Til Øvrigheden os skiller - Separation og skilsmisse: mellem Lutherdom & socialpolitik i 1800-tallets København

Abstract

This thesis examines the divorce and separation cases processed by the city Magistrate in Copenhagen in the first half of the 19th century (1806-1856). Divorce and separation grants could only be reached by joint settlement between the disputing parties at meetings mediated by the Magistrates officials. This signified the complicated intertwinements of state power and bureaucratic practice into the intimate lives of the applicants. Although this could and should be considered one of the most basic objects of social control, my argument is that in this process the Magistrate provided the applicants with a platform from which to state their needs and interests. In this the actors displayed a considerable room for strategic maneuvering placing a significant amount of responsibility for shaping the practice of the institution on the citizens themselves. Inspired the relatively new research conventions around, “a new history from below” and the history of feeling, my study gives a new perspective on the administration practices of late-stage Danish absolutism. The demographic analysis of the applicants showed that the practice was relatively free for anyone who wanted to use it. The vast majority belonged to the middle class and the lower strata of society, but they appeared side by side with landowners, manufacturers, wholesalers, high-ranking military personnel, and civil servants. Neither gender nor social status had a significant influence on the Magistrate's attitude to whether the cases could be completed, but rather the ability of the parties to create a joint settlement was key. This meant that each case was assessed individually, and since the Magistrate could not separate couples who disagreed, the city officials most often behaved passively during the mediations. This created the need for long, detailed, and emotional applications, as it brought hope that these texts would strengthen the case, or at best drive the Magistrate into action. The effects of these texts did not always turn out in favor of the applicants; but in almost all cases, the narratives helped steer the mediations in the direction of the applicants' wishes. The form in which this was expressed was varied, but in general the vast majority valued cooperation as protection against poverty and misery. The division of the household into gendered spheres of authority was thus perceived as the most desirable way of life, but violence, abuse and poverty were widespread, and therefore separation and divorce often appeared as the best guarantee for survival. In this regard, the divorce and separation practice offered the applicants a place to renegotiate their marital rights. This became a platform from where they could express their needs, pursue their interests, and establish their claims. It was relatively free for the applicants to use the mediation as they saw fit, which meant that the content and what the end goal depended on the spouses. For the vast majority, and especially women, the mediations were a way in which one could win at least a small amount of financial security after the separation; but there were also those who used the practice to preserve the marriage. By studying the practice from the perspectives of the applicants' own ranks, it became clear that the applicants used the Magistrate to promote their living conditions. The practice was thus not only a separation and divorce arrangement, but a tool for social improvement. Women could use the mediations to obtain the right to own property and the right to run a business. In contrast, there were far less to gain from the practice for men, but they also used the mediations to get rid of a wasteful, drunken, or otherwise incompetent spouse. Since it was the citizens themselves who initiated, conducted, and concluded the cases, this gave rise to an interpretation that placed a significant amount of responsibility for the institution's evolution and actual practice on the citizens themselves. The negotiations represented a way in which men and women could revise the marital contract, and according to the cases presented, a picture emerges of the applicants as deeply aware of intricacies of the practice. This intimate knowledge showed that the absolutist marriage policy was not only a tool for social control, but that it enabled a practice in which ordinary citizens could negotiate a living or perpetuate the existence of their ideal picture of marriage.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Til Øvrigheden os skiller - Separation og skilsmisse: mellem Lutherdom & socialpolitik i 1800-tallets København

[Til Death Do Us Part - Separation and divorce: between Lutheranism & social policy in 19th century Copenhagen]