36 (1986): 55-67; Luís Crespo Fabião, "Alguns dados sobre o Contributo de Aveiro para o Comércio Marítimo de Importação entre a Zelândia Holandesa e a Península Ibérica nos meados do século XVI (1543-1544)," Arquivo do Distrito de Aveiro, XLII ( 1976): 24-39.
6.
For a demographic comparison between Portugal and Spain, see Amorim, "Comportamentos demográficos," 147-70. For Aveiro, see Cordeiro Pereira, Portugal na Era de Quinhentos, 38-41; Júlio de Sousa Martins, "A popósito dos 550 anos da Feira de Março," Aveiro e seu Distrito, no. 33 (1984): 46-63; João Gonçalves Gaspar, Aveiro: Notas Históricas (Aveiro: Câmara Municipal de Aveiro, 1983); Faria dos Santos, "A pesca, o turismo lagunar e os desportos náuticos em Aveiro," Aveiro e seu Distrito, nos. 23-25 (1977-1978): 40-47; Alvaro Sampaio, "O Porto de Aveiro e sua influência no crescimento económico da região," Aveiro e seu Distrito, no. 2 (1966): 5-27; Manuel Martins de Almeida Coimbra, "Reflexões Históricas sobre a Barra de Aveiro," Arquivo do Distrito de Aveiro, XXIX (1963 ): 105-18.
7.
The church regulations for the Porto diocese, entitled Constituições do Porto de 1496, stipulates that parents were to baptize their children within eight days of birth, at the very latest. Fortunato de Almeida, História da Igreja em Portugal, Four Volumes, New Edition, ed. Damião Peres (Porto/Lisbon: Livraria Civilização-Editora, 1971 [ 1930]), vol. IV, 564. In early modern England, pastors were advised to encourage parishioners to baptize their newborn on the first Sunday or other holy day after the birth of the infant. David Cressy, Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England (Oxford : Oxford University Press , 1997), 101.
8.
This ratio applies to the set of parents that included a Maria Migueis. A handful of other couples had more than four children baptized between 1624 and 1638, as discussed below.
9.
The meaning of these nicknames is unknown. For other examples of nicknames, see ADA, Baptisms, f. 16v, f.38, f.62, f.63, f.64v, f.67, f.71v, f.76, f.76v, f.81, f.86, f.87v, f.89v, f.93, f.103/123.
10.
The church prohibited married couples from becoming godparents for the same child. Almeida, História da Igreja, 564.
11.
Angela Pinheira was godmother for two children in 1632, and two more in 1636. She and her husband, André Fernandes, also had two children of their own, Agostinho in 1634 and Bertolomeu in 1637. ADA, Baptisms, f.68, 71v, 86, 104/124, 105/125, 110/130.
12.
The only exceptions were in 1630 and 1636, when Catarina de Figueiredo was noted as the wife of Pantalião Afonso, and in 1634 and 1637 when she was noted on her own.
13.
ADA, Baptisms, f.74, 78v, 80v. It is possible that these three entries do not deal with the same Maria Jorge, or that her mother became a widow by September and remarried in December, but that is unlikely.
14.
Merry Wiesner's work on early modern Germany also shows that midwives and market women were among the few women who were identified, and who self-identified, by their profession. See, Merry E. Wiesner, Gender, Church, and State in Early Modern Germany (London/New York: Longman, 1998), 153.
15.
The majority of the infants were registered with two parents and two godparents. The approximate number takes into account the few instances when godfathers were not named, and for the few cases of twins.
16.
A total of twenty-one godmothers were identified to fathers with occupational labels, and twenty-nine godmothers were linked to their husbands with occupational labels.
17.
See, for example, Merry E. Wiesner, "Having Her Own Smoke: Employment and Independence for Singlewomen in Germany, 1400-1750," in Singlewomen in the European Past, 1250-1800, ed. Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide (Philadelphia : University of Philadelphia Press, 1999); Sandra Cavallo and Lyndan Warner, eds., Widowhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Essex: Longman, 1999); Sara Mendelson and Patricia Crawford, Women in Early Modern England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003 [1998]); Judith C. Brown and Robert C. Davis, eds., Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy (London/New York: Longman, 1998).
18.
The figure of forty-nine on the priest row in Table 3 represents the number of times a priest was named as godfather.
19.
For a discussion on status titles, see Mário Justino Silva, O rei e os nobres: Imagens do Quotidiano nos "Ditos Portugueses Dignos de Memória" (século XVI) (Cascais: Patrimonia Historica, 2004), 75. Other examples of members of the gentry or nobility were found in the Aveiro baptism registries for 1625, 1627, 1631, 1634, 1635, and 1637.
According to the Portuguese church in Porto, the minimum age for godmothers was twelve, and fourteen for godfathers. Almeida, História da Igreja, 564.
25.
For a discussion on the challenges with finding the single woman, see, for example, Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide, eds., Singlewomen in the European Past, 1250-1800 (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1999).
