The Transformation of Adultery in France at the End of the Middle Ages

Abstract

In 1522, Marie Quatrelivres, accused of adultery by her husband and found guilty, was condemned to be beaten with sticks on three Fridays and afterwards enclosed in a convent. The court allotted her husband 2 years to decide if he wanted to take her back. If he did not choose to reconcile with her, she was to be enclosed for life and lose all of her property. So wrote eminent jurist Jean Papon (1505–1590) in his collection of notable cases heard before the royal courts of France. Papon described a handful of other sixteenth century adultery cases similarly decided, and then cited a contemporary and fellow eminent jurist, Nicolas Bohier, as having stated that another common punishment for adultery in France was to cut off an adulterous woman's hair, tear her clothes, and parade her in shame throughout the town or city in which she lived.

Polyamory in Paris: A social network theory application

“…Seventy-four percent of the sexual connections were made between people inside the FB polyamory group. This insularity may be explained by the history of French aristocracy which allows for clandestine adultery but not open poly (McDougall, 2014). This same history applauds patriarchal poly (where men step out on their partners, but women mustn't do so) with a demand for attempted discretion and dishonesty to "safe face" and family honor.…”

Judging sexy women in late medieval France

“…The judicial punishment of illegal sex operated along the same lines. As I have argued elsewhere, when both ecclesiastical and secular courts went about addressing extramarital sex, they most often punished offenders with fines, and most often punished men (McDougall 2014a and2014b). 10 Certainly we can see economic incentives in this gendered difference, a reflection of the reality that it was men who generally would have had more money to pay, but there are also cultural explanations.…”

“…There are quantitative studies based upon local court records that support this idea, notably from England and from Italy (Bennett 2003, 131-162;Lansing 1997Lansing , 33-59 & 2002. Increasingly, however, scholars have identified quite different patterns in northern and southern France, in the Low Countries, and in Iberia, as well as other parts of the Mediterranean and northern Europe, including England (Kelleher 2010, Chapters 3 and 4;Naessens 2004;McSheffrey 2006, 166-75;Otis-Cour 2009, 347-392;McDougall 2014bMcDougall , 491-524 & 2014a. 4 In these findings, men predominate among those punished for extramarital sex.…”

Madre de religiosos, abuela de santos

“…La toma de posesión por el citado Miguel Jiménez tuvo lugar el 11 de octubre de 1493. -Cour, 2009;McDougall, 2014a;McDougall, 2014b;Pallarés Jiménez, 2008). Estos distintos autores han presentado evidencias de que, en contra de lo muchas veces pensado, apenas había consecuencias drásticas para la mujer adúltera.…”