[Sca-cooks] period traditions

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at efn.org> wrote:

> I must point out that Alban appears to have made the
> assumption that the
> 'Droit de Seigneur' referred to was the alleged
> custom of Western Europe
> of allowing the local lord the first crack at a
> virgin bride, not to
> anything having to do with Jeish ceremonial
> practice. He is right
> in stating that most historians believe that actuall
> exercise of this was
> very nearly a myth. I would venture a guess that if
> there was something
> happeneing in the Jewish community that resembles
> it, that it has little
> to do, for instance with the promulgation of the
> myth by Walter Scott,
> amongst others.
>
> As to the alleged custom, I have to say that it was
> expressly against
> Canon Law, and would have involved the commission of
> a number of mortal
> sins. While there is a money payment due the lord
> when a couple marries,
> one that could be substantial if they were from
> different villages, it was
> not a payment letting them off from the 'droit', but
> a payment made to
> make up for the expected reduction in services. As
> to the occasional
> alleged actual use of the privilege, I have to say
> that I have hundreds of
> years worth of case law and accounts, and I honestly
> do not remember a
> single mention of the practice.
>
> 'Lainie. writing for Father Abelard, Canon Lawyer

I think that using a lack of case law as evidence it
didn't happen is poor scholarship.  You appear to be
making the assumption that the serfs/peasants were
empowered enough to be able to bring a complaint
against their local lord, who probably was also the
local magistrate.  If they were oppressed enough to
feel that bringing such an action would only bring
them and their family into worse straits, then no
action or complaint would be even contemplated.  While
I am not convinced enough to say that "Droit de
Seigneur" was a myth, I am willing to believe that
such practice was rare.

As for stating that such was against canon law, while
that is true, just because such laws are written
doesn't prove that they weren't broken or ignored by
local authorities.  It was forbidden for priests to
have intimate relations with women, but they did
anyway.  And those who had higher status were rarely
if ever punished for having sex or making babies.  It
is also against canon law to commit murder, but I can
think of several Popes who weren't punished for either
in this world.

In our modern world, we seem to be inundated with
reports of child molestation by their parents or
siblings.  Does this mean that we are now more immoral
than our grandparents or great grandparents times?  It
could be or it could be that we have impowered our
children more so that we are more inclined to believe
them than grandparents or great grandparents would
have been.  I have read many books on the Borgias, but
it isn't until the last 20 years that biographers have
brought up the very real possibility that Lucrezia's
first child was fathered by her father.

Huette

=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they
shall never cease to be amused.

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