SINGLE

Life-course data on never-married rural women in the Franc of Bruges, 18th-19th century

The SINGLE database contains life-course data on never-married rural women in the Franc of Bruges in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Information sheet

Title: Life-course data on never-married rural women in the Franc of Bruges

Author: Dr. Sofie De Langhe

Population/Subject: never-married rural women

Region: Franc of Bruges, Belgium

Period: 18th-19th century

Number of units: 5 700 people, 700 life-courses

Number of variables: 50

Format: CSV, XLS, XML, PDF

Accessibility: No restrictions on top of the general terms and conditions of use of the Quetelet Center.

Context of the database

SINGLE was created by Sofie De Langhe as part of her doctoral project entitled “Oude vrijsters: bestaansstrategieën van ongehuwde vrouwen op het Brugse platteland, late 18de-begin 19de eeuw” (“Spinsters: survival strategies of unmarried women in the Bruges countryside, late 18th-early 19th century”, supervisor Professor Dr. Isabelle Devos). The research was funded by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University.

During the early modern period, a substantial proportion of Flemish women (15-20%) remained unmarried throughout their lives. The majority of these women came from the lower classes. In contrast to women in religious orders or women from the upper classes, these never-married women from the lower classes left behind little (personal) source material.

The database focuses on this little-studied population group: never-married women from the lower classes who lived in the Bruges countryside (the so-called Franc of Bruges).

Primarily based on demographic sources, this database brings together biographical and other data on these unmarried women. The main sources are:

Censuses from 1748 and 1814
Parish registers (baptism and funeral records)
Civil registers of births, marriages and deaths (birth and death records)

In addition, relevant data from other sources are also included:

Probate inventories
Orphan registers
Tax lists
Court cases
Lists of poor relief recipients

These sources were combined to create two groups of women whose entire life courses are known: a group of never-married women and a control group.

The Bruges countryside was diverse. On the one hand there was the sandy region, where small-scale agricultural activities were combined with cottage industry, and on the other hand the polder region, where mainly large farms were located. Between the two regions was a transition area. Because the region and its specific work activities could play an important role in the lives of never-married women, the data on women from these two regions were compiled into separate datasets.

What data can you find in this database?

In this database (created in MS Excel) you will find two datasets:

1. Database of never-married women from the censuses of 1748 and 1815

These data were compiled by region (inland/polders/transition area). The data relate to a total of 2 253 never-married rural women from the Franc of Bruges. In addition, data on 2 777 never-married women from the city of Bruges were also collected.

The following data are included in this database:

Last name
First name
Residence
Age
Place of birth
Region of birth
Occupation
Property of the unmarried woman
The head of the households in which the woman lived
Her relationship to the head of the household
Whether the head of the household was the owner or a tenant of the residence
Different members of the household and their relationship to the head of the household
Natural children of the unmarried woman

2. Database of a sample of never-married women and a control group of married women

This database was created based on a sample of 495 never-married women and a control group of 181 married women. Women were included in the database only if both their date of birth and date of death were found.

The following data are included in this database:

Last name
First name
Date of birth
Date of baptism
Place of birth
Residence
Date of death
Place of death
Occupation
First and last name, occupation and date of death of parents
Any remarriage of a parent
Household composition at the time of the census of 1748 or 1815
Additional information about the never-married woman (family members: single brothers/sisters, widowed parent, stepparents, birth order in the family, etc.)
Ownership of real estate
Information from other sources (probate inventories, court cases, orphan registers, lists of poor relief recipients, inheritances, birth of natural children, etc.)

How can you consult data from the database?

Those who are interested in using the data from this database should submit a reasoned request to the Quetelet Center (Queteletcenter@ugent.be).

Publications based on this database

De Langhe, Sofie. “Rural single female migrants in early nineteenth century Bruges : an exception to the rules?” Journal of Urban History 42, no. 1 (2016): 39–60.
Devos, Isabelle, Sofie De Langhe, and Christa Matthys. “Lost in registration? Missing occupations of single women in the Bruges countryside, c.1814”. History of the Family 19, no. 4 (2014): 469–88.
De Langhe, Sofie. “Oude vrijsters: bestaansstrategieën van ongehuwde vrouwen op het Brugse platteland, late achttiende-begin negentiende eeuw”. PhD diss., Universiteit Gent, 2013.
De Langhe, Sofie, Isabelle Devos, en Christa Matthys. “Survival strategies of single women in the Bruges countryside, 1814”. EED Working Paper Series, no. 3 (2013).
Mechant, Maja, Sofie De Langhe, Sofie De Veirman, Isabelle Devos, and Christa Matthys. “Mogelijkheden en beperkingen van de levensloopanalyse voor het vroegmoderne demografisch onderzoek in Vlaanderen”. In Leren van historische levenslopen, by Koen Matthijs, Jan Kok, and Hilde Bras, 75-95. Jaarboek 2012. Leuven/Den Haag: Acco Uitgeverij, 2012.
De Langhe, Sofie. “To thrive, one must wive? Subsistence strategies of single women in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century rural Flanders”. History of the Family 17, no. 2 (2012): 199–219.
De Langhe, Sofie, Maja Mechant, and Isabelle Devos. “Regionale verschillen in het leven van ongehuwde moeders op het platteland in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden, 1730-1846”. Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 8, no. 1 (2011): 2–28.