HSTAM 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bride Price, Endogamy, Concubinage
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15 May 2017
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Lecture Notes 2
Monday, April 3, 2017
Readings
- What does female sanctity look like?
Marriage and the family in the early middle ages
- Late Roman and early Germanic families
o Typical household consisted of parents, children, servants, slaves, relatives, others
o Poorest families only housed parents and children
o Paterfamilias – legally recognized head of household; typically oldest male
member of household
▪ Up until 4th century, could put household members to death
▪ Had power to refuse a child into family
o Endogamy
o Divorce relatively easy to obtain
- Roman marriage customs
o Bride pays dowry to husband’s family
o Monogamous – only one legally recognized relationship (a marriage or a
concubinage)
o Bride and groom must both consent to marriage
o Family can veto marriage
- Germanic marriage customs
o Husband’s family pays bride price
o Husband gives wife morning gabba
o Polygamous
o Parents consent to marriage
- Free people couldn’t marry slaves without losing freedom
- Christian church ended up standardizing marriage customs between Romans and
Germans
o Become extremely influential in shaping medieval families
o 1000AD – consent required for marriage
o Endogamy – marriage within kindred
▪ Preferred by both Germans and Romans to maintain power
o Exogany – marriage outside of family
o Prohibited Degrees of Consanguinity – endogamy began to be prohibited by
400AD
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