The Weight of Numbers: Baptisms and Funerals

These charts show the relationship between mortality and the birth rate, as indicated (imperfectly) by the number of baptisms in a given locality. The areas shaded in black correspond to periods when there were more deaths than births. There were fewer such occasions, generally, as the eighteenth century advanced, though there were also exceptions.

A. Eeklo, a town near Antwerp, in the southern Netherlands (Belgium)

Eeklo

B. Eyragues, a town in Provence (southern France)

Eyragues

C. A town near Beauvais, north-central France

Beauvais

Source: Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (New York, 1976), 72-73.


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