Chapter VI: Old English Wife-Purchase Yields to Free Marriage (1)

[BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE VI.--The leading sources for this chapter
are, of course, the ancient folk-laws, drawn up after the
wandering and settlement of the Teutonic peoples. Of these
the most complete and the most primitive are the old English
"codes," in Schmid's _Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen_ (Leipzig,
1858), until recently the best edition available; or in Thorpe's
_Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_ (8vo, 2 vols.; folio,
1 vol.; Record Commission, London, 1840), which, though not
so well edited, has the advantage of an English version of
the Anglo-Saxon texts. But Liebermann, in _Die Gesetze der
Angelsachsen_ (Halle, 1898-), is placing in the hands of
scholars a more complete and a thoroughly critical edition
which must supersede that of Schmid. For Germany the _Leges
barbarorum_ are contained in Walter's _Corpus juris germanici
antiqui_ (3 vols.; Berlin, 1824); and in the later and better
editions of the _Monumenta germaniae historica_, particularly
the _Leges burgundionum_, edited by L. R. De Salis (4to;
Hanover, 1892); the _Leges alamannorum_, edited by Karl Lehmann
(4to; Hanover, 1888); and the general collection of _Leges_,
edited by G. N. Pertz, H. Brunner, R. Sohm, and Karl Zeumer (5
vols., folio; Hanover, 1835-89). These laws are conveniently
grouped according to subject by Davoud-Oghlou, _Histoire de la
législation des anciens Germains_ (Berlin, 1845). Behrend, _Lex
salica_ (Berlin, 1874), has a good edition of the laws of the
Salian Franks. There are some passages of fundamental interest,
notably the celebrated c. 18, in Tacitus's _Germania_; and an
interesting proof of the surviving symbols of wife-purchase may
be found in Fredegarius, _Gregorii Turon. historia francorum
epitomata_ (Vol. IV of Guadet and Taranne's version of Gregory,
171-73, Paris, 1838; or in Vol. II of Giesebrecht's translation,
273-75, Leipzig, n. d.). An old English betrothal (_beweddung_)
ritual of surpassing interest is preserved in the collections
of Liebermann, Schmid, and Thorpe referred to; and the later
development of the German betrothal ceremony is illustrated
by the curious Swabian ritual of the twelfth century, first
published by Massmann in _Rheinisches Museum für Jurisprudenz_,
III (281 f.), as also in his _Fluchformularen_ (179); and later
in Friedberg's "Zur Geschichte der Eheschliessung," _ZKR._, I,
369, 370; in the same author's _Eheschliessung_ (26, 27); and in
Sohm's _Eheschliessung_ (319, 320).

The modern literature of early German and old English marriage
is already very large. Among the more important writings of
the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are Gundling,
_De emptione uxorum, dote et morgengaba_ (Leipzig, 1731);
Ayrer, _Dissertatio de jure connubiorum apud veteres germanos_
(Göttingen, 1738); Hofmann, _Handbuch des deutschen Eherechts_
(Jena, 1789); Böhmer, _Ueber die Ehegesetze im Zeitalter
Karl des Grossen und seiner nächsten Regierungsnachfolger_
(Göttingen, 1826-27); Liebetrut, _Die Ehe nach ihrer
geschichtlichen Entwickelung_ (Berlin, 1834); Bosse, _Das
Familienwesen, oder Forschungen über seine Natur, Geschichte und
Rechtsverhältnisse_ (1835); Richecour, _Essai sur l'histoire et
la législation des formes requises pour la validité du mariage_
(Paris, 1856); Smith, "De la famille chez les Burgondes,"
in _Mémoires lus à la Sorbonne_ (1864); and Eckhardt, "Das
Witthum oder Dotalitium und Vidualitium in ihrer historischen
Entwickelung," in _Zeitschrift für deutsches Recht_, X (437
ff.). But in the literature of recent years of first-rate
importance is Sohm's _Das Recht der Eheschliessung_ (Weimar,
1875), perhaps the most acute and able monograph ever written
on the subject; supplemented by his _Trauung und Verlobung_
(Weimar, 1876). The best extended treatise on the history of
the marriage form or contract is Friedberg's _Das Recht der
Eheschliessung_ (Leipzig, 1865). This was preceded by his "Zur
Geschichte der Eheschliessung," in _ZKR._, I, 362-91; III,
147-86 (Berlin and Tübingen, 1861-63); and followed, in his
controversy with Sohm on the character of the betrothal, by his
_Verlobung und Trauung_ (Leipzig, 1876). The Theories of Sohm
and others are examined by Habicht, _Altdeutsche Verlobung_
(Jena, 1879); and, from the standpoint of northern custom, by
Lehmann, _Verlobung und Hochzeit_ (Munich, 1882); and Beauchet,
_Mariage dans le droit islandais du moyen age_ (Paris, 1887).
In this connection may be read Schroeder, _Geschichte des
ehelichen Güterrechts in Deutschland_ (Stettin, 1863-74);
his _Rechtsgeschichte_ (2d ed., Leipzig, 1894); as also
Brunner's very able _Rechtsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1887); Ficker,
_Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte_ (Innsbruck, 1891-99);
Heusler, _Institutionen des deutschen Privatrechts_ (Leipzig,
1885-86); Zoepfl, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_ (Braunschweig,
1871-72); Siegel, _Rechtsgeschichte_ (3d ed., Leipzig, 1895);
Lamprecht, _Deutsche Geschichte_ (Vol. I, Berlin, 1891); Klein,
_Das Eheverlöbniss_ (Strassburg, 1881); and Galy, _La famille
à l'époque mérovingienne_ (Paris, 1901). For many illustrative
particulars should be consulted Grimm's _Rechtsalterthümer_
(Göttingen, 1854); the great work of Weinhold, _Die deutschen
Frauen_ (Vienna, 1882); which may be read in connection with his
_Altnordisches Leben_ (Berlin, 1856). To supplement Weinhold's
works for the more general culture-history of woman in the
German family may be consulted Dahn, "Das Weib in altgerm. Recht
und Leben," in his _Bausteine_, VI (Berlin, 1884); Rullkoetter,
_Legal Position of Women among the Ancient Germans_ (Chicago,
1900); Strack, _Aus dem deutschen Frauenleben_ (Leipzig,
1873-74); Scherr, _Geschichte der deutschen Frauenwelt_ (3d ed.,
Leipzig, 1873); Bernhöft's lively _Frauenleben in der Vorzeit_
(Wismar, 1893); Backer, _Le droit de la femme dans l'antiquité:
son devoir au moyen âge_ (Paris, 1880); the quaint treatise of
Grupen, _De uxore theotisca_ (Göttingen, 1748); the paper of
Schmitt, _Die Schlüsselgewalt der Ehefrau nach deutschem Recht_
(Munich, 1893); and that of Reinsch, _Stellung und Leben der
deutschen Frau im Mittelalter_ (Berlin, 1882).

