2003/01/01 by Jürgen Wilke, Wilke, Jürgen
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #18. Jahrhundert #Akteur #Berlin #Deutschland #Ehe #European Political History Analysis #European history and politics #Germany #Heirat #Historical Legal Studies and Society #Lebensgemeinschaft #abweichendes Verhalten #cohabitation #deviant behavior #domestic partnership #eighteenth century #historical development #historische Entwicklung #marriage #nichteheliche Lebensgemeinschaft #social actor #wedding
paper · pdf · doi:10.12759/hsr.28.2003.3.162-173
openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this case study we discuss the marriage behaviour and living in medium-term concubinage at the end of the 18th century in Berlin. At the time of "Berlin Enlightenment" we could observe changes in the pattern of marriages. The old pattern of behavior, embedded in the norms of the absolute state and religious rules was loosing its effect in a metropolis like Berlin. The increasing numbers of unmarried, especially among academics and other educated people, and of illegtimate births are a sign of deeper changes. The influences and consequences of different impediments to marriage and the behavior of the family, the church, the court of justice, the Prussian kings, and public opinion, in particular in a case of deviating behavior, are analysed in examining some aspects of the private life of the director of the Prussian Academy of sciences, Franz Carl Achard (1753-1821).