During the Council of Trent (1545-1563), Roman Catholic churces were obligated to document married couples. Parishes were already obligated to document baptisms. Documenting the weddings and the official announcement, called banns, was an attempt to rule out bigamy and give children born out of wedlock an official status with the couple, and so the soul of the child would be saved.

After the first proclamation of the banns, it would take three weeks for the marriage to take place. During those three weeks, anyone against the planned marriage could object.

In Amsterdam, in the year 1565, about 180 couples are about to take the plunge. This is the registration of their marriage banns.

The names in the downloadable pdf are not modernised.

Downloadable PDF