Further illustrations of domestic and social life are afforded
by the literature of "left-hand" marriages. Thus Klein's
short dissertation, entitled _Beiträge zur Lehre von der
morganatischen Ehe_ (Erlangen, 1897), traces the practice back
to ancient Frankish law. See also Culmann, _Morganatische Ehe
und Ursprung des Feudalismus_ (Strassburg, 1880); Zetzkius, _De
matrimonio ad morganaticam contracto, vulgo: von Vermählung
zur linken Hand_ (Regiomonti, 1692); the anonymous _Geschichte
morganatischer und legitimirter Fürsten- und Grafen-Ehen in
Deutschland_ (Halle, 1874), which gives a chronological account,
century by century, of particular "left-hand" marriages; and the
dissertations of Linckens, Riccius, and Höltzl von Sternstein.

Besides the controversial literature relating to the
so-called _droit de seigneur_ in feudal times, already cited
in Bibliographical Note II, there has been collected a mass
of custom and folk-lore concerning the alleged traces of
wife-purchase and wife-capture, and similar matters, much
of which will carry the reader beyond the period of the
present chapter, but which may serve to complete the picture
of mediæval private life. In this connection may be noted
Wackernagel, "Familienrecht und Familienleben der alten
Germanen," in _Süd-deutsches Taschenbuch_, 1846 (257 ff.);
Schincke, "Hochzeitsgebräuche der Germanen," in Ersch und
Gruber's _Encyklopädie_, II. Sect., T. 9 (166 ff.); Leber,
"Des coutumes et usages anciens relatifs aux mariages," in
his _Collection des meilleurs dissertations_, II (Paris,
1838); Freybe, _Altdeutsches Frauenlob_ (Leipzig, 1873);
Schütz, _Lobschrift auf die Weiber der alten Deutschen_
(Hamburg, 1776); Schulenburg, _Die Spuren des Brautraubes,
Brautkaufes und ähnlicher Verhältnisse in den französischen
Epen des Mittelalters_ (Rostock, 1894); Spirgatis, "Verlobung
und Vermählung im altfranzösischen volkstümlichen Epos,"
in _Wissenschaftliche Beiträge zum Jahresberichte des
Leibniz-Gymnasiums zu Berlin_, Ostern, 1894 (Berlin, 1894);
Krabbes, _Die Frau im altfranzösischen Karlsepos_ (Marburg,
1884); Bücher, _Die Frauenfrage im Mittelalter_ (Tübingen,
1882); Homeyer, _Ueber die Heimath nach altdeutschem Recht,
insbesondere über das Hantgemal_ (Berlin, 1852); Méril,
"Des formes du mariage et des usages populaires qui s'y
rattachaient surtout en France pendant le moyen age," in _Étude
sur quelques points d'archéologie_ (Paris and Leipzig,
1862); Bérenger-Ferraud, "Mariage et progéniture," in his
_Superstitions et survivances_, II (Paris, 1896); and especially
Beauchet's able monograph, _Étude historique sur les formes de
la célébration du mariage dans l'ancien droit français_ (Paris,
1883); Gengler, _De morgengaba secundum leges antiquissimas
germanorum_ (Bamberg, 1843); Spangenberg, _Exercitatio antiqua
doni germanorum matutini, quod vulgo morgengabam appellant_
(Göttingen, 1767); Napiersky, _Die Morgengabe des rigischen
Rechts_ (Dorpat, 1842); Golz, _De morgengaba germanorum_ (Halle,
_ca._ 1860); Fischel, _De conjugum jure germanico debitis_
(Berlin, n. d.). Similar observations have been made for other
parts of Europe. See, for example, Poggi, _Usi nuziali nel
centio della Sardegna_ (Sassari, 1894); Murra, _Usi e costumi
nuziali de Sardegna_: for the _Nozze de Cian-Sappa-Flandinet_
(Bergamo, 1894); Salmone-Marino, _Come se prepari la sposa; uso
nuziale dei contadini di Sicilia_ (Palermo, 1890); Pitre, _Usi
nuziali del popolo Siciliano_ (Palermo, 1878); _idem_, _Usi
natalizi, nuziali e funebri del popolo Siciliano_ (Palermo,
1879); Frati, _Costumanze e pompe nuziali bolognesi nel medio
evo_: for the _Nozze Cian-Sappa-Flandinet_ (Bergamo, 1894);
Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, "Lieben und Freien in Piemont," in
_Illustrirte Frauenzeitung_, June 7, 1875 (Berlin, 1875);
Sakellarios, _Die Sitten und Gebräuche der Hochzeit bei den
Neugriechen verglichen mit denen der alten Griechen_ (Halle,
1880); Gubernatis, _Storia comparata degli usi nuziali in Italia
e presso gli altri popoli Indo-Europei_ (2d ed., Milan, 1878);
and Gennari, _Degli usi de Padovani de' tempi di mezzo ne' loro
matrimonj_ (Venice, 1800).

On the controversy as to the meaning of _mund_ and its place in
the purchase contract, in connection with the views of Sohm,
Dahn, Brunner, Lehmann, Schroeder, and others, see Waitz,
"Ueber die Bedeutung des Mundium im deutschen Recht," in
_Sitzungsberichte der preuss. Akad._, 1886; and Kohler, "Die Ehe
mit und ohne Mundium," in _ZVR._, VI. This question, as well
as other matters, is also treated by Dargun, _Mutterrecht und
Raubehe_ (Breslau, 1883); Kraut, _Vormundschaft_ (Göttingen,
1835-59); and by Rive in his excellent _Vormundschaft im
Rechte der Germanen_ (Braunschweig, 1862). Scheurl's _Das
gemeine deutsche Eherecht_ (Erlangen, 1882), though relating
mainly to a later period, is of use for this chapter; as are
also Königswarter, _Histoire de l'organisation de la famille
en France_ (Paris, 1851); and Laboulaye's very rare book,
_Condition civile et politique des femmes_ (1843); Hofmann's
interesting monograph, _Ueber den Verlobungs- und Trauring_
(Vienna, 1870); Junius, _De annulo romanorum sponsalitio_
(Leipzig); and Müller, _De annulo pronubo, vulgo vom Jaworts-
oder Trauring, de modo computationis graduum, de osculo sancto_
(Jena, 1734).

