Feb. 3

Women, Men, and the Family in Early Modern Europe

I. The family is an institution that has a history. This is crucial for you to remember. There is no such thing as a constant, "the family," that exists throughout history, all the contemporary rhetoric aside. And in the modern period, from about 1500, it is probably safe to say that the family is always "in crisis."

II. The Medieval and Early Modern background.

A. And, surprising as it may seem, marriages prior to our period were not necessarily conducted as a public ceremony in the church. Marriage becomes a sacrament in the Middle Ages, but according to canon law, the exchange of vows in private legalized a marriage. It then had to be consummated--sexual intercourse had to take place. To be fully legal, a priest had to give final blessing to the marriage, but it was still recognized as a union joined by God before the priest´s involvement.
B. It is important to recognize that premarital sex was not completely condemned in daily life, even in good Catholic areas like Bavaria and the Alpine Austria. Why?--the issue of inheritance and the importance of heirs.
C. Now, the actual age at which marriages took place was extraordinarily high. This is the particularities, peculiarities, of the western marital system. The reasons? Primarily because one had to wait to inherit the land, or had accumulated enough wealth in property, or had achieved master status in a craft, to support a household.
D. So, marriage anything but a private affair.
E. Yet another key element here is that marriage was a transient phenomenon because of the sheer frequency of death.
F. Frightening level of infant mortality served to further restrict the size of the family.

III. And to many observers, Christian humanists generally, Protestant reformers in particular, the family was also an institution in crisis. Very low marriage rate.

IV. The Reformation and the family.

A. I mentioned this before, but it's important to repeat in this context. The Reformation sanctified daily life, so that work and the home acquired a deeper, religious meaning.
B. The restricted nuclear, patriarchal family thus became the ideal.
C. Hence, new responsibilities placed on both marital partners.

V. The patriarchal model: from household to kingship.

A. James I in 1609: "Kings are compared to fathers in families. For a king is truly the politic father of his people" (Stone, 110).

VI. The historical and historiographical problem: was there love? Were there no emotional ties between the partners in a marriage? And can we make any evaluations on the status of women? How does the movement toward a closed, nuclear, patriarchal family, endowed with religious and political significance, affect women and men at the most intimate levels of their lives?