Women and Family Flashcards
What was the role of the husband?
Head of the household, responsible for its well-being, carrying out public duties, and controlling family members.
What was coverture?
In England, The wife’s legal personality was subsumed by the husband, and he owned any property she brought to a marriage.
What was “coverture” like in other countries besides England?
In northern France and the Low Countries, the property was controlled, not owned by the husband, and he respresented her in the law.
Under what circumstances might the wife have greater agency in the family?
If the husband had a position or occupation that took him away from the home often, like nobles, merchants, fisherman, etc.
What most determined the size of a family?
Wealth - richer=bigger in most cases.
At what point did the nuclear family gain predominance?
In the late Middle Ages in villages and towns in France, Low Countries, England, West Germany.
When did the Church say you could have sex within Marriage?
If it was your intent to have children. Sex for pleasure was a sin. No sex while on period or when pregnant. Not during Advent, Lent, Pentecost, on Sundays, feast days, or on Wednesdays and Fridays, which were for fasting.
What was thought about love between partners?
In most cases it wasn’t a basis for marriage - maybe if they were young and had a say in it. It is thought important that a wife love her husband - some thought love led to obedience.
If love was off the table, what was second best?
A productive working relationship that led to economic stability. Couples should pool resources, skills, and energy. The husband is the main breadwinner, while the wife managed the household and children, and sometimes assisted her husband in his work. Some wives worked independently
What evidence is there that husbands and wives loved each other or at least had good partnerships?
Husbands often made wives the executor of their wills because they trusted them, and described them in affectionate terms.
What was the state of wife and child beating
It was accepted in European society. It was common among the rich down to the poor. Marital separation was only permitted on these grounds if the violence was deemed excessive, but most wives were dependent on their husbands to survive, so endured.
When did the Church sanction marital separation (not divorce)
Adultery, apostasy, heresy, violence, or if both wanted to go into religious life. The husband had to maintain the wife, but not if she was an adulteress.
When was divorce permitted?
In cases of impotence, bigamy (already married to someone else), consanguinity (closer than 4), when consent to the marriage was found to be forced.
How was a man’s impotence proven or disproven?
A group of mature women attempted to give the man in question an erection.
What might prevent a wife from conceiving?
Normally blamed on the wife, but infertile men or their early death also a cause. Age disparity also a factor. Injury during pregnancy could cause miscarriage. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for a wife to be pregnant frequently.
