Droit du seigneur

Droit du seigneur (/ˈdrɑː də seɪnˈjɜr/; French pronunciation: [dʁwa dy sɛɲœʁ]) is an alleged legal right allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters. There is no historical evidence that such a right ever existed.[1]

Contents

Terminology

The French expression Droit du seigneur roughly translates as the lord's right, but native French prefer the terms droit de jambage or droit de cuissage, where jambage and cuissage (from jambe, "leg" and cuisse, "thigh") refer to the exercise of this right. The term is often used synonymously with jus primae noctis /dʒʌs ˈpraɪmiː ˈnɒktɨs/,[2] which is Latin for "law of the first night".

History

The origin of this popular belief is difficult to trace, though readers of Herodotus were made to understand that a possibly similar custom had obtained among the tribe of the "Adyrmachidae" in distant ancient Libya, where Herodotus thought it unique: "They are also the only tribe with whom the custom obtains of bringing all women about to become brides before the king, that he may choose such as are agreeable to him."[3]

Early mention of the right used as social criticism occurs in the work of French lawyer and author Jean Papon (1505/7-1509).[4] It acquires widespread currency after Voltaire accepts the practice as historically authentic, in his Dictionnaire philosophique; soon it becomes used frequently, especially in satire.[5] Paolo Mantegazza in his 1935 book, The Sexual Relations of Mankind, stated his belief that while not a law, it was most likely a binding custom.[6]

Instances of the right have, however, been observed elsewhere, such as the Ottoman Empire. As late as the early twentieth century, Kurdish chieftains (khafirs) in Western Armenia reserved the right to bed Armenian brides on their wedding night.[7][8]

Literary and other references

Despite the lack of historical evidence for the existence of such a right, cultural references to the custom abound. Examples:

References

Notes

  1. ^ Classen, Albrecht (2007). The medieval chastity belt: a myth-making process. Macmillan. p. 147. http://books.google.com/books?id=r_hncxYRQIoC&pg=PA147. 
  2. ^ "jus primæ noctis". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989.
  3. ^ Herodotus, iv.168 (on-line text).
  4. ^ Boureau 203.
  5. ^ Boureau 41.
  6. ^ Journal of Sex Research, Vol 28, No. 1 pp. 163-166)
  7. ^ Barsoumian, Hagop. "The Eastern Question and the Tanzimat Era" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 200. ISBN 0-3121-0168-6.
  8. ^ Astourian, Stepan. "The Silence of the Land: Agrarian Relations, Ethnicity, and Power," in A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, eds. R.G. Suny, Fatma Muge Goçek, and Norman Naimark. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 60.
  9. ^ Cissy: The Extraordinary Life of Eleanor Medill Patterson by Ralph G. Martin, Simon and Schuster, 1979

Bibliography

External links