The strong tendency of Roman legislation of the lower
(Christian) empire to re-establish the family authority and
place the wife in subjection is ably discussed by Meynial, "Le
mariage après les invasions," in _Nouv. rev. hist. de droit_,
XX, 514-31, 737-62; XXI, 117-48 (Paris, 1896-97); with this may
be read Zoepfl, _De tutela mulierum germanic_. (Heidelberg,
1828); and Stobbe, "Die Aufhebung der väterlichen Gewalt nach
dem Recht des Mittelalters," in his _Beiträge_ (Braunschweig,
1865). Koehne has investigated "Die geschlechtsverbindung der
Unfreien im französischen Recht," in Gierke's _Untersuchungen_,
XXII (Breslau, 1888); and the matrimonial relations of
the servile classes are also treated by Jastrow, _Zur
strafrechtlichen Stellung der Sklaven bei Deutschen und
Angelsachsen_, _ibid._, II (Breslau, 1878); Luchaire, _Manuel
des institutions françaises_, 203, 295, 301-3 (Paris, 1892);
Rambaud, _Histoire de la civilisation française_, I, 102,
154, 125, _passim_ (Paris, 1898); Mone, Bader, and Dambacker,
"Eherecht der Hörigen im 13.-16. Jahrhunderte," _Zeitschrift für
Geschichte des Oberrheins_, VII, 2 (1856); and in a paper "Von
Loslassung der unterthänigen Weibspersonen in der Oberlausitz
zum Verheurathen," in _Arbeiten einer Gesellschaft in der
Oberlausitz_, II, 118 ff. (1750).

For Anglo-Saxon marriage the best monograph is Young's
"Anglo-Saxon Family Law," in _Essays_ (Boston, 1876).
Very good papers also are Amira's _Erbenfolge und
Verwandtschafts-Gliederung nach den altniederdeutschen
Rechten_ (Munich, 1874); and Ashworth, _Das Witthum (Dower) im
englischen Recht_ (Frankfort, 1898). Opet, "Die erbrechtliche
Stellung der Weiber in der Zeit der Volksrechte," in Gierke's
_Untersuchungen_, XXV (Breslau, 1888), strongly combats the
commonly accepted theory that the Anglo-Saxon woman was
neglected in the law of inheritance; in this agreeing with
Turner, _History of the Manners, Landed Property, &c., of
the Anglo-Saxons_ (1805); and criticising Glasson, _Droit de
succession_ (Paris, 1886), which may be read with his _La
famille et la propriété chez les Germains_ (Orleans, 1885).
Henry Adams in _Historical Essays_ (New York, 1891) likewise
takes a very favorable view of the legal condition of the early
German married woman. Roeder, _Die Familie bei den Angelsachsen_
(Halle, 1899), has made good use of literary sources. Pollock
and Maitland, _History of English Law_ (Cambridge, 1895), give
a clear and concise sketch of old English matrimonial custom;
and there is an excellent article by Florence Buckstaff in
the _Annals of the American Academy_, IV, on "Married Woman's
Property in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Law" (Philadelphia,
1894). Of service also are Wright, _History of Domestic Manners
and Sentiments in England during the Middle Ages_ (London,
1862); Thrupp, _The Anglo-Saxon Home_ (London, 1862); Esmein's
edition of Gide, _Étude sur la condition privée de la femme_
(Paris, 1885); Lingard, _History and Antiquities of the
Anglo-Saxon Church_ (London, 1845; 2d ed., London, n. d.);
Phillips, _Geschichte des angelsächsischen Rechts_ (Göttingen,
1825); _idem_, _Reichs- und Rechtsgeschichte seit der Ankunft
der Normannen_ (Berlin, 1827-28); Hodgetts, _Older England_
(London, 1884); Jeaffreson, _Brides and Bridals_ (London, 1872);
and Glasson, "La famille," in his _Histoire du droit et des
institutions de l'Angleterre_, I. For further illustration of
matrimonial law and custom read Dezert, _Les unions irrégulières
en Navarre_ (Caen, 1892); and Hanauer, "Coutumes matrimoniales
au moyen age," in _Mémoires de l'académie de Stanislas_ (Nancy,
1892).]

I. THE PRIMITIVE REAL CONTRACT OF SALE AND ITS MODIFICATIONS

It is not improbable, as already explained, that wife-capture may have existed among our ancestors,[837] though some of the evidence for its survival collected from the folk-laws by Dargun and others may perhaps more rationally be regarded merely as proof of the brutality and lawlessness incident to the transitional period of the "barbarian invasion."[838] The testimony of the law-books, however, points more clearly to the former existence of wife-purchase. With the Old English, as well as among the other Teutonic peoples, at the dawn of history marriage was a private transaction, taking the form of a sale of the bride by the father or other legal guardian to the bridegroom. The procedure consisted of two parts. First was the _beweddung_, or betrothal; and second, the _gifta_, or actual tradition of the bride at the nuptials.[839] The _beweddung_ was a "real contract of sale,"[840] essential to which was one-sided performance; that is, payment by the bridegroom of the _weotuma_ or _Witthum_, the price of the bride.[841] In ancient times the person of the woman was doubtless the object of purchase; and within the historical period woman, among most Teutonic peoples, remained in perpetual tutelage.[842] When the guardianship of the father or other male relative, as representative of the clan-group or _Sippe_, ended, that of the husband began. But, however hard may have been the lot of the married woman, manifestly her condition was very different from that of a chattel. This fact is not wholly inconsistent with wife-purchase; for, as already seen, a certain liberty, even of choice, may be enjoyed by the woman where she is legally the object of sale. It has given rise to a theory of the betrothal which it is thought the records sustain. The _weotuma_, it is contended, must be looked upon as the price of the _mund_, or protectorship over the woman, which is transferred from the father or legal guardian to the husband. This is the view now perhaps most generally accepted, but it has by no means gone unchallenged.[843] Ethically and historically, as suggested in the preceding chapter, the rise of a legal distinction between the purchase of property in the wife and the acquirement of authority over her is highly important. But, practically, when the powers of the husband are so great as they were among our ancestors, there can be little difference in popular conception between possession of the _mund_ and ownership of the woman.[844] As a matter of fact, the old English laws speak bluntly of "buying a maid;"[845] and in Germany "to buy a wife" was a familiar phrase for marriage throughout the Middle Ages.[846]

