Manuscript - Register Of Deaths And Endowments Of The Parish Of Cassagnes (aveyron), 1808

Manuscript - Register of Deaths and Endowments of the Parish of Cassagnes (Cassagnes-Bégonhès, Aveyron), 1808

An important parish manuscript titled “Register of Deaths and Endowments of the Parish of Cassagnes,” dated 1808, from the parish of Cassagnes-Bégonhès in Aveyron.

Large format, 24 × 35 cm; the manuscript is written entirely in ink on paper. The original binding and cover show significant wear and deterioration due to age, while the interior remains in good condition, with clearly legible handwriting.

This type of register provides a valuable insight into the religious and social life of a parish in the early 19th century. Obits were religious services celebrated annually in memory of the deceased, in accordance with the wishes expressed by the deceased or their families. To ensure the perpetual celebration of these anniversary Masses, the faithful often endowed the Church with pious endowments, consisting of annuities, land, or income intended to finance these services.

This register thus lists the parish’s various endowments, their donors, the liturgical obligations arising from them, and the revenues allocated to them. It offers particularly interesting insights into religious practices, family networks, the parish economy, and the collective memory of rural communities during the First Empire, just a few years after the upheavals of the French Revolution.
A document of paramount importance for historians, genealogists, archivists, and collectors of ecclesiastical manuscripts and regional history.