G.G. Coulton (1925), *Medieval Village, Manor, and Monastery*, p.80:
'Enormously and indefensibly as some writers have exaggerated the frequency
and the power of this "droit du seigneur", the "jus primae noctis", it is a
side of medieval village life which cannot be altogether ignored.' See his
Appendix 14, pp., 464-69 (Some of the documentation cited does seem to come
from our period.)
But I certainly respect the work of Charles de Miramon's maitre; his work
on Pope Joan was a demythologizing classic. I have not yet read his current
study.
Gary Dickson
University of Edinburgh
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