Is it true there is a law many years ago in Europe (not sure) whch counrt, that...?

Question

if you got married some high standing man had to have intercourse with your wife??

Answer 1

The existence of a "right of the first night" in the middle ages was an eagerly disputed topic in the nineteenth century. Although today most historians would agree that there is no authentic proof of the actual exercise of the custom in the middle ages, the disagreement continues about the origin, the meaning and the development of the widespread popular belief in this alleged right and the actual prevalence of symbolic gestures referring to this right.

In fact the jus primae noctis was, in the European late medieval context, a widespread popular belief in an ancient privilege of the lord of a manor to share the bed with their peasants newly wed bride on her wedding night. Symbolic gestures, reflecting this belief, were developed by the lords and used as humiliating signs of superiority against the dependent peasants in a time of disappearing status differences. Actual intercourse on behalf of the alleged right is difficult to proof. It probably never occurred.

The origin of this popular belief is difficult to trace. In literature from the 13th and 14th century and in customary law texts of the 15th and 16th century the jus primae noctis is closely related to specific marriage payments of (formerly) unfree people. We have good reason to assume that this relation goes back to the early medieval period and has its roots in the legal condition of unfree people and Germanic marriage customs.

In Eurasian literature the right of the first night in the sense of the privilege of a powerful man to have the first sexual intercourse with the bride of another man is a very old topos that is already present in the epic of Gilgamesh (1900BC).

The ethnographic evidence of ritual defloration is quite different from the Eurasian literary topos and the popular tradition of the middle ages. Medieval and early modern travel accounts from India and South America offer reports about prenuptial deflorations of girls by chiefs or priests. Although these customs stem from very different cultural tradition, they meet in the stunning fact that in both cases high standing persons were involved. This points to a cross-cultural psycho-biological adaptation in men to invent and to maintain cultural rules like the privilege of the first sexual access to women.

Answer 2

I remember reading something like that. Keep it in mind that we're talking many, many, many years ago.

I think it had to do with being a serf on someone's land. The Lord of the land had the right to "bleed" your new wife for you.

Answer 3

It was called the right of the first night, and was considered an honor to the commoners.
People of low social class often bragged, that they weren't really their parents children, but offspring of noblemen..
Being a bastard that way, was a badge of honor. They were better than their 'peers'.

Answer 4

Only in the movie Brave Heart.
But back in those days any rich p ick did most anything they wanted.
Even slave owners here in America.

Answer 5

If Heinz is right, it certainly sounds interesting. Why though?