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In 1807 Napoleon created a new Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, as a protectorate of the French Empire. It was fashioned out of territories previously seized by Prussia. In 1809 Napoleon’s forces won additional Polish territory from Austria, and the enlarged Polish state was called the Duchy of Warsaw. | In 1807 Napoleon created a new Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw, as a protectorate of the French Empire. It was fashioned out of territories previously seized by Prussia. In 1809 Napoleon’s forces won additional Polish territory from Austria, and the enlarged Polish state was called the Duchy of Warsaw. | ||
Napoleon was finally defeated in 1813, and with his defeat, most of the Duchy of Warsaw came under Imperial Russian administration in 1815. However, his short-lived Polish duchy left behind a legacy of progressive social and economic reforms, including the beginning of civil registration. Civil registration of births, marriages, deaths, and sometimes of marriage intentions was initiated according to the Code of Napoleon in the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw on May 1st, 1808. This French civil code established a specific format for vital records. This was an absolute revolution in metrical registration, inasmuch as since the mid-16th century, metrical registers had been purely ecclesiastical in nature, written in Latin, kept by parish priests, controlled by bishops. Metrical entries before that time had been limited only to basic data, usually in two or three small lines of text; but civil records from the time of the Napoleonic Code were half a page long for birth and death texts, and a full page long in the case of marriages. | Napoleon was finally defeated in 1813, and with his defeat, most of the Duchy of Warsaw came under Imperial Russian administration in 1815. However, his short-lived Polish duchy left behind a legacy of progressive social and economic reforms, including the beginning of civil registration. Civil registration of births, marriages, deaths, and sometimes of marriage intentions was initiated according to the Code of Napoleon in the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw on May 1st, 1808. This French civil code established a specific format for vital records. This was an absolute revolution in metrical registration, inasmuch as since the mid-16th century, metrical registers had been purely ecclesiastical in nature, written in Latin, kept by parish priests, controlled by bishops. Metrical entries before that time had been limited only to basic data, usually in two or three small lines of text; but civil records from the time of the Napoleonic Code were half a page long for birth and death texts, and a full page long in the case of marriages. | ||
Therefore, the wording of a birth record in France, in the Netherlands, or in French-controlled Germany would be essentially the same as the wording of a birth record in the Duchy of Warsaw. After the Russian government assumed control, the practice of maintaining civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths continued according to the format prescribed by Napoleonic law; and it continued even after Poland became an independent republic in 1918. | Therefore, the wording of a birth record in France, in the Netherlands, or in French-controlled Germany would be essentially the same as the wording of a birth record in the Duchy of Warsaw. After the Russian government assumed control, the practice of maintaining civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths continued according to the format prescribed by Napoleonic law; and it continued even after Poland became an independent republic in 1918. | ||
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In the former Russian and Austrian territories, conventional civil registration did not begin until after the establishment of the Republic of Poland in 1918. | In the former Russian and Austrian territories, conventional civil registration did not begin until after the establishment of the Republic of Poland in 1918. | ||
Note: The Napoleonic Code is a true masterpiece of legislative law that became the model for future metrical registration. The whole Code numbers 2,281 paragraphs, and only some of them dealt with records of the civil registry, with marriages and divorces (previously unknown in Europe!). Other sections dealt with questions of, for instance, paternity, minors, residence, deprivation of free will, the mentally ill, personal freedom, the inviolability of private property, freedom to make contracts, and freedom of religion and work. | |||
=== Language of the Records === | === Language of the Records === | ||