Laws From the Low Middle Ages

Bono
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Laws From the Low Middle Ages

« on: April 10, 2005, 11:44:51 AM »

I was reading thourgh the Visigotic Code, and I found this most amusing law:

FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.
V. Women Advanced in Years shall not Marry Young Men.

The law of nature is framed in the direct hope of progeny when the nuptial contract is entered into with all due solemnity For if a marriage takes place between persons who are incompetent, either through age or some personal defect, to properly perform their marital duties, how can their offspring be [78] other than dwarfed or deformed? For that cannot be perfect whose origin is defective. We sometimes see persons who, not observing the laws of nature, but induced by avarice, dispose of their children in marriage so improperly, that neither the age, rank, or morals of the parties concerned, are considered by them. For though men have received their name from the fact that they control women by their superior strength; some, in violation of the laws of nature, give the priority to women, when they unite females of advanced age with boys who are little more than children; and thus, for the sake of gain, and through unwise delay, encourage the commission of vice by the former. Therefore, that an end may be put to practices whose results are unfavorable to future generations, we now decree, that, hereafter, women shall always marry men who are older than themselves, and a marriage under other circumstances shall not be valid, if either of the parties should object. A space of time, not longer than two years, shall be permitted to elapse from the day of betrothal to the day of marriage; unless a longer period shall be agreed upon by the parents or relations, or by the parties themselves, if they are of age. But if, after the contract has been made, it is determined by common consent to defer the date of the nuptials; or if one of the persons should fail to be present, through necessity, this may be done; but the marriage shall not then be deferred longer than two years more. And if a second time, or several times, it may be desirable to prolong the interval, it shall only be for a period of two years; otherwise, the marriage contract, though made in writing, and accompanied with the delivery of the dowry, shall not be valid. If any one unnecessarily or arbitrarily should protract the time, and violate the marriage contract, he shall be liable to the penalty which is contained in it, and the contract shall still remain in force. Any woman who has had one or more husbands, shall after the death of those husbands, be permitted to marry any man of proper age who has never been married before, or who has had one or more wives already deceased.
[79]

I wonder if this was a significant problem at the time.

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patrick1
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