Original scientific paper
ABOUT SOME SPECIAL SOCIAL GROUPS IN THE REGISTGERS OF PULA FROM THE EARLY MODERN AGE
Slaven BERTOŠA
Abstract
Using the plentiful archival fond of the civil and ecclesiastical records of the city of Pula, in this article author analyses recorded cases of the relatively not numerous groups of people, such as Gipsies, mentally retarded, blind, physically disabled and mute persons.
In the records of Pula Gipsies are mentioned under the term Cigalo, Cingano, Cingaro and Zingaro. In the records of the marriages one of them is mentioned two times at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In the records of the baptisms Gipsies are mentioned
10 times: two times in the seventeenth century and eight times in the eighteenth century. In the records of the deceased they are mentioned 13 times: fi ve times in the seventeenth century and eight times in the eighteenth century. Mentally disabled persons are rarely recorded in the sources, too – only 11 times. In the records of the marriages they are not mentioned at all, but in the records of the decea-sed the most of them are mentioned. Blind persons are mentioned in the records of the deceased only two times (both in the eighteenth century), and in the records of the holy confi rmation only one blind person is documented (in the nineteenth century). Similarly, in the records of the holy confi rmation only one blind person is recorded. By the same token, only one physically disabled person is recorded in the records of the deceased (in the mid eighteenth century), and only one limping person is mentioned in the records of the holy confi rmation (in the nineteenth century). Likewise, one mentally retarded boy is recorded in the records of the deceased in the mid eighteenth century. Mute persons are mentioned
4 times: once in the second half of the eighteenth century and three times in the beginning of the nineteenth century. To sum all, Gipsies and variously disabled persons are recorded 36 times: 21 recordings in the records of the deceased, 11 notes in the records of baptisms,
and two times in the records of the holy confi rmation and in the records of the marriages. Although these social groups represent a small percentage of the permanent or temporary population of Pula, one can notice that their presence contributed to the social life of the
city.
Keywords
Social history; demography; civil records; Pula; history of the early modern age
Hrčak ID:
9425
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2005.
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