Historical types of forms of marital unions in Western and Central Europe

Ekaterina A. Kalabikhina, Moscow State University

The main idea of the study it is consider the basic types of nuptiality in Europe and to compare them among themselves. The purpose of the study is to find out what was a marriage in Europe in past centuries and nowdays, whether different populations within Europe with regard to mating behavior, which originated the "European" marriage pattern in some parts of Europe. It is possible to assert that all European countries, sooner or later pass through the "European" marriage pattern, which is preceded by a transitional type of marriage, what factors influenced the formation of different types of marriage. Some intresting results appear from this study: existence of a "European" marriage pattern have been observed in earlier periods (XVI-XVIII) in Western Europe and in later period in Central Europe (XVIII-XIX); tendencies of changes of marriage patterns in modern Europe are similar in all groups of the European countries (there is divergence in terms and rates of changes).