Mesa D
Joerg Wettlaufer
Univ.Goettingen, Alemania
>Abstract:
>For a very long time the right of the first night (jus primae noctis) has
>been under debate by historians and other scientists. No consensus has been
>reached so far. In this paper, several issues about the jus primae noctis
>will be addressed.
>The first topic deals with the medieval evidence of the jus primae notis:
>Today the debate about this so called right continues in several
>publications by English, French and German scholars. The discussion is
>about the relevance of a dozen texts from the late medieval period,
>originating from all over Western Europe. These texts seem to mention
>exactly what is understood as a lord's right to lie in bed with his
>peasants' brides in their wedding nights. What do these texts, which stem
>from customals and "dénombrements" in France, Switzerland and from official
>documents in Catalonia, really show and why do they mention the right of
>the first night at all? What is the origin of the right of the first night
>in European culture and how could this idea enter customal law text in the
>fifteenth century? When we analyse the medieval sources the right of the
>first night seems to be, in the European late medieval context, a
>widespread popular belief in an ancient privilege of the lord of a manor to
>share the bed with their peasants newly wed bride on her wedding night.
>Symbolic gestures, reflecting this belief, were developed by the lords and
>used as humiliating signs of superiority against the dependent peasants in
>a time of disappearing status differences. Actual intercourse on behalf of
>the alleged right is difficult to proof. It probably never occurred.
>Finally, the origin of the very idea of the jus primae noctis discussed.
>Where can this idea be found in human cultures? How does evidence from
>other cultures relate to the medieval European tradition and how can we
>understand today, from a methodological point of view, ideas like the jus
>primae noctis in an anthropological dimension? Several other non-European
>cultures have accounts of a similar custom that was related to the first
>sexual intercourse: ritual defloration of a girl by chiefs, priests or
>strangers. This non-European custom was not seen as a privilege but rather
>as a dangerous duty for men. The development and the relation of both
>customs is treated and a biological explanation of their foundation in
>human cultures is suggested.
>
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