of precaution we can move the star considerably towards its present position, in between Orthodox and Protestant Europe. Changes in Swedish society during the second half of the nineteenth century had virtually abolished the Church monopoly on weddings but without necessarily solving the problem of legitimacy. Only gradually between and were illegitimate children entitled to equal inheritance rights in their parents' property in relation to their half-brothers and half-sisters. Nevertheless formal marriage, religious or civilian, remains the overwhelmingly preferred form of family life and less than ten per cent of children were born out of wedlock. During the first half of the century illegitimacy still meant disorder and social status inferiority in a society as well disciplined as the Swedish. That inferiority was blown away with hurricane force with the social changes of the s onwards. 136 survival vs. self-expression traditional vs. secular-rational authority
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