The Register of Baptisms of the Parish of Cres (1571 – 1596)

Abstract

The paper is based on the research and analysis of the oldest preserved Register of Baptisms of the Parish of Cres. It was written in the period from 1571 to 1596 by as many as thirty priests. Each priest, which is quite understandable, had a special style of writing and a different way of formatting the letters, which made working on it a kind of palaeographic challenge. The Register was written in the Italian language, i.e. the Venetian dialect, which was characteristic of the urban centres of the island of Cres due to the almost continuous presence of Venetian rule from 1145 to 1797, when the Venetian Republic ceased to exist. The paper provides only a brief analytical review of the manuscripts written by the priests in the Register of Baptisms of the Parish of Cres, followed by chapters comprising more detailed analyses and presentations of results related to the annual and monthly distribution of births, then monthly distributions of conception and the relationship of conception with seasonal work. Specific chapters provide reviews of the number and the role of the baptizing priests, of the naming of the baptized, and the (most) frequent and somewhat rarer male and female personal names. The epithets (surnames) of the baptized and their fathers are also treated. A short chapter analyses the number of entries related to twins, who were very rare in the Parish of Cres in the observed period. The paper concludes with a somewhat more detailed chapter explaining the role of godparents, not only in the life of the baptized, but also in the life of the family to which the baptized belonged. The importance of the number of godparents and the (most)frequently chosen godparents in the Cres town community is also emphasized. As this is the first historical-demographic paper based on one of the registers of the island of Cres, the comparative approach with similar research and published results had to follow those done by experts in the neighbouring Istria researching (semi)urban communities, i.e. parishes of Lindar, Pićan, Pula, Rovinj, Svetvinčenat, Umag, Tar and Tinjan.