Women's marital difficulties: Requests of separation in New France

Abstract

Using requests for separation by married couples in Canadian New France during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this article explores the reasons behind the break-up of their marriages. The documents reveal that conjugal life with an alcoholic husband, who was violent or unconcerned with the well-being of his family, forced women to submit a request for separation. The study of marital separations during French administration provides valuable insights into the marriage norms, the duties and behaviors sanctioned by them, and the lines drawn between normality and marginality in that period.