Page 164 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Sandro Guzzi-Heeb

Table 5.1 Children Resulting from Illicit Sexual Relations According to the Parish
Books, 1700–1899
Years Bovernier parish Liddes parish Martigny town
– . .
– . .
– . .
– . . .
– . . .
– . . .
– . . .
– . . .
Notes Percentage values of illegitimate children and prenuptial conceptions compared to
all baptisms. Martingny is the main regional center. Statistics: Pascal Cristofoli, École des
Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (ehess), Paris.

believers (aes, vol. 326, Litterae pastorales, n 54; Evéquoz-Dayen 1998).
This was, incidentally, not just a temporary fixation among clerics. Figures
drawn from the parish registers confirm that this was in fact an ongoing
evolution: the phenomenon was observed in several villages in the region
(Evéquoz-Dayen 1998; Guzzi-Heeb 2014; Papilloud 1973). Data are present-
ed forthe parishes of Bovernierand Liddes(table5.1).
While the rates of illegitimacy and premarital conceptions varied con-
siderably from one parish to the other, the general trends were similar
to those observed for other communities in the Canton of Valais and in
Western Switzerland more generally. The problem from the clergy’s point
of view was not just that they had to deal with a rise in cases of sex outside
marriage and the number of single mothers (and illegitimate children),
which they already had been experiencing, but that now very often these
‘scandals’ involved notables, communal council members and representa-
tives of local elites, including the women of these families. In Liddes, there
were cases of illegitimacy in the Bastian family, which included several mé-
traux among their number. The Bastians led the mobilization that resulted
in the removal of parish priest Murith. In 1802, Anne Marie Madeleine
Massard, daughter of the notary Jean-Joseph Simon Massard, one of the
most prominent figures in the village, appeared at the altar visibly preg-
nant, and her child was born three weeks later.³
In the Entremont region, and more broadly in the French-speaking area

³ mgsb, apb, h2/3. The information given in this paper on the cases of unlawful sex is taken
from the rhpv database.

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