In ancient times
There were no gaps in civil status. In Rome, as early as Marcus Aurelius, newborn babies were required to be registered so that they could later prove their status as free men. The legal registration of marriages, however, did not exist until Justinian.
How old are the parish registers?
As early as 1406, a synod required parish priests to keep records of baptisms.
In France
Around the 15th century, in a few parishes, they became widespread and compulsory under François 1st (article 51 of the ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539). The ordinance of April 1667, Title XX, art. 7 to 18 imposed the obligation on parish priests to draw up deeds, and Latin was replaced by French. The edict of Nantes (1568) entrusted responsibility for the civil status of Protestants to ministers of the Reformed faith, a power that was withdrawn from them in 1685 when the same edict was revoked. The Edict of Louis XVI (28 November 1787) instructed judicial officers to draw up civil status certificates for non-Catholics.
It should be noted that our regions were not affected by this edict. We are under the influence of the Spanish
With the Reformation
The situation was about to change. Faced with criticism from the reformers and the growth of marriage legislation in Protestant states, the principle of compulsory ecclesiastical celebration and the keeping of corresponding registers was established. Before the Council, an engagement followed by sexual relations was effectively transformed into a marriage.
The Council of Trent
From 15-12-1545 to 4-12-1563
In 1563, the Council of Trent issued general prescriptions on how to keep baptism and marriage registers. The canons of the decree "Yourmetsi" on the solemnity of marriage are clear: only explicit and solemn consent expressed in the present tense (I take you to be my wife) would constitute marriage. Even if the marriage took place in church or in front of a church, the decree clearly stated that the marriage was null and void if it was not celebrated in the presence of the parish priest and two or three witnesses, preceded by the publication of banns and accompanied by the keeping of marriage registers. These provisions were supplemented in 1614 by the Rituale Romanum of Paul V for deaths. From this time onwards, episcopal orders requiring registers to be kept multiplied. However, most parishes did not open registers until after 1600, or even after 1650. The oldest baptismal registers in our country date from 1565, which is shortly after the Council of Trent. They are from the parish of Sainte-Gudule and the church of La Chapelle in Brussels, and are kept in the Brussels City Archives (rue des tanneurs 65, tel. 02 279 53 20).
12th July 1611
The Perpetual Edict of Albert and Isabella orders the magistrates of our localities to make two copies of the registers.
6th August 1778
The Edict of Empress Maria Theresa noted that in most places these records were drawn up with so little care and accuracy. The new edict stipulated that registers had to be kept in duplicate by the civil authorities.
17 June 1796
The French Convention of 29 Prairial year IV (17 June 1796) definitively ended the keeping of parish registers, which no longer had any legal value.
10 May 1865
The Belgian Parliament passed a law requiring the keeping of alphabetical tables based on the records of the Ancien Régime.
Sources :
E. SABBE, Les registres paroissiaux et leur conservation en Belgique, in archivum, IX (1959), p.3-14.
R; MOLS, Les registres paroissiaux sous l'ancien régime. Leur Histoire, in NRT, LXXVIII (1956),487-514.
J. ROELSTRAETE, Handleiding voor Genealogisch onderzoek in Vlaanderen, VVF Roeselare, (1998), 304 -306.
L. ROY, Manuel de généalogie, Atelier de généalogie, Cercle d'Histoire de Rixensart, (2000), 108.
http://www.publius-historicus.com/c_trente.htm
