| Titre | La foire aux bestiaux en Vendée au XVIIIe siècle. Une restructuration du monde rural | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Philippe Bossis | |
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Revue | Etudes rurales |
| Numéro | no 78-80, 1980 Foires et marchés ruraux en France | |
| Rubrique / Thématique | Foires et marchés ruraux en France |
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| Page | 143-150 | |
| Résumé anglais |
The Cattle Fair in the Vendée in the 18th Century. A Reconstruction of the Rural World.
Cattle fairs and markets had an exceptional role in the Vendée: "the land of the ox". Varied pastures occupied sometimes 75% of the parish lands and from 15 to 30% of the farm's area. The density of cattle, one head per 2 ha on average, was much superior to the cereal growing openflelds. Cattle were reared mainly for tilling the fields, but those incapable of work were fattened up. Share-cropping (métayage), "institutionalised" livestock leasing which produced 8-10% profit, increased the number of the sessors: merchants, farmers (both fermiers généraux and partiels), officiers, priests, middle-classes and wealthy peasants. Some represented nobles who, with certain exceptions, did not frequent the fairs. Those who took livestock were various types of share-croppers (métayers), ploughmen (laboureurs), bordiers or closiers (75-90% of the peasantry). Thus in this way two groups, usually separated by their social functions, met, exchanged information and "officiated" — for some, several times a month — at the fair, in peasant dialect; constrained by the rules of supply and demand, of speculation and credit: economic necessities which became habits and ways of making and renewing social contacts. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rural_0014-2182_1980_num_78_1_2633 |