[837] BRUNNER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, I, 72, 73, and
the sources there cited. The former existence of wife-capture
among the Germans is also held by SIEGEL,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 450; HEUSLER, _Institutionen_, II,
280; SCHULENBURG, _Die Spuren des Brautraubes_, 10 ff.:
BERNHÖFT, _Frauenleben_, 8 ff.; LAMPRECHT,
_Deutsche Geschichte_, 97 ff., 107 ff.; SEHLING
_Unterscheidung der Verlöbnisse_, 29; OPET, _Die
erbrechtliche Stellung der Weiber_, 16 ff.; COLBERG,
_Ueber das Ehehinderniss der Entführung_ (Leipzig, 1869), 25.

[838] DARGUN, _Mutterrecht und Raubehe_, 111-25,
critically examines these passages. The fact that a marriage
effected by rape or abduction is often treated as valid, even
when the purchase price is not paid, is especially urged as
evidence of the survival of customary wife-capture. Thus in
ÆTHELBERHT, 82, 83; ÆLF., 8; ÆTHELRED,
VI, 26, 39: SCHMID, _Gesetze_, 9, 75, 231, 301, a
penalty is exacted in such cases, though the marriage appears
to be valid. But is it not simpler to explain this on grounds
still familiar to all? The suggestion of the text seems to be
sustained by the materials collected by WEINHOLD,
_Deutsche Frauen_, I, 308-15. _Cf._ JEAFFRESON, _Brides
and Bridals_, I, 12-31.

[839] _Beweddunge_ is the Anglo-Saxon term, and it is so used in
the old English formulary of the tenth century: SCHMID,
_Gesetze_, Anhang, VI, 390. It means the act of "contracting" or
"pledging," associated with the verb _beweddian_, "to contract":
SCHMID, 535, 536. It has the same origin as the modern
"wed," "wedding," etc. On the _beweddung_ see SIEGEL,
_Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, 450 ff.

[840] In early German law the "real contract" is the only
contract recognized. There is no contract by mere convention,
no "consensual" contract. Originally two-sided fulfilment was
required. Thus, according to SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 24
ff., in case of betrothal, payment of the price and tradition
of the bride went hand in hand. Later one-sided performance,
or even a formal act, was deemed sufficient, and through it
the _title_ was actually transferred; the purchaser thus
acquiring the "negative" as opposed to the "positive" rights of
property--the power to use and enjoy. _Cf._ HABICHT,
_Altdeutsche Verlobung_, 6, 7; LOENING, _Geschichte
des deutschen Kirchenrechts_, II, 577-79; YOUNG, in
_Essays_, 167; LEHMANN, _Verlobung und Hochzeit_,
77; FRIEDBERG, _Verlobung und Trauung_, 7, 8;
STOBBE, _Reuerecht und Vertragschluss nach älterem
deutschem Recht_ (Leipzig, 1876).

[841] Anglo-Saxon _weotuma_: ÆLFRED, _Ecc. Laws_, 12,
29: SCHMID, _Gesetze_, 58, 62. SCHROEDER uses
the term _Muntschatz_, which, however, is only found in Friesic
law: SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 33, note. Some form of
_weotuma_ appears in many dialects: Old German _widemo_, giving
rise to _Witthum_; Longobardian _meta_; Burgundian _wittemon_;
Friesic _wetma_ (_wethma_, _weetma_); Alamannian _widem_:
SCHROEDER _Güterrecht_, I, 46, 47, 24; SCHMID,
_op. cit._, 675; GRIMM, _Rechtsalterthümer_, 422-24;
YOUNG, in _Essays_, 165; WEINHOLD, _Deutsche
Frauen_, I, 320, note, 336, _passim_; SCHROEDER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 291, note, 161. _Cf._ ECKHARDT,
"Das Witthum," in _Zeitsch. für deutsches Recht_, X, 437
ff.; HELLWALD, _Die mensch. Familie_, 315, 316;
SMITH, _La famille chez les Burgondes_, 5 ff.

[842] On the tutelage of woman in early Germanic law see
GRIMM, _Rechtsalterthümer_, 447 ff., 465; SOHM,
_Eheschliessung_, 22, 50 ff.; WEINHOLD, _Deutsche
Frauen_, I, 193 ff.; II, 27; GIDE, _Étude sur la
cond. privée de la femme_, 280 ff., 339; RIVE,
_Vormundschaft_, I, 218 ff.; KRAUT, _Vormundschaft_, I,
171-86; LEBER, _Des coutumes_, 22 ff.; REINSCH,
_Stellung und Leben der deutschen Frau_, 4 ff.; HABICHT,
_Altd. Verlobung_, 8 ff., 68; FRIEDBERG,
_Eheschliessung_, 17 ff., _passim_; SCHROEDER,
_Güterrecht_, I, 1 ff.; _idem_, _Rechtsgeschichte_, 64 ff.,
_passim_; BRUNNER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, I,75,89
ff.; DARGUN, _Mutterrecht und Raubehe_, 23 ff.;
KOHLER, "Die Ehe mit und ohne Mundium," _ZVR._, VI, 321
ff.; WAITZ, in _Sitzungsberichte der preuss. Akademie_,
1886, 375 ff.; BUCKSTAFF, in _Annals of Am. Acad._, IV,
233 ff.; STOBBE, "Die Aufhebung der väterlichen Gewalt
nach dem Recht des Mittelalters;" in _Beiträge_, 1-24, reviewing
and criticising KRAUT; ZOEPFL, (R.), _De tutela
mulierum germanic_. (Heidelberg, 1828); EMMINGHAUS,
_De praecipuis germ. fem._ (Jena, 1756); and ZOEPFL
(H.), _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 1-4. YOUNG,
"Anglo-Saxon Family Law," _Essays_, 148 ff., denies that _patria
potestas_ existed in German law; and a similar view is taken by
ADAMS, _Political Essays_, 31 ff.; but HEUSLER,
_Institutionen_, II, 275, takes the opposite view. _Cf._
SMITH, _La famille chez les Burgondes_, 13 ff.
FICKER, _Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 401
ff., insists that the sex-tutelage (_Geschlechtsvormundschaft_)
did not exist under Frank law.

