In the early modern period people were deeply aware of the importance of consanguinity and according to the heritage rights of the period they were expected to take care even of distant relatives. Moreover, in the aristocratic families special attention was paid also to familial ties created by their wedding strategy. Nonetheless, continuity of the family could be endangered by several factors, such as inadequate contemporary level of medicine, death of the male members of the family in war conflicts or some adverse demographical conditions.
