Matrimonio, endogamia y movilidad social en la Alta Extremadura(1750-1850)

Abstract

The analysis of the matrimonial system of a sample of populations, located in the Sierra de Gata, during the time period between 1750-1850, has shown that family endogamy was not directly affected by the geographic location of the same, as it has been defended in the Historiography. However, it limited the marriage market to its local scope and circumscribed its areas of marriage exchange with the nearest localities. In fact, almost 5% of the marriages contracted between relatives are due to a coercive marriage market. The expansion of this in geographical terms and a more continuous exchange of people between populations throughout the nineteenth century, contributed to diluting the weight of inbreeding in a historical context in which the pressure exerted by parents in the betrothal of their children, it was getting smaller. The results show that the majority of the nuptials between relatives were due a strategy previously drawn up by the relatives to preserve and consolidate the patrimony.