26.
ADA, Baptisms, f.5v.
27.
For other registries of children born out of wedlock, see ADA, Baptisms, 1628, f.37; 1630, f.51v; 1631, f.58; 1635, f.94, f.97; 1636, f.99; 1637, f.112v/132v.
28.
Other studies show that the illegitimacy rates in Portugal increased substantially in the latter part of the seventeenth century. See Cândido dos Santos, "Alguns Aspectos da Demografia Portuense Durante o Antigo Regime," Revista de História II (1979): 149-57. In certain parts of Spain, the illegitimacy rates were much higher than the European average at various times in the early modern period. See Allyson M. Poska, "When Love Goes Wrong: Getting out of Marriage in Seventeenth-Century Spain," Journal of Social History (Summer 1996): 871-82, and Francisco Sánchez-Montes González , "Estudio de los Ilegítimos y Minorías Marginadas, la Parroquia de San Cecilio (1521-1630)," Chronia Nova13 (Universidad de Granada, 1986): 187-96.
29.
Teresa Rodrigues, Cinco Séculos de Quotidiano: A vida em Lisboa do século XV aos nossos dias (Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1997), 97.
30.
As noted earlier, Licenciado, or licenciate, was a title formerly used by people with a university degree somewhere between a bachelor or master and a doctorate.
31.
ADA, Baptisms, f.87v.
32.
In the case of baby Paula, the parents were not noted as single, but rather the child was identified as their filha natural, their bastard child. ADA, Baptisms, 1624, f.2v; 1625, f.12v; 1628, f.31v. Captain Rafael de Figueiredo was also found in the registry as godfather for a baby José on March 21, 1627 (f.24v).
33.
ADA, Baptisms, f.87v.
34.
This was likely the same Thomas Ramsay noted earlier, who, along with his sister Violante Ramsay, was a godparent in 1633.
35.
The meaning of this nickname is not known. Interestingly, Ana Fernandes, daughter of Maria João a polónia, was godmother for baby Manuel on April 14, 1630. ADA, Baptisms, f.51v, f.81.
36.
ADA, Baptisms, f.16v. For more examples of single godmothers and the ways in which they were recorded, see ADA, Baptisms, 1625, f.9, f.10; 1626, f.14v; 1628, f.38v, f.39; 1629, f.43v, f.46, f.47; 1637, f.109/129.
37.
ADA, Baptisms, f.93.
38.
The scribe wrote that she claimed to be from "de onde a de besteins," the meaning for which is unclear, but which implies that she was not of this parish. ADA, Baptisms, f.116/136. Emphasis mine.
39.
This was one of the few times when the mother's name was noted first, followed by "e deu por pai da dita Maria o Revdo. . ." (and she gave for father of the said Maria the Reverend. . .), ADA, Baptisms, f.111v/131v.
40.
ADA, Baptisms, f.86v.
41.
ADA, Baptisms, f.16v.
42.
See, for example, ADA, Baptisms, f.91v (May 22, 1635).
43.
For the example of an entry not signed by a priest, see ADA, Baptisms, f.34v. For an example of an entry dated August 24, 1624, but located in between September and October, see f.4.
44.
ADA, Baptisms, f.58v, f.84, f.71. For other examples of godparents by proxy, see March 23, 1630, f.61, and July 18, 1634, f.85.
45.
On October 20, 1630 Caterina Andre, shoemaker, was registered as the godmother for baby Maria, and on August 22, 1631, Maria de Oliveira, midwife, was godmother for baby Roque. ADA, Baptisms, f.55v, f.64.
46.
The entries that record Antónia Gonçalves as a godmother can be found as follows: ADA, Baptisms, June 24, 1625, f.9v; 27 July 1626, f.19; April 14, 1630, f.52; July 16, 1630, f.53v; September 17, 1630, f.54v; October 26, 1630, f.56; November 10, 1630, f.56v; May 11, 1631, f.61v; November 11, 1631, f.65v; December 20, 1631, f.66; January 19, 1633, f.73; January 7, 1634, f.81; January 5, 1636, f.97v.
47.
The baptisms performed at home by the midwife Antónia Gonçalves were for baby Maria on June 24, 1625, f.9v; baby Maria on May 11, 1628, f.33v; baby Manuel on September 21, 1628, f.37v; another baby Manuel on December 4, 1633, f.80; yet another baby Manuel on November 9, 1636, f.105/125; and another baby Maria on November 25, 1637, f.112v/132v.
48.
For the entries on home baptism that involved an unidentified midwife, see ADA, Baptisms, May 1, 1625, f.8; August 24, 1630, f.54; January 25, 1631, f.58; February 16, 1631, f.59; and March 1, 1635, f.89v.
49.
For the cases where emergency baptisms were implied, but the role of the midwife was not stipulated, see ADA, Baptisms, August 15, 1628, f.36v; March 31, 1631, f.61; April 18, 1631, f.61v; June 1, 1631, f.62.
50.
For other examples of emergency baptisms, see ADA, Baptisms, baby Maria, May 6, 1626 (f.17); baby Maria, June 16, 1626 (f.18); baby Maria, March 7, 1627 (f.24); baby Maria, May 11, 1628 (f.33v); baby Maria, August 15, 1628 (f.36v); baby Manuel, March 13, 1629 (f.42v); baby Maria, May 14, 1629 (f.44); baby Ilena, May 26, 1629 (f.44); baby Maria, September 8, 1629 (f.46v); baby Maria, October 24, 1630 (f.54); baby Joseph, February 16, 1631 (f.59); baby Manuel, March 31, 1631,(f.61); baby Maria, April 18, 1631 (f.61v); baby Domingos, baptized September 11, 1632, at home by Padre Bento Gomes who also stood as godfather (f.70v); baby Agostinho, August 28, 1634 (f.86); twins Mathias and Jorge, March 1, 1635 (f.89v); baby Pedro, baptized July 3, 1635, at home by Padre Manuel Ferreira (f.92v); twins Manuel and João, March 2, 1636 (f.99v); baby Maria, August 28, 1636, (f.103v/123v); baby Joseph, February 22, 1637 (f.106v/126v); baby Manuel, baptized March 11, 1637 at home by Sebastião Barros, title/occupation unknown (f.107/127).
51.
There is no way to tell the survival rates of these infants, but the higher number of boys requiring emergency baptism may be indicative that, as found for early modern England, "male infants were usually weaker and sicklier than their female siblings." Mendelson and Crawford, Women in Early Modern England, 83.
52.
There were seven sets of twins recorded in the Aveiro baptism registries, four sets of twin boys, two sets of twin girls, and one set of sister and brother twins. See ADA, Baptisms, for twins António and Manuel, baptized June 15, 1625 (f.9); Marta and Magdalena, baptized September 28, 1625 (f.11v); Antónia and Miguel, baptized October 1, 1628 (f.37v-f.38); Manuel and Joseph, baptized July 20, 1631 (f.63v); Maria and Ana, baptized November 27, 1634 (f.87v); Mathias and Jorge, baptized March 1, 1635 (f.89v); Manuel and João, baptized March 2, 1636 (f.99v).
53.
ADA, Baptisms, f.29, f.88.
54.
ADA, Baptisms, f.58.
55.
ADA, Baptisms, f.58, f.98.
56.
I am grateful to my colleague, Anne-Laurence Caudano, whose inquiries provided me with helpful commentaries on this question from David Defries, James McConica, and James K. Farge.
57.
For further explanation of these rituals, see Oculus sacerdotis (1385), as cited in John Shinners, ed., Medieval Popular Religion, 1000-1500: A Reader (Peterborough : Broadview Press, 1997), 16-17.
58.
For Portugal, see Almeida, História da Igreja, 563; for England, see Cressy, Birth, Marriage, and Death, 61; for Germany, see Wiesner, Gender, Church, and State, 155. See also Kathryn Ann Taglia, "The Cultural Construction of Childhood: Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation," in Women, Marriage, and Family in Medieval Christendom, eds. Constance M. Rousseau and Joel T. Rosenthal (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University, 1998), 255-87.
59.
Cressy, Birth, Marriage, and Death, 64. For examples of claims that a headless baby was preferable to one baptized with remnants of Catholicism, and evidence of attempts to baptize embryos, see Mary E. Fissell, Vernacular Bodies: The Politics of Reproduction in Early Modern England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 158-59, and Lianne McTavish, Childbirth and the Display of Authority in Early Modern France ( Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), 205.
60.
ADA, Baptisms, f.74v.
61.
For a look at this phenomenon elsewhere in Portugal, see Maria Norberta Simas Bettencourt Amorim, Guimarães, 1580-1819: Estudo Demográfico (Lisbon : Instituto Nacional de Investigação Científica, 1987).
62.
ADA, Baptisms, f.23, f.50v, f.55v, f.91. See earlier discussion on midwives for more details.
63.
Historians have found this phenomenon in other parts of Western Europe. See, for example, Anna Bellavitis, "Genres, métiers, apprentissages dans trois villes italiennes à l'époque moderne," Histoire Urbaine , no. 15 (avril 2006): 5-12; Angela Groppi, ed., Il Lavoro Delle Donne ( Rome/Bari: Editori Laterza, 1996).
64.
Wiesner, Gender, Church, and State, 151.
65.
Amândio Jorge Morais Barros, "Mulheres e comércio. Linhas de intervenção da mulher portuense no negócio durante o século XVI," Portuguese Studies Review13, nos. 1 and 2 (2007): 229-68.
66.
Amy Louise Erickson, "Married Women's Occupations in Eighteenth-Century London," Continuity and Change23/2 (2008): 282 [267-307].
