Coresidence of siblings, half-siblings, and step-siblings in Ancien régime France

Abstract

A significant proportion of children in ancien régime France lived in broken homes or in blended families, and had to cope with the presence of half-siblings and stepsiblings in the same residence. Reconstructing the family experience with well-documented guardianship accounts, the article compares the lives of children with the experience of their siblings, half-siblings, and stepsiblings, concentrating particularly on the patterns of coresidence. Brothers and sisters were often separated during the guardianship period, some of them being raised in different places for most of their childhood. Half-siblings and stepsiblings lived together for rather short periods of time, because of their difference in age, their birth rank, or their gender. Finally, the lives of those children were closely linked to the administration of their heritage: when both their mothers and fathers were dead, another relative took charge of the guardianship, and often removed the children from a stepparent's home, thus separating half-siblings.