[843] That the betrothal is a contract relative to the _mund_
is stoutly maintained by DAHN, _Das Weib in altgerm.
Recht und Leben_, 4 ff., who absolutely rejects wife-purchase,
declaring such an idea to be "abominable and impossible"
("abscheulich und unmöglich"). This theory is also held by
KRAUT, _Vormundschaft_ I, 171; SCHROEDER,
_Güterrecht_, I, 27 ff., 38, 79; yet SCHROEDER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 68, 291 ff., regards the German marriage as
in form a purchase of the bride. RIVE, _Vormundschaft_,
I, 258 ff., _passim_, denies that the betrothal has any
relation to the _mund_, and rejects entirely the view that the
sale-marriage ever existed among the Germans. HABICHT,
_Altdeutsche Verlobung_, 8 ff., 12, admits that originally the
_mund_ was a "property right" and the wife a "thing," though in
the earliest written sources she appears as _Rechtssubject_.
SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 22, regards the _Witthum_ as
the price of the _mund_; but in his _Trauung und Verlobung_,
15, 16, he drops this view and declares the betrothal to be a
contract to "give the bride in marriage," or, more directly, a
"Kauf der Jungfrau." FRIEDBERG, _Eheschliessung_, 17,
18, appears to hold that it was the _mund_ which was conveyed;
but elsewhere he seems to favor the opposite view for the early
period. See his _Verlobung und Trauung_, 7 ff.; _Lehrbuch_, 339;
and _Zur Geschichte_, 362 ff. Pollock and Maitland, _Hist. of
Eng. Law_, II, 362, declare that "whatever guesses we may make
about a remoter age, the 'bride-sale,' of which Tacitus had
heard, was evidently no sale of a chattel. It was very different
from the sale of a slave girl; it was a sale of the _mund_, the
protectorship over the woman." GIDE, _Étude sur la cond.
privée de la femme_, 196-215, 335 ff.; and HENRY ADAMS,
_Historical Essays_, 31, are decidedly of the same opinion.
BUCKSTAFF, in _Annals of Am. Acad._, IV, 234, doubts
whether the German woman was ever looked upon as a chattel; and
OPET, "Die erbrechtliche Stellung der Weiber in der Zeit
des Volksrechts," in GIERKE'S _Untersuchungen_, XXV,
takes a very favorable view of woman's right of inheritance.

On the other hand, the betrothal is regarded as originally an
actual sale of the bride by GLASSON, _Hist. du droit
et des inst. de l'Angleterre_, I, 116, 117; GROSSE,
_Die Formen der Familie_, 223, 234; SIEGEL,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 450-52; WEINHOLD, _Deutsche_
_Frauen_, I, 320; HEUSLER, _Institutionen_, II, 279 ff.;
LOENING, _Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts_, II,
578; HOFMANN, _Ueber den Verlobungs- und Trauring_, 849,
850; LEBER, _Des coutumes_, 22 ff.; LAMPRECHT,
_Deutsche Geschichte_, I, 104, 105; SEHLING,
_Unterscheidung der Verlöbnisse_, 32, 33; GRIMM,
_Rechtsalterthümer_, 420 ff.; DAVOUD-OGHLOU,
_Législation des anciens Germains_, I, xl-xli; HELLWALD,
_Die mensch. Familie_ (apparently), 315-18; DARGUN,
_Mutterrecht und Raubehe_, 24 ff.; and especially
BRUNNER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, I, 74 ff. LEHMANN,
_Verlobung und Hochzeit_, 7 ff., 78, 79, finds fainter traces of
the sale-marriage among the Scandinavians than among the North
Germans. _Kohler_, "Die Ehe mit und ohne Mundium," _ZVR._, VI,
321 ff., holds that marriage without _mund_ on the part of the
husband is the marriage of mother-right as opposed to the later
_Paternitätsrecht_. See also KOHLER, in _ZVR._, III,
354; and _Waitz_, "Ueber die Bedeutung des Mundium im deutschen
Recht," _Sitzungsberichte der preuss. Akad._, 1886, 375 ff., for
a discussion of the meaning and content of _mund_. In general,
_cf._ KÖNIGSWARTER, _Hist. de l'organisation de la
famille_, 121 ff.; LABOULAYE, _Condition des femmes_,
112 ff.; STRACK, _Aus dem deutschen Familienleben_, I,
17 ff.; BEAUCHET, _Mariage dans le droit islandais_, 3
ff., 12 ff.

[844] HABICHT, _Altdeutsche Verlobung_, 9, note, 68,
insists that there is no practical difference between the sale of
the _Vormundschaft_, or protection, and the sale of the bride.
See FICKER, _Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte_, III,
393-419, who rejects the view that marriage has the same origin
and character among all the German peoples.

[845] ÆTHELB., 77: SCHMID, _Gesetze_, 8, 9.
LIEBERMANN, 7, translates: "Wenn jemand eine Jungfrau
zur Ehe kauft." Another provision of this code reads: "If a
free man lies with a free man's wife, let him buy her with her
wergeld, and procure with his own property another woman and
bring her home to him (the wronged husband)": ÆTHELRED,
31: SCHMID, 4, 5. _Cf._ LIEBERMANN'S ed., 5.
See ROEDER, _Die Familie bei den Angelsachsen_, 15 ff.,
24 ff.

[846] BRUNNER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, I, 74: "Wife-purchase
is yet known to the earlier East Frisian sources, and it was
still practiced in Denmark in the fifteenth century. "Und wie im
Mittelalter die Redensart eine Frau zu kaufen vielfach verbreitet
war, so bezeichnet in Holland der Volksmund noch jetzt die Braut
als 'verkocht' (verkauft)."

Whatever its essential character, there is abundant evidence of the widespread existence of sale-marriage among the Teutonic nations. Tacitus, who was struck by a custom so much at variance with the Roman practice of his day, has given in the eighteenth chapter of the _Germania_ the earliest description of a _beweddung_. "The wife," he says, "does not offer a _dos_ to the husband, but the husband offers one to the wife. Parents and relatives are present; they approve the gifts, not seeking those trifles which are pleasing to women, nor those with which a newly wedded bride is adorned; but oxen, a bridled horse, and a shield with sword and spear. For these gifts the wife is obtained, and she, in turn, brings something of arms to her husband. These they regard as the highest bond, the most mysterious sacra, the gods of marriage."[847] In this passage the essential character of the _weotuma_, that is the gifts, is clearly recognized; and though the historian represents it as being paid to the bride, it is probable that in this particular he is mistaken, and that, in accordance with the early practice, it was really paid to the guardian,[848] for it is very unlikely that the stage of the dower had already been reached.

