Page 174 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Sandro Guzzi-Heeb

trol the young people’s dances, believing that problems of sexual discipline
should remain under the control of the community and families and be
managed in pragmatic and flexible ways. This same situation can be ob-
served in countless other cases (Simon 1981; Schmidt 1995; Guzzi-Heeb
2022).
Nineteenth century devotional societies focused rather on opening up
the brotherhoods and integrating different groups and people, including
single mothers and daughters who had not waited until marriage to in-
dulge in the pleasures of the flesh, and the wives and sisters of notorious
anti-clericals. By adopting this approach, the women especially, who most-
ly remained attached to the Church, prevented an irreparable social and
political divide in their communities and mitigated the effects of the ongo-
ing political and religious polarization. In this fluid and unsettled context
and with the Church being weakened by the revolutionary experience and
in search of a new consensus, the vitality and popularity of the confrater-
nities provided early nineteenth-century women with a valuable platform
for a common cause.

Archival Sources
aes: Archives de l’Evêché de Sion.
mgsb: Maison du Grand-Saint-Bernard.
apb: Archives de la paroisse de Bovernier.
apl: Archives de la paroisse de Liddes.

References
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Delumeau,J.1992. La religion de ma mère: le rôle des femmes dans la transmis-
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Dompnier, B., and P. Vismara, eds. 2008. Confréries et dévotions dans la
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Evéquoz-Dayen, M. 1998, ‘Inconduite et contrôle social dans Le Valais ro-
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phiedesconfrériesduSud-Est;actesducolloquedeMarseille,21-23mai1985.
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