ABSTRACT
Although the word “divorce” can be found in documents dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, the first Spanish divorce law did not come into force until 1932. Divorce had a different meaning in early modern Spain, resembling what we now call separation. Thus, while the separation of property and the release from marital cohabitation was possible, remarriage before the death of the divorced spouse was not. Archival documents show that it was mainly women who filed for divorce in this period. The grounds for divorce were usually related to the husbands’ behavior: adultery, physical abuse, and/or a waste of their wives’ dowries. The few husbands who filed for divorce usually did so on grounds of their wives' dishonorable behavior. The Bishop of Calahora-La Calzada decided upon the divorce, while a secular court dealt with matters pertaining to property. During the proceedings, the woman who initiated the divorce process lived with her parents or in a convent. From the surviving documents we can deduce that female petitioners usually obtained the divorces they sought, while male ones did not.
The chapter focuses on divorce in early modern Catholic Bilbao and examines which people were involved in the divorce proceedings while including their first names and family names, age differences, social and economic background, and family connections. It also explores the role children, both from previous marriages and legitimate children from the marriage, had in divorce proceedings, and who gained custody of said children. Finally, the chapter explores the grounds upon which the Bishop of Calahorra-La Calzada granted a permanent divorce or simply the right for wives to temporarily live apart from their husbands and whether such decisions were tied to the couple’s social background. The sources for the investigation are the archives of Bilbao and the diocesan archives of the city of Calahorra.
