A free translation of the central section of an act of protest before Notary Giuseppe Grassi, 15 January 1773 in Ascoli Satriano (ref: Archivo di Stato Foggia prot 253/2os).
There appear before us the gentlewomen Anna and Dorodea Mastromattei, full sisters of the city of Ascoli, the daughters of Doctor of Physic and Surgeon Francesc'Antonio Mastromattei and Theodosia Rinaldi. Of their own free will and on their own initiative they assert in our presence that they have found themselves with the possibility of marriage with two brothers, rich, gallant men. Representatives were sent [to the women's' father] and the men were willing to marry. But their father insists that his daughters expressly renounce in his favour all their claims, and all the claims that could mature in time, on his property and also on that of their mother, and also on that of their deceased aunt Dorodea Rinaldi. And their father insists that unless they meet this request he refuses his permission [for the marriage].
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The two sisters together do not want to make this renunciation in favour of their father. He has procrastinated in giving his permission to the grave harm of the two women. They fear that their future husbands, faced with this uncertainty, will not wait for them but will fall in love with other women. Therefore, they have come to the conclusion that they should sign the present act of protest stipulating in the said act that they have no intention of renouncing their claims on the aforesaid property in favour of their father, nor to renounce any future legal claims.
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Furthermore should their future husbands be forced to make similar promises of renunciation in any future marriage contracts, they make it quite clear that it will be done by force and not with their free consent. Furthermore they insist that any session of claims made in favour of their father either made at the time of the marriage contract of before is null and void, and is as if, for the before mentioned emotive reasons, it had never been stipulated. Even after the marriage contracts have been signed, they reserve the right at any time and at their convenience, to take action against the injustice done to them by their father Francesc'Antonio.
With regard to the above matters, the two sisters formally protest not once, not twice, not three times, but as many times as is necessary and as often as the law will permit. This is their fixed desire and irrevocable.
Under statutory legislation of the Kingdom of Naples, fathers had an obligation to marry their daughters and to provide them with dowries. When daughters arrived at the age of 27 years they had a right to insist on marriage and a share of family patrimony. It is interesting that the two women appear before the notary in their own name and without any legal tutors (which was the normal practice).
The marriages proposed by the two women are an example of double marriage (in this case two sisters to two brothers). This was a relatively common practice in 18th century Ascoli. Although such marriages are often assumed to be part of family strategies, this one is clearly initiated by the proposed brides. It is not known whether the marriages took place as the names of the two brothers is not given in this act. Dorodea married Giuseppe di Marinis from Candida in 1785, but Anna's marriage is not known. Evidence from population listings and baptism records indicates that while Anna was in her late twenties at the time of this request, her sister Dorodea was only 15 years old.
Defiance of parental wishes could have violent consequences. In another 18th century case from Ascoli, a daughter refuses to marry the husband (one of her cousins) that her mother has chosen. The mother attacks her with a knife and the daughter takes both physical and legal refuge with a notary who is her neighbour.