Le fonctionnement de la famille-souche dans les Baronnies des Pyrénées avant 1914

On studying the rural society of the Central Pyrenean region, using the histories of families in the village of Esparros, reconstituted from the 17th century up to 1914, it would appear that an attempt was made to escape from population pressure at the end of the Ancien Regime, by using a spécifie type of Malthusian check, over and above delayed marriage, emigration of the youngest in the family and frequent celibacy : a limitation of fertility within marriage amongst women aged over 35. Whether this was a moral restraint resulting from abstinence or whether it was a matter of limiting births, it is sure that, in these country areas, married couples in the past were able to adapt their behaviour to the ups and downs of the economic and demographic conditions and to ease the path towards the permanence of the stem-family. This family model is mainly based on the couple formed by a lone heir and spouse living together with the parents, and on the inegalitarian transmission of the family property and of the house (maison) -i.e., the building and the lineage- of which the name, like a patronymic, is transmitted from one generation to the next. Before 1640, the stem-family was able to function with a high rate of mortality and early marriage, that is at a faster pace of renewal of generations than was later the case.On studying the rural society of the Central Pyrenean region, using the histories of families in the village of Esparros, reconstituted from the 17th century up to 1914, it would appear that an attempt was made to escape from population pressure at the end of the Ancien Regime, by using a spécifie type of Malthusian check, over and above delayed marriage, emigration of the youngest in the family and frequent celibacy : a limitation of fertility within marriage amongst women aged over 35. Whether this was a moral restraint resulting from abstinence or whether it was a matter of limiting births, it is sure that, in these country areas, married couples in the past were able to adapt their behaviour to the ups and downs of the economic and demographic conditions and to ease the path towards the permanence of the stem-family. This family model is mainly based on the couple formed by a lone heir and spouse living together with the parents, and on the inegalitarian transmission of the family property and of the house (maison) -i.e., the building and the lineage- of which the name, like a patronymic, is transmitted from one generation to the next. Before 1640, the stem-family was able to function with a high rate of mortality and early marriage, that is at a faster pace of renewal of generations than was later the case.Chamoux Antoinette. Le fonctionnement de la famille-souche dans les Baronnies des Pyrénées avant 1914. In: Annales de démographie historique, 1987. pp. 241-262