3 ms·

Sounds like they basically penalized record keeping ...

• civilian 10y ago
  Ah, it was probably the Church who was keeping the records in the first place.
  • usrusr 10y ago
    The beauty of selective enforcement. Dig deep enough into your ecclesiastical data-monopoly and you can veto just about any marriage at will. It never was the same again once laymen started to read and write.
  • skylan_q 10y ago
    Yes, it was the Franciscans who were a huge influence and kept record of these things. Most people would remember relations as far as great-grandparents and relations to families/family friends that they knew. Literacy was pretty high in the region early on as well, but people continued to rely on the church for recordkeeping.