[847] "Dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus offert. Intersunt
parentes ac propinqui; probant munera, non ad delicias muliebres
quaesita, nec quibus nova nupta comatur, sed boves et frenatum
equum et scutum cum framea gladioque. In haec munera uxor
accipitur, atque invicem ipsa armorum aliquid viro affert.
Hoc maximum vinculum, haec arcana sacra, hos conjugales deos
arbitrantur."--TACITUS, _Germania_, c. 18.

[848] SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 24 ff., 82, 83,
has shown that this is probable; and such is the view of
GRIMM, _Rechtsalt._, 423, 424. ZOEPFL,
_Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 4, believes Tacitus,
"vermengt unverkennbar die verschiedenen Gaben, welche nach den
Volksrechten des folgenden Zeitraumes unter der Bezeichnung
als _pretium_ und Morgengabe hervortreten, wovon die eine dem
Vater oder Vormund der Frau, und die andere dieser selbst
gebührte;" and the arms given by the bride to the bridegroom
he identifies with the later well-known ceremony of "girding"
the youth on reaching majority. _Cf._ on this passage also
HEUSLER, _Institutionen_, II, 277; THUDICUM,
_Der altdeutsche Staat_, 148, 186; LABOULAYE, _Cond.
des femmes_, 113; SIEGEL, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_,
452; GIDE, _Étude sur la cond. privée de la femme_, 205
ff.; FICKER, _Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte_,
III, 416-19, 394, believes Tacitus here describes correctly the
_Vidumsehe_, the marriage in which the _Vidum_ or price came to
the woman herself.

In the earliest English codes the contract is found in its rudest form. Besides _weotuma_, various other terms appear for the bride-money. Such are _gyft_, _feoh_, _pretium_, and _pecunia pro puella data_.[849] According to a provision of Æthelberht, already referred to, "If a man buy a maiden with cattle (_ceapi_) let the bargain stand, if it be without guile; but if there be guile, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him."[850] Another law of the same king declares: "If a man carry off a maiden by force, let him pay fifty shillings to the owner, and afterwards buy of the owner the latter's consent [to the marriage]. If she be betrothed to another man in money (sceat), let him make bot [to this bridegroom] with twenty shillings."[851]

[849] SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 50; _idem_,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 292; SOHM, _Trauung und Verlobung_,
15; LABOULAYE, _op. cit._, 113.

[850] ÆTHELB., 77; THORPE, _Ancient
Laws_, 22, 23, and n. 3; SCHMID, _Gesetze_, 8,
9. LIEBERMANN, 7, renders the first part of this
passage: "Wenn jemand eine Jungfrau [zur Ehe] kauft,
sei sie durch [Braut] Kaufgeld [giltig] erkauft, falls das
[Rechtsgeschäft] untrügerisch ist." _Cf. Poeniten. Theod._,
XVI, 29; THORPE, II, 11, or _Poeniten. Theod._, II, xii,
§ 34, in WASSERSCHLEBEN'S _Bussordnungen_, 216; with
_Confess. Ecgb._, § 20: THORPE, II, 147; or the same
in WASSERSCHLEBEN, 309. See also SCHROEDER,
_Güterrecht_, I, 51 n. 9.

[851] ÆTHELB., 82, 83; THORPE, I, 24, 25;
LIEBERMANN, 8; _cf._ SCHROEDER, _op. cit._, 51
n. 10.

Still, it will not be wise to accept too literally the apparent statements of the early codes relative to the marriage relation, for they are often brief and obscure, devoid of qualifying terms, and must be construed in the light of other facts. Thus Opet's researches seem to show clearly that in the historical period women were not so much neglected in the ancient law of inheritance as has usually been supposed.[852]

[852] OPET, _Die erbrechtliche Stellung der Weiber
in der Zeit der Volksrechte_, 82 ff. This monograph may
be compared with that of AMIRA, _Erbenfolge und
Verwandtschaftsgliederung nach dem altniederdeutschen Rechte_,
83, 84. ROEDER, _Die Familie bei den Angelsachsen_,
15 ff., takes a conservative position. In general on old
English marriage see PHILLIPS, _Geschichte des
angelsächs. Rechts_, 129-33; DAVOUD-OGHLOU, II, 355-60;
YOUNG, in _Essays_, 163 ff.; FRIEDBERG,
_Eheschliessung_, 33 ff.; LINGARD, _Anglo-Saxon Church_
(2d ed.), I, 6 ff.; TRAILL, _Social England_, I, 215,
216; GIDE, _Étude sur la cond. privée de la femme_,
237, 196 ff.; POLLOCK AND MAITLAND, _Hist. of Eng.
Law_, II, 362 ff.; BUCKSTAFF, in _Annals_, IV, 233;
LUDLOW, in _Dict. of Christ. Ant._, I, 203, 143. There
is also a good discussion by GLASSON, _Hist. du droit
et des inst. de l'Angleterre_, I, 104-33; an account of the
Anglo-Saxon bride in GRUPEN, _De uxore theotisca_,
221-55; interesting details in THRUPP, _The Anglo-Saxon
Home_, 19-76; WRIGHT, _Hist. of Doms. Manners and
Sentiments_, 53-56; TURNER, _Hist. of Manners and Landed
Property of Anglo-Saxons_, 108, 113-15; and JEAFFRESON,
_Brides and Bridals_, I, 32-45, who gives an interesting
discussion regarding the Anglo-Saxon woman, as a chattel subject
to sale, even in the historical period. "To these ancient
arrangements for the transference of women from their fathers
to their matrimonial suitors, and for protecting the property
in them against nefarious aggressors," he declares, "must be
referred the barbarous spirit in which the law still persists in
regarding a certain class of atrocious outrages on morality as
mere infringements of private right. We reflect with astonishment
on the conduct of our distant progenitors, who legalized traffic
in womankind, but we persevere, so far as law is concerned, in
dealing with the seducer as though his offence were nothing
graver than a violation of personal privileges, for which a
payment of money to one of the injured persons is the appropriate
penalty" (I, 42, 43).

