diakoreusis
Hilary Evans offers a different theory about the origins of the "right", what it represented, how it was perceived, and other cultures' practices that may have evolved from causes similar to those that led to the ''jus primae noctis'':
Fertility rites are communal functions in which individual acts are harnessed for the common good. Defloration, on the contrary, is an event in individual life which in primitive cultures is considered so critical that the community rallies around to support the individual. So crucial and irreversible is the act of deflowering a virgin that the responsibility is more than the bridegroom can bear, so ways are found to spread the burden. Among certain Marquesas Islands Marquesan islanders of the Pacific, for example, it was customary until quite recently for the virgin bride to be laid on a platform of stones while the men of the tribe formed a line, singing and dancing, each in turn copulating with her and so accepting a share of the 'blame'.
The ''droit de seigneur'', whereby local landowners claimed the right to sleep with every newly-wed bride in their domain, is often misinterpreted as an instance of feudal tyranny. In fact it is quite the opposite: a survival of the old defloration custom which relfects nothing but credit on the ruler; being divinely anointed, he is strong enough to bear the full weight of the responsibility on his shoulders and so spare his subjects entirely. So we can understand the respect given to Conchabar, king of Ulster in Ireland's legendary past, who pierced the maidenhead of every virgin in his kingdom; it was not for his sexual prowess but for his sheer courage that he was praised.
Then an even better solution was found. Why risk your fellow tribesmen, why endanger your king, when you can persuade some complete stranger to do the job? Since he is not subject to your gods, he may hope to escape unscathed from the ordeal; in any case, being [that of] a foreigner, his fate is no concern of yours. So the stranger is made welcome in the virgin's bed; this is what lies behind the readiness—so often misconstrued by people from other cultures—of primitive peoples to allow their guests access to their womenfolk. Marco Polo was astonished by the 13th century thirteenth-century Tibet Tibetans:
''The people of these parts are disinclined to marry young women as long as they are left in their virgin state, but on the contrary require that they should have had commerce with many of the opposite sex; this, they claim, is pleasing to their deities, and they regard a woman who has not had the company of men as worthless. So, when a caravan of merchants arrives, as soon as they have pitched their tent for the night, the mothers of marriageable daughters bring them to the place and entreat the strangers to accept their daughters and enjoy their society so long as they remain in the district. The merchants are expected to give them presents—trinkets, rings or other tokens. When later they are designed for marriage, they wear these ornaments about the neck or other part of the body, and she who exhibits the greatest number is considered to have attracted the greatest number of men, and is on that account esteemed the highest by the young men looking for a wife.''
While ''jus primae noctis'' may be translated as "''right'' of the first night" or "''law'' of the first night" (with ''law'' implying ''right'' or ''obligation'' or both), one may question Evans's theory in terms of the ''droit de'' (or ''du'') ''seigneur'', in that ''droit'' is indeed French language French for ''right'', a term not so easily applicable to something intended or perceived as a burdensome obligation—although perhaps the French appellation simply was applied to the concept without knowledge of its origin. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (15th edition: volume 10: page 610) concludes that this custom
is paralleled in various primitive societies, but the evidence of its existence in Europe is almost all indirect, involving records of the redemption dues paid by the vassal to avoid enforcement, not of actual enforcement. Many intellectual investigations have been devoted to the problem, but, although it seems possible that such a custom may have existed for a short time at a very early date in parts of France and Italy, it certainly never existed elsewhere.
Fertility rites are communal functions in which individual acts are harnessed for the common good. Defloration, on the contrary, is an event in individual life which in primitive cultures is considered so critical that the community rallies around to support the individual. So crucial and irreversible is the act of deflowering a virgin that the responsibility is more than the bridegroom can bear, so ways are found to spread the burden. Among certain Marquesas Islands Marquesan islanders of the Pacific, for example, it was customary until quite recently for the virgin bride to be laid on a platform of stones while the men of the tribe formed a line, singing and dancing, each in turn copulating with her and so accepting a share of the 'blame'.
The ''droit de seigneur'', whereby local landowners claimed the right to sleep with every newly-wed bride in their domain, is often misinterpreted as an instance of feudal tyranny. In fact it is quite the opposite: a survival of the old defloration custom which relfects nothing but credit on the ruler; being divinely anointed, he is strong enough to bear the full weight of the responsibility on his shoulders and so spare his subjects entirely. So we can understand the respect given to Conchabar, king of Ulster in Ireland's legendary past, who pierced the maidenhead of every virgin in his kingdom; it was not for his sexual prowess but for his sheer courage that he was praised.
Then an even better solution was found. Why risk your fellow tribesmen, why endanger your king, when you can persuade some complete stranger to do the job? Since he is not subject to your gods, he may hope to escape unscathed from the ordeal; in any case, being [that of] a foreigner, his fate is no concern of yours. So the stranger is made welcome in the virgin's bed; this is what lies behind the readiness—so often misconstrued by people from other cultures—of primitive peoples to allow their guests access to their womenfolk. Marco Polo was astonished by the 13th century thirteenth-century Tibet Tibetans:
''The people of these parts are disinclined to marry young women as long as they are left in their virgin state, but on the contrary require that they should have had commerce with many of the opposite sex; this, they claim, is pleasing to their deities, and they regard a woman who has not had the company of men as worthless. So, when a caravan of merchants arrives, as soon as they have pitched their tent for the night, the mothers of marriageable daughters bring them to the place and entreat the strangers to accept their daughters and enjoy their society so long as they remain in the district. The merchants are expected to give them presents—trinkets, rings or other tokens. When later they are designed for marriage, they wear these ornaments about the neck or other part of the body, and she who exhibits the greatest number is considered to have attracted the greatest number of men, and is on that account esteemed the highest by the young men looking for a wife.''
While ''jus primae noctis'' may be translated as "''right'' of the first night" or "''law'' of the first night" (with ''law'' implying ''right'' or ''obligation'' or both), one may question Evans's theory in terms of the ''droit de'' (or ''du'') ''seigneur'', in that ''droit'' is indeed French language French for ''right'', a term not so easily applicable to something intended or perceived as a burdensome obligation—although perhaps the French appellation simply was applied to the concept without knowledge of its origin. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (15th edition: volume 10: page 610) concludes that this custom
is paralleled in various primitive societies, but the evidence of its existence in Europe is almost all indirect, involving records of the redemption dues paid by the vassal to avoid enforcement, not of actual enforcement. Many intellectual investigations have been devoted to the problem, but, although it seems possible that such a custom may have existed for a short time at a very early date in parts of France and Italy, it certainly never existed elsewhere.
voluptuosissimus - 19. Mai, 15:06
