In medieval Europe, women could own, inherit, buy, sell, and give land to others, and their property was protected to a certain extent, but that didn’t mean they could live in peace.
Dowry is required for marriage
In medieval Europe, women became adults at the age of 15, but the aristocratic class generally married early, and many girls got married around 12 years old. Some girls are married when they are only a few years old.
A noble girl has two choices in life, either marrying a dowry or staying in a monastery. Some fathers resolutely refuse to let their daughters marry, one of the reasons is that they are reluctant to arrange dowries, such as the “father of Europe” Charlemagne, Queen Victoria’s grandfather George III. Other girls were kept in convents because their guardians wanted to seize their property.
Noble girls do not marry and generally spend the rest of their lives in convents, with nuns being their only career option. Sending a daughter to be a nun not only saves her a large dowry, but also makes her lose her land inheritance rights, but the process of becoming a nun is also expensive.
”The Medieval Man” said that only noble girls are eligible to enter the monastery, and her family has to pay the admission fee of 200 pounds, and prepare her uniform and furniture. After reaching the age of oath, she will entertain all the nuns and friends on the day she officially becomes a nun, and all kinds of money must be put in place. After becoming a nun, she lived a collective life and usually participated in labor, reading, singing, and praying.
If a noble girl married off, her property would also be taken over by her husband. The husband can dispose of her property and land at will; she cannot go out alone without her husband’s company; she cannot go to court without her husband’s permission.
Widowhood is taxed
In medieval Europe, there was no option of “divorce”, but people were very flexible and thought of various ways to make marriage illegal.
According to the prohibition of “people who have kinship cannot marry”, people who want to divorce have moved out of the kinship of the husband and wife. Even if a relative of the husband and a relative of the wife get married, forming a nominally distant relationship between the husband and wife, it is considered a violation. prohibition as grounds for annulment of marriage. As for the judgment, it is up to the church. Thinking about the kinship relationship between European royal families that has been constantly cut and chaotic in the past, this prohibition should be designed for “divorce”, right?
Marriage problems are so exhausting, so what is it like to be a widow? The guardianship of the widow belongs to the superior feudal lord. The King of England can manipulate the widow of his immediate vassals (like a duchess or something), force them to marry someone he chooses, and if she refuses, pay the king a large sum of money.
In 1185, King Henry II made a list of all widows and heirs in the territory. In addition to the basic information of the characters, it also included details of their properties, ranging from land, livestock, rental income, to farm implements, so that he could use them in the land. Do it when you are short of money.
Therefore, in medieval Europe, noble women seemed noble, but their scenery was limited to the interior of the castle and social occasions.
