Religion Mattered: Religious Differences in Switzerland and Their Impact on Demographic Behaviour (End of the 18th Century to the Middle of the 20th Century)

The impact of the two main religions on demographic behaviour until the middle of the 20th century is striking and, depending on religious affiliation, remarkable differences can be observed with regard to celibacy, fertility and size of family. In Catholic regions all three were much higher at the end of the 18th century already. As from the middle of the 19th century migration increased considerably to Protestant towns and industrialised regions from within the country and from abroad and this included a large number of Catholics. Migration affected both the migrant and the indigenous populations. On the one hand those immigrants coming from regions practising little or no birth control adopted the family limitation characteristic of the local population after a period of adjustment and, on the other hand, immigrants practicing family limitation influenced the conservative agrarian Catholic population that received them. Nevertheless, important differences existed within each main religion and there was also some notable atypical demographic behaviour according to affiliation within Protestantism, as seen in Pietism, and to a certain extent, too, within the Catholic population, depending on their political views. The erosion both of the “State” religion and of the influence of the Catholic Church as from the end of the 19th century contributed above all in urban and industrialised contexts to an increase in the proportion of mixed marriages and to a process of secularisation which resulted in a significant reduction in fertility

Des rives de la seine à celles du Saint-Laurent : objectifs et mises en œuvre des stratégies de la reproduction

La problématique de la reproduction sociale appelle quelques réflexions d'ensemble. Il est clair d'abord que selon les sociétés, européennes ou québecoises, les objectifs que s'assignent les familles ne se ressemblent pas. Les visées qu'elles ont sont souvent inconciliables : maintien de l'exploitation dans son intégralité tout en réunissant les conditions adéquates pour que puissent y subsister les enfants mariés. Dans l'un comme dans l'autre des cas, les risques de la disparition de l'explo..

Les migrations dans les mondes alpin et jurassien suisses du Moyen Age au milieu du XXe siècle : un bref survol

This paper aims at retracing the important phases of migrations in the alpine regions and the Jura from the Middle Ages up to the middle of the 20th century. Migration has always functioned as a necessary complement to the resources of the inhabitants of the upland regions and it increases when the economic disparity with the lowlands becomes more marked. A striking characteristic of such migration is the great diversity that can be observed, since not only the destinations of the migrants varied from community to community, but also different forms of mobility coexisted within the same territory. Migration might be seasonal, pluriannual, lifelong or even definitive. It is also notable that the various types of migration can be observed to be part of a plurisecular tradition, apart from some significant exceptions, such as the emigration of the Walser, enforced migrations and the new types of migration as from the second half of the nineteenth century. The mobility of part of the population was also a consequence of modifications deriving from changes in the prevalent type of production (animal husbandry instead of the cultivation of cereals), as well as from demographic factors. In addition to these factors one can observe the role played by political institutions throughout the period under study: seigneurial power in the Middle Ages, the communal and cantonal instances until the second half of the nineteenth century, and afterwards the federal authorities

État protestant, clergé de montagne et encadrement des paroissiens dans la Suisse du xviiie siècle

Cette contribution se propose de comparer l’influence qu’ont pu exercer les États protestants par le biais du clergé dans le contrôle des communautés rurales et de leurs habitants et d’examiner dans quelle mesure le pasteur a incarné le pouvoir politique pour les paroissiens. Or, le rôle du clergé a varié parfois fortement aussi en raison de l’organisation politique des régions étudiées, républiques fondées sur la Landsgemeinde à Glaris ou bailliages soumis à un pouvoir seigneurial urbain, ai..

La reproduction familiale et sociale dans les campagnes helvétiques (xviiie-xixe siècles)

Le monde rural helvétique connaît aujourd'hui une crise profonde, mais qui ne se résout pas seulement en une crise d'identité. L'urbanisation rapide du pays, l'exiguïté du territoire et la configuration du paysage ont entraîné l'émergence de modes de production peu rentables et qui remettent en question les conditions d'existence de la paysannerie et de sa reproduction sociale. Le problème de la survie et du renouvellement de la paysannerie n'est cependant pas un problème nouveau. Il s'inscri..

Migration in the Swiss Alps and Swiss Jura from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century: a brief review

This paper aims at retracing the important phases of migrations in the alpine regions and the Jura from the Middle Ages up to the middle of the 20th century. Migration has always functioned as a necessary complement to the resources of the inhabitants of the upland regions and it increases when the economic disparity with the lowlands becomes more marked. A striking characteristic of such migration is the great diversity that can be observed, since not only the destinations of the migrants varied from community to community, but also different forms of mobility coexisted within the same territory. Migration might be seasonal, pluriannual, lifelong or even definitive. It is also notable that the various types of migration can be observed to be part of a plurisecular tradition, apart from some significant exceptions, such as the emigration of the Walser, enforced migrations and the new types of migration as from the second half of the nineteenth century. The mobility of part of the population was also a consequence of modifications deriving from changes in the prevalent type of production (animal husbandry instead of the cultivation of cereals), as well as from demographic factors. In addition to these factors one can observe the role played by political institutions throughout the period under study: seigneurial power in the Middle Ages, the communal and cantonal instances until the second half of the nineteenth century, and afterwards the federal authorities.<br>Cette contribution vise à montrer les grandes phases des mouvements migratoires du Moyen Age au milieu du XXe siècle dans les mondes alpin et jurassien suisses. La migration a toujours été une complémentarité nécessaire aux ressources de la montagne, et elle s'amplifie lorsque les disparités économiques avec le plat pays s'accroissent. Elle se caractérise par une forte diversité, puisque non seulement les destinations et les aires d'établissement des migrants peuvent varier fortement d'une commune à l'autre, mais aussi parce qu'au sein d'un même territoire ont toujours coexisté des formes différentes de mobilité, saisonnières, pluriannuelles, viagères ou définitives. Un aspect remarquable de ces types de migration est qu’ils s'inscrivent dans une très longue tradition pluriséculaire, avec quelques exceptions notables, ainsi les migrations des Walser, les migrations forcées et les nouvelles formes de la migration dès la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle. La mobilité est imposée aussi par les modifications des formes prévalantes de production (élevage plutôt qu'emblavures), de même que par les facteurs démographiques. A ces facteurs s'ajoute celui du rôle des institutions politiques tout au long de la période étudiée, seigneuriales au Moyen Age, communales et cantonales jusque dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, puis fédérales

Common land and collective property in pre-Alpine and Alpine Switzerland: Tensions regarding access to resources and their allocation (Middle Ages–twentieth century)

Today, a large area of upland Switzerland is still collectively owned, especially in the central and eastern parts of the country according to different political conceptions. The size of the land owned by rural corporations varied and still varies enormously depending on the period in which they were created and their capacity to acquire common land over the centuries. The resources were by no means limited to grazing land, meadows, wood and forest butcould also include vineyards, peat, sand pits and quarries, roads, rivers and lakes. Due to the marked growth in population since the sixteenth century a number of rules limiting the access to these common-pool resources were progressively adopted. They were at the root of enduring conflicts right up to the end of the nineteenth century. They concerned the beneficiaries of the commons – originally only those who possessed local citizenship and not evenall of these – that in turn led to a restrictive policy towards those who did not belong to the traditional group of users. Within the rural corporations, tensions arose with regard to the use of the so-called valley common land, which was periodically reappraised according to the economic situation. But there were also latent tensions between neighbouring corporations, as nearly all corporations had a policy of increasing their common land when they could, and this often meant encroaching on the property of their neighbours.Today, a large area of upland Switzerland is still collectively owned, especially in the central and eastern parts of the country according to different political conceptions. The size of the land owned by rural corporations varied and still varies enormously depending on the period in which they were created and their capacity to acquire common land over the centuries. The resources were by no means limited to grazing land, meadows, wood and forest butcould also include vineyards, peat, sand pits and quarries, roads, rivers and lakes. Due to the marked growth in population since the sixteenth century a number of rules limiting the access to these common-pool resources were progressively adopted. They were at the root of enduring conflicts right up to the end of the nineteenth century. They concerned the beneficiaries of the commons – originally only those who possessed local citizenship and not evenall of these – that in turn led to a restrictive policy towards those who did not belong to the traditional group of users. Within the rural corporations, tensions arose with regard to the use of the so-called valley common land, which was periodically reappraised according to the economic situation. But there were also latent tensions between neighbouring corporations, as nearly all corporations had a policy of increasing their common land when they could, and this often meant encroaching on the property of their neighbours

Relire l’altitude

Lorsqu’il parcourt le Val d’Illiez dans les années 1770, l’artiste genevois Marc-Théodore Bourrit, compagnon d’excursions d’Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, s’émerveille à la vue de cette vallée « embellie de champs et de pâturages […] dont les flancs ont été cultivés jusqu’à la plus grande hauteur ». Or, rien de tout cela ne subsiste aujourd’hui. Le paysage agraire décrit par Bourrit a disparu : les champs cultivés ont laissé la place aux prés de fauche et, dans les hauteurs, il ne reste aucune trace des cultures d’autrefois. Inspiré par ce témoignage, ce livre réunit une série d’études qui, dans une perspective historique, analysent le rôle de l’altitude dans les formes d’appropriation et de mise en valeur du sol, aussi bien dans les hautes terres de montagne que dans les basses terres des fonds de vallée de l’espace helvétique et de ses régions avoisinantes. En conjuguant les approches de l’histoire environnementale, de l’histoire du territoire et de l’histoire économique et sociale, les auteur·e·s s’interrogent sur le rapport entre l’altitude et les formes de propriété et d’usage des terres à travers diverses perspectives dont la variété des systèmes agro-pastoraux, l’influence de l’économie de marché, ainsi que les cadres et les variables politiques et institutionnelles. En effet, loin d’être figées, les relations entre l’homme et son milieu se modifient au fil du temps et l’altitude est moins une contrainte qu’une opportunité que certaines sociétés ont su valoriser et utiliser à leur profit