misogamy

The hatred of marriage or the aversion to marriage is called misogamy ( gr. Μισεῖν from misein "hate" and γάμος gamos "marriage").

In the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period, marriage and the question of marrying men and women, especially in Italy, England and German-speaking countries, were a much-discussed topic among church representatives and the educated, which was highly polarized.

The question asked by Albrecht von Eyb in 1472 whether a man should be given an eelichs weyb or nit was answered either in a misogamic or philogamic way. Misogyny went hand in hand with misogyny , contempt for women (or "scolding"), which Christine de Pizan denounced as contempt for marriage. In 1523 Erasmus von Rotterdam wrote about the Virgo misogamos , a virgin who despises marriage and prefers to go to the monastery, but who is later "cured" by love - a popular theme in melodramatic works of all kinds to this day .

literature

• Katharina Wilson et al .: Wykked Wyves and the Woes of Marriage. Misogamous Literature from Juvenal to Chaucer , Albany, 1991