Influence of Birth Order and Inheritance Practice on Marrages of Peasant Daughters in the Rural Society of Pre-Industrial Bohemia, 1701-1850
Abstrakt
The study examines the question of whether birth order influenced the marri-age circumstances of peasant daughters and whether a change in inheritance practice influenced marriage strategies. The research was conducted on the Šťáhlavy estate in western Bohemia, where 94 families, formed in 1701-1820, were selected. The sample under study was made up of 256 daughters surviving into adulthood, divided into four categories based on birth order (eldest, youngest, middle, and only daughters). The research focused on several parameters, such as how large the percentage of women who entered into marriage was. It was also examined whether they entered into homogamous marriages as regards social class, age and family status and whether they married while their fathers were still alive. All these parameters were observed in the context of a change in inhe-ritance practice (1787) consisting of ultimogeniture being gradually replaced by primo- geniture.
A careful analysis of the data led to several noteworthy conclusions. It confirmed that the marriage circumstances of peasant daughters did depend on birth order and the differences were more pronounced in the system of ultimogeniture. Youngest daughters were the most disadvantaged category, suffering from the fact that their fathers usually died before they became adults. They were also adversely impacted by the inheritance practice according to which inheritance shares were allocated when the property passed to the farmer's youngest son when his sisters had already been married. The new inheritance system improved the marriage prospects for all categories of daughters, streamlining the distribution of shares which was, as opposed to the earlier system, carried out before the daughters became adults. It was among the youngest daughters where the changes were most prominent. Although they continued to marry the latest, they were no longer so seriously disadvantaged in their access to homogamous marriages.