The Lord's First Night: The Myth of the Droit de Cuissage
By
Alain Boureau (Author) Lydia G. Cochrane (Contributor)
Hardback
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Description
The ultimate symbol of feudal barbarism has been the "droit de cuissage" or right of a feudal Lord to sleep with the bride of a vassal on her wedding night. This text demonstrates that it is a myth, under contextual examination nearly all the evidence for this custom melts away, yet belief in it has survived for seven hundred years. The text shows how each era turned the mythical custom to its own ends, in the late Middle Ages monarchists raised the custom to rally public opinion against local lords, and partisans of the French Revolution pointed to it as proof of the corruption of the Ancien Regime.
More Details
- Contributor: Alain Boureau
- Imprint: University of Chicago Press
- ISBN13: 9780226067421
- Number of Pages: 310
- Packaged Dimensions: 16x24x2mm
- Packaged Weight: 567
- Format: Hardback
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Release Date: 1998-06-24
- Binding: Hardback
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