Norma e società fra dimensione sessuata e fattore anagrafico: il femminile nella Coutume de Bretagne

The aim of this contribution is to show how, in traditional Breton society, the fundamental ordering principle capable of conditioning the social destiny of the actors is more gerontocratic than sexual, and that the condition of women is decidedly more emancipated than can be assumed, while the factor of age remains decisive, for both sexes, even after marrying, both in ownership and inheritance matters. Except for pockets of male and patriarchal domination, for long centuries the position of women, in breton custom, partly also because of an exuberant folkloristic imaginary, rich in female figures, probable legacy of a significant matriarchal substratum capable of influencing the regulatory superstructure, has been characterized in a more emancipated way than that of the customary realities of Southern France, imbued with influences of Roman law.