I dunno, Sandra. It's been my experience that unless you were with a bible-thumping, hellfire'n'damnation sect poor folks were pretty easy about illegitimacy. Maybe it's because they didn't have many **material** things to pass on as a legacy.

The concept of bastardy IS a legal one, one founded in a patriarchial and patrilinear society. Matriarchal and/or matrilinear societies have other problems, of course, but at least everyone is sure who is descended from who.

The rise of the middle class, especially in the 18th and 19th Centuries, also figures into the equation, because they also wanted to protect their property.

I met a old fellow on a train once, years back, and in the course of conversing we discovered that we were from the same hometown. Then he admitted to being "a real-life bastard" and was a bit surprised when I wasn't shocked. So we talked about his life a bit, turned out we were something like fifth or sixth cousins. A pleasant conversation and it helped the miles roll away.