Muntehe
Muntehe ( Old High German munt "[legal] protection, umbrella", and ēwa "marriage [contract], law, law") denotes a patriarchal form of marriage that was the most common form of marriage among free Germanic peoples and subsequently among noble families in the Middle Ages . It included a change of guardianship and discretion over a woman based on law and order : the authority over her changes from her father to her husband, comparable to the Roman Manus marriage : from the "hand" of the father to that of the husband.
With the transfer of the Munt, the husband received the sole right of disposal over the marital property, the sole right of divorce , the power of disposal over his wife and her sexuality as well as over the common children (comparable to the Roman patria potestas ). In return, he was obliged to protect his wife. In the early Middle Ages (around 500 to 1050 AD) girls were able to marry from 13 years of age, in the late Middle Ages (1250 to 1500) their marriage age was 15 to 18 years; Boys were marriageable between the ages of 12 and 15. According to Catholic canon law , children as early as 7 years old could be engaged to each other (see Child Engagement ).
A Muntehe was a purely legal transaction between two families , whereby the subject of the contract was the marriage of a woman for whom a “ bride price ” was agreed. The wedding was a secular, public and attested legal act . The bride and groom stood in a circle formed by their relatives. There they were questioned by the head of the family in a legally prescribed manner. With the yes-word, the bride gave herself over from her father's cheerfulness to her groom's cheerfulness. As early as the 4th century it became customary for a priest to bless the couple after the marriage ceremony by the clan . After the wedding, the bride was taken home to the husband's (husband's) house, where a wedding meal usually took place. Sometimes it was customary to have the first supplement , the consummation of the marriage with the first mutual sexual intercourse, the “wedding night”, take place under witnesses in order to make the marriage legally binding.
In addition to the Muntehe there was also the Kebsehe with an unfree "concubine" in the Middle Ages , the morganatic marriage ("marriage to the left hand"), the angle marriage as "secret marriage", the peace marriage (agreement of will, existence but controversial) as well as robbery or kidnapping marriage .
See also
- Counterattack (widow's insurance)
- Wittum (widows estate)
- Gender guardianship (about women)
- Marriage in the Roman Empire : Matrimonium - Matrona (Roman wife) - Conubium (marital status / marriage) - Pater familias (head of the family)
- Swap women
- Marriage circle
source
- Maike Vogt-Lüerssen : The Muntehe. In: Everyday history of the Middle Ages - kleio.org. (a detailed subsection; 1999–2014).
literature
- Stefan Chr. Saar: The Muntehe. In: Same: marriage - divorce - remarriage. On the history of marriage and divorce law in the early Middle Ages (6th – 10th centuries) (= Ius Vivens. Volume 6). Lit, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8258-3081-0 , pp. 101-250 ( reading excerpt in the Google book search).
Individual evidence
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↑ Duden online : Munt. Retrieved on November 2, 2019 : "Munt, the [...] in Germanic law violence of the landlord over the people living in the house community who are to be protected by him [...] Origin: Middle High German, Old High German munt = (legal) protection, umbrella" .
Ibid: marriage: “Origin: Middle High German ē (we), Old High German ēwa = marriage (contract); Law, law, maybe originally = law that has been in force for ages or maybe = customary law ”.
- ^ Stefan Chr. Saar: The Muntehe. In: The same: marriage - divorce - remarriage: On the history of marriage and divorce law in the early Middle Ages (6th – 10th centuries) (= Ius Vivens. Volume 6). Lit, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8258-3081-0 , p. 101 ( side view in the Google book search).