Similar evidences of the sale-marriage are afforded by the South German folk-laws.[853] Among the Salian Franks the bride-price appears in form of the _arrha_, to be described presently, through the payment to the guardian by the bridegroom of the "golden shilling and the silver penny." In this form the _arrha_ was paid by the representatives of Chlodwig, the Frankish king, at his betrothal with Chlotilde, sister and ward of Gundobad, king of the Burgundians.[854] Faint traces of wife-purchase survive in the Bavarian[855] and Alamannian codes;[856] while in the _lex saxonum_ marriage is simply described as _uxorem emere_, or "buying a wife."[857] The sale-contract retains much of its primitive character, in spite of ecclesiastical influences, in the West Gothic, Burgundian, and Lombard codes. Among the West Goths the betrothal was almost as binding as a marriage. The father or other legal protector might contract his daughter or ward against her will. If she disregards such a contract and marries another man, both bride and bridegroom are "handed over to the power" of him to whom she was betrothed by her father or guardian, "and any relatives abetting the marriage shall pay a penalty of gold."[858] The provisions of the other two codes last mentioned are conceived in a similar spirit.[859] Moreover, even in the customs of the Scandinavian North forms and phrases have survived which seem to point unmistakably to the former existence of wife-purchase.[860]

[853] An exhaustive study of these laws is, of course, not
attempted. They are thoroughly exploited in the works of Sohm,
Brunner, Schroeder, Friedberg, Dargun, and others.

[854] "Legati offerentes solidum et denarium, ut mos erat
Francorum, eam partibus Chlodovei sponsant: placitum
ad praesens petentes, ut ipsam ad conjugium traderet
Chlodoveo."--FREDEGARIUS, _Greg. Turon. hist. epit._, c.
xviii: in GUADET AND TARANNE'S ed., IV, 172, 173; or in
GIESEBRECHT'S trans., II, 273-75. Compare SOHM,
_Eheschliessung_, 32 n. 21; SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I,
55 n. 3, and authorities cited; MERIL, _Des formes_,
30; LEBER, _Des Coutumes_, 24; WEINHOLD,
_Deutsche Frauen_, I, 323; FRIEDBERG, _Eheschliessung_,
19 n. 7. The price of a maid is not fixed in the _lex salica_;
but in c. 44 the price of a widow is given (BEHREND,
58); and elsewhere the woman's _mund_ is fixed at 62-1/2 solidi.
FICKER, _Untersuchungen zur Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 400,
401, regards the _arrha_, not as a survival of the bride-price,
but as a symbol of mutual troth.

[855] SOHM, _op. cit._, 29 n. 15; FRIEDBERG,
_Eheschliessung_, 19. _Cf._, however, WEINHOLD, _op.
cit._, I, 323, who says that wife-purchase has disappeared
from the Bavarian and Alamannian laws. See PERTZ AND
BRUNNER'S ed., _Mon. germ. hist.: legum_, III, 183-496
(_Leges baiuwariorum_), 1-182 (_Leges alamannorum_).

[856] _Puella empta_ appears in the _Pactus alamannorum_,
3, 29. _Cf._ SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 17 ff.;
WEINHOLD, _op. cit._, I, 323; FRIEDBERG, _op.
cit._, 19.

[857] "Lito regis liceat uxorem emere, ubicunqui voluerit. Sed
non liceat ullam foeminam vendere."--_Lex saxonum_, tit. 18:
WALTER, _Corpus juris germ._, I, 389. Tit. 6 fixes the
price at 300 solidi: WALTER, I, 386.

[858] _Lex wisigoth._, lib. iii, tit. i, 2: WALTER,
_Corpus juris germ._, I, 466; LUDLOW, in _Dict. Christ.
Ant._, I, 203. The bride-money is here called _pretium_,
elsewhere the betrothal is styled _mercatio_: BRUNNER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, I, 74 n. 23. The whole of liber iii,
WALTER, I, 465-91, relates to marriage and allied
matters.

[859] _Lex burgundionum_, tits. 12, 34, 51, 52, 66, 69:
WALTER, I, 311, 320, 329, 330, 335, 336; for the
Lombards, _Edictum Rotharis_, c. 178 ff.: WALTER,
I, 710 ff., especially c. 182, which contains the form of
betrothal. Compare this with the later ritual given by
CANCIANI, II, 476, summarized by WEINHOLD, I,
341; LUDLOW, in _Dict. Christ. Ant._, I, 203. See also
_Liutprandi leges_, lib. ii, c. 7 ff., 88, 93, 99, 102, 106, 112,
115, 119, etc.: WALTER, I, 759 ff.

[860] LEHMANN, _Verlobung und Hochzeit_, 1 ff., 78, 79;
WEINHOLD, _Altdeutsches Leben_, 240. SCHROEDER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 287, denies that there are any sure traces of
wife-purchase in northern law.

During the period of the law-books, both in England and on the continent, the amount of the bride-money was generally fixed by custom or by statute. The price established seems usually to have equaled the value of the _mund_ or that of the _wergeld_, which depended upon the rank of the woman.[861] While the law thus fixed the amount of the bride-money, doubtless to facilitate an easy settlement of those cases in which marriages were illegally formed without payment of the _weotuma_, it by no means follows, as sometimes assumed, that its value was not ordinarily arranged by private agreement, as in the early period.

[861] SCHROEDER, _op. cit._, 292; BRUNNER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 75; WEINHOLD, _Deutsche Frauen_,
I, 321 ff.; SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 23, 24, who thinks
the fixing of a legal price of great importance, the purchase
of a maid being thus distinguished from that of a thing. The
bride-money is thus the nominal price of an _unschätzbares_
object; it admits no bargaining; but the explanation of
HABICHT, _Altdeutsche Verlobung_, 12, 13, given in
the text, is simpler and more probable. SCHROEDER,
_Güterrecht_, I, 11 ff., in connection with each code, gives
a mass of details relative to the violation of the _mund_ by
illegal marriage and the amount of the composition in each
case. _Cf._ LABOULAYE, _Cond. des femmes_, 113;
YOUNG, in _Essays_, 166; and ÆTHELBERHT, 31;
THORPE, I, 11, where the _wergeld_ is mentioned.

