Reseax sociaux et parrainage : les consequences de l’application du Concile de Trente dans une paroisse française, Aubervilliers (1552-1631)

Abstract

Lagging behind Italy, French dioceses only began to implement the Council of Trent canons at the beginning of the seventeenth-century. Among many aspects of the implementation process was the adoption, in Northern France, of a new model of godparenthood –the godfather/godmother couple- which was replacing the old local model, with three godparents. The aim of this paper is describe this mutation by studying the case of a rural parish, Aubervilliers, near Paris, between 1552 and 1631. This parish had been then given to a new tridentine congregation, the Oratoire, in the 1610’-1620’. While the Oratorian fathers in Aubervilliers quickly imposed the new godparenthood around 1625, they did it in a subtle and progressive way and perhaps through negotiation. Its socio-relational consequences were quickly felt within the community: the parish clergy was no longer chosen to be godfather, but maternal relatives and local notables were more likely to be selected. Similar patterns could befound among Northern Italy parishes, even though one should bear in mind the specific social context of Île-de-France villages in the first seventeenth century.