The Marriage Contracts of Portuguese Jews from Bayonne, 1721–1816: Migration, Sub-Ethnicity, Gender, and Economics: Migration, Sub-Ethnicity, Gender, and Economics

Based on four marriage contracts and using a micro-historical approach, this article examines the marriage patterns amongst the Portuguese Jewish communities in southwest France. The persistence of the dowry system even in the civil code of marriage enabled class and ethnic endogamy to continue, maintaining the distinctive existence of this sub-ethnic group in the Western Sephardic diaspora. The longitudinal research indicates the progress its members had achieved since their arrival in Bayonne in the sixteenth century following the restoration of the House of Bourbon. The continued arrival of conversos from Portugal also contributed to the preservation of the Iberian marriage patterns.