At a very early day it became customary--instead of the _weotuma_ to pay to the guardian a small sum at the betrothal, called in general _arrha_[862]--the _Hand-geld_ of the German writers--accompanied by promises and sureties for the payment of the price of the bride at the _gifta_, or nuptials. Strictly speaking, the _arrha_ was neither a part payment nor even a symbolical payment of the _weotuma_; it was an act by which the real obligation implied by the contract of sale was engendered.[863] The practice of paying the _arrha_ instead of the bride-money at the betrothal led to a change in the character of the marriage contract. "In the time of the folk-laws--from the sixth to the ninth century--we see among all the German tribes a change take place: the witthum, that is the purchase price, is no longer paid to the guardian, that is the seller, but to the bride herself; so that the right of the guardian was practically limited to the receipt of the handgeld, that is to a merely formal fulfilment."[864] Thus, since the property of the wife was subject to the husband's control during his lifetime, the _weotuma_ was really transformed into a provision for the widow, payable only after death from the husband's goods.[865] The _beweddung_ was still a "real contract," but not a "contract of sale."[866]

[862] Latin _arrha_, _arra_, or _arrhabo_; Greek ἀρῥᾰβων;
Lombard _launichild_, _launegild_, perhaps the same as the
German _Lohngeld_. It means "earnest money," and was used
by the Romans in connection with bargains; also in general
with other real contracts. _Cf._ SMITH, _Dict.
Greek and Roman Ant._, I, 193; BINGHAM, _Orig.
Ecc._, VII, 311; SCHROEDER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, 290,
295; _idem_, _Güterrecht_, I, 39, 55 ff.; HEUSLER,
_Institutionen_, I, 80 ff.; SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 28;
ZOEPFL, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 8 ff., 12-14;
DAVOUD-OGHLOU, II, 59 n. 3; LUDLOW, in _Dict.
Christ. Ant._, I, 142-44. "Subarrare" is used in the ritual of
the Greek church for disposing in marriage: see the ritual in
BURN, _Parish Registers_, 141, 142.

[863] SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 28-32, maintains
this view against SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 39,
40, 55, and others, who regard the _arrha_ as a symbolical
payment--a _Scheinpreis_ or _symbolischer Muntschatz_. _Cf._
FRIEDBERG, _Eheschliessung_, 19; "Zur Gesch. der
Eheschliessung," _ZKR._, I, 364 ff.

[864] SOHM, _op. cit._, 33.

[865] _Ibid._

[866] _Ibid._, 34. But FRIEDBERG, _Verlobung und
Trauung_, 8-10, insists on the long survival of the sale-contract.

In this second stage, it has been thought, was the form of betrothal among the old English in the days of Ine and Ælfred; but the evidence is not entirely conclusive. Indeed, a provision of Ine, relied upon by Schroeder to prove that the price had not been paid at the betrothal, appears to show the opposite, according to the reading of Liebermann. "If a man buy a woman (as a wife) and the gifta or tradition take not place, let him (the woman's guardian) give the money back (to the bridegroom), pay as much more as penalty, and recompense the betrothal sureties (byrgean) in as much as the breach of their pledge is worth."[867] Even with this reading it is just possible that the money restored was the _arrha_; and that betrothal sureties were required mainly to secure damage in case the bride were not actually transferred. A law of Ælfred likewise shows the practice of taking surety; but in this case also it seems uncertain whether the pledges were given for the payment of the bride-money; for damage on failure to surrender the bride as a maid; or for both bride-price and damage combined, though the last hypothesis seems the most probable. "If a betrothed woman commit adultery, if she be of ceorlish degree, let a penalty of sixty shillings be paid to the betrothal sureties, and let it be in live-stock, things of value; and in it let no (unfree) man be given." If the woman be worth six hundred or twelve hundred shillings _wergeld_, the penalty is fixed at one hundred or one hundred and twenty shillings respectively.[868] But another law of Ælfred seems to reveal more clearly the second or transitional phase in the history of the wedding contract; for the bride-price is paid to the woman. It provides that in case a man sell his daughter into servitude, and the purchaser "allow his son to cohabit with her, let him (the son) marry her: and let him see that she have raiment, and that which is the worth of her maidhood, that is the weotuma; let him give her that."[869]

[867] INE, 31: LIEBERMANN, _Gesetze_, 103. The
phrase "and sio (seo) gyft (gift) forth ne cume" was rendered
by SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 51 n. 8, followed by
SCHMID, _Gesetze_, 34, 35, note, "if the purchase price
be not paid"--a manifest error. _Cf._ THORPE, _Ancient
Laws_, I, 123.

[868] ÆLFRED, 18: LIEBERMANN, _Gesetze_, 58-61.
_Cf._ THORPE, _op. cit._, I,73; SCHMID, _op.
cit._, 81, 83; YOUNG, in _Essays_, 170.

[869] ÆLFRED, _Ecc. Laws_, 12: THORPE, _op.
cit._, I, 47. But ÆLFRED, _op. cit._, 29, seems to show
that the older practice of payment to the father also existed:
THORPE, I, 52.

The transition from this last-named form of contract to a third and still more liberal one was easy and natural. Already in the tenth century the _beweddung_ had become a merely "formal contract," the _wed_, _wette_, _Treugelöbniss_, _wadium_, or _fides facta_ of the early laws.[870] In this case there was not even one-sided fulfilment through payment of the _arrha_, which in the form of wine-money was merely _promised_ to the guardian;[871] but instead the agreement or convention was accompanied by sureties to pay the _weotuma_ to the bride, and by a solemn act which created the obligation, and was therefore essential to the contract. Originally this solemn act consisted in giving and taking the straw (_festuca_) on the part of the bride and bridegroom. Instead of the straw, other objects were sometimes employed, such as a piece of cloth, an arrow, a number of gloves, and the like.[872] The oath or vow was also substituted for the solemn act; and, particularly in the later Middle Ages, the most popular symbol by which the contract was closed was a "weakened" form of the oath, the _Handschlag_, or hand-fasting, so famous in connection with the history of English "secret" or "irregular" marriages.[873] It should be noted that after the betrothal assumes the form of the _wed_, the _weotuma_ ceases to be of real importance and becomes a gift to the bride of little value; whereas now the object of real concern in the convention is the _morgengifu_, or _morning-gift_.[874] This was originally a small voluntary gift to the bride on the morning following the nuptials; but as the _weotuma_ decreased the morning-gift increased in importance. It became customary to grant them both in the same instrument at the betrothal; so, at length, they were merged and became a regular legal provision for the widow. Such was the Lombard _quarta_[875] and the Frankish _tertia_;[876] the Norman _douaire_, and the _dos ad ostium ecclesiae_ of Glanville, the predecessors of the modern English dower