Hérédités, héritages
“Ici nous sommes réunis” : le tombeau de famille dans la France moderne et contemporaine
Abstract
The family tomb, which can be transmitted on a hereditary basis only, is a very old phenomenon (see, in Genesis 23, the patriarchal tomb founded by Abraham). Foundation tombs and burial places inside churches or the de facto family “areas” in small rural cemeteries suggest how much importance the leading classes and the peasantry had given to the gathering of familial remains during the Ancien Régime, which was a likely indication of solidarity between the living and the dead of the same lineage. In contemporary times, burial plots in cemeteries have induced the development of family tombs. The epitaphs we read are the expression of new – or revived – virtues and of familial feelings, and they indicate new relationships with the dead as shown by flowers placed on graves. But erosion and the recovery of the tombs which are no longer looked after strongly temper the illusion of perpetuity linked to such monuments of familial memory.
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Quelques mots à propos de : Régis Bertrand
Régis Bertrand est professeur émérite d’histoire moderne de l’Université de Provence et mène ses recherches au sein de l’unité mixte de recherche TELEMME