The Not-So-Merry Widows of Amsterdam,1740-1782

Abstract

This research examines the remarriage propensities of a group of poor to middling Amsterdam widows in the second half of the eighteenth century. Using family composition, life cycle, and wealth data drawn from a collection of probate inventories originally recorded by the Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage, this study addresses two questions. First, was the substantial differential in the remarriage rates of men and women the result of choice or rather differential opportunities? And second, what were the economic implications of the observed marital outcomes? It will be shown that despite the legal and social freedom typically associated with widowhood, the economic costs of female headship were high.