Abstract
The Western Pyrenees are made up of isolated valleys that were associated until recently with low marriage mobility. We chose to study the Ossau Valley (Bearn, France), which has one of the least mobile populations in this area. Marriage patterns in the village of Beost were analyzed over the 1800-1899 period. Data on 238 marriages obtained from parish, civil and notarial registers were used to assess the following variables: seasonality, endogamy rate, isonymic marriages and the consanguinity coefficient calculated from isonymy and from ecclesiastical dispensations. A clear seasonal marriage pattern emerged, linked to religious and local social parameters. Levels of endogamy were 57.5% in the village and 92.4% in the valley as a whole. The consanguinity coefficients calculated from isonymy (Ft) and ecclesiastical dispensations (α) were 0.0031 and 0.0040 respectively. The negative non-random component of F (Fn) indicated that Beost residents avoided contracting potentially consanguine isonymic marriages. These biodemographic markers were compared to those observed among various other 19th century mountain populations in Western Europe.
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