medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
[log in to unmask] wrote:
>I'm certainly surprised that twelfth century marriage charters in the area of
Chartres had the dowry usually in land. Judging from examples from the region
of Toulouse, I came to the conviction that one reason for dowries is that a
family could give the girls money instead of productive means like real
property which could be retained for the family.
well, i'm dealing with 15+ year old memory of a very unsystematic and
peripheral glance at a very few charters...
but, my *memory* is that i came across a little stash of late 12th-early 13th
c. charters --drawn up by the "officialis carnotensis" i believe-- which
recorded the sale (or pawn, i can't remember which) of property belonging to
several different rather low-level "noble" families in the region.
what particularly struck me about them (and i was just starting out, teaching
myself how to read the things, so quite a lot of things struck me which might
not turn out to be important) was the fact that they all mentioned that the
guy's wife was present and was giving her "approbatio spontanea" (or
somesuchlike phrase) to what was going down, sometimes together with her
daughter(s), who were also present and, occasionally, some of her kinsmen as
well.
occasionally it seems like "in dotalia" was mentioned, re the wife's
relationship to the property, as well.
the *sense* i had was that land which came to the marriage via the wife's
dowry and which could have been passed down to her daughter(s) as a dowry in
future was what was being alienated --hence the need for all their consents.
but that was just a surmise on my part and i've never read anthing about such
charters, one way or the other.
now that i think about it, i also have seen some early 12th c. charters which
*might* suggest property comming into a family from the distaff side (though,
i suppose, this might not *necessarily* mean that it was part of a "dowry"
--could have been a simple inheritance?).
in any event, the women of the family --mother and daughters-- were called
upon to give their consent to the alienation, which, i seem to recall in one
instance, was done at a different place (the family seat) than that where the
Man of the family gave his (in the monastic chapter).
from what (very) little reading of So. French charters i've done, it looks to
me like there were some significant differences between the what is reflected
there and the ones i am more familiar with in the North --different
vocabulary, phrasing, maybe customs & laws.
but, my own acquaintanceship with both is so sketchy and haphazard that i can
safely say that i only have a "feeling" about whathahell was going on and am
happily unencumbered by any real knowledge.
best from here,
christopher
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|