British Stepfamily Relationships, 1500-1800

In: Journal of family history: studies in family, kinship and demography, Band 16, Heft 4, S. 331-344

Abstract

The evidence about relationships in British stepfamilies between 1500 and 1800 deals mostly with relationships between adults, not between adults and young children. A dominant theme is the threat posed to inheritance by a parent's remarriage, which had three possibilities: that an heir would be disinherited in favour of the children of the new marriage, that a parent and stepparent would squander their wealth during the biological parent's lifetime, and that a stepparent might acquire a life interest in an estate after a spouse's death. It seems that these fears were in many cases groundless. The possibility that domestic harmony might result from a parent's remarriage was also often exaggerated, and the general picture is of stepfamily relationships that were mixed in quality.