En Islande médiévale : à la recherche de la famille nucléaire

• Published in: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: PERSEE 1985
• Subjects: Iceland; Islande
• Online Access: http://www.persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1985_num_40_1_283145; https://doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1985.283145

In Search of the Nuclear Family in Medieval Iceland Based on the contemporary narrative Sturlunga saga and the Gragas law code, this article examines inheritance patterns, sexual practices, and the size of households in 12th and 13th century Iceland. Most often fathers transferred wealth and political authority to the next generation by a pragmatic evaluation of the available candidates regardless of primogeniture and legitimacy, although these two strategies made their appearance by the middle of the thirteenth century. Male sexual behavior had not yet been curbed by the regulations of the Church, making concubinage and adultery ubiquitous phenomena. Although the aristocratic households could comprise up to fifty members, this article, using the terminology of John Hajnal, argues for the existence of the "simple household" in medieval Iceland dominated by a mature male and illuminates the transition from the Sippe to the Geschlecht on the northern frontiers of Western Europe.