Research Framework: By limiting the number of marriages per generation, the noble families from the 17th century created a large number of single men and women. The patrilineal ideology imposed itself and set back the egalitarian impulses that animated the nobility of previous centuries. Single individuals, mostly cadets, saw their inheritance shares reduced or transformed, with the aim of leaving the family patrimony in the hands of the eldest males.

Objectives : This article examines how single men and women adhere to this patrilineal ideology. By accepting the unequal inheritance order and actively participating in the financial well-being of the lineage, single men and women seem to have internalized their subordinate condition, while developing a high awareness of their role as economic pillars.

Methodology: This article offers a qualitative study of single men and women born between the late 16th and the late 17th centuries, into four French noble families. The study is based on notarial sources, such as inheritance settlements, donations, marriage contracts and wills.

Results: Single men and women pass on their paternal inheritance to the eldest males of the family, with the claimed goal of preserving the lineage heritage. They may also make donations and bequests to unmarried siblings or younger nephews/nieces, but these are usually life annuities or marginal inheritance.

Conclusions : Single men and women put their heritage at the service of patrilineage, favouring the eldest male and participating in the compensatory system that takes care of cadet siblings, thus reducing the risk of family conflict.

Contribution : This article provides an insight on the social history of French nobility and on the family history of Ancien Régime. It also sheds light on single men and women, who are still little-known individuals.

• singlehood
• heritage
• transmission
• eldership
• cadets
• nobility

https://journals.openedition.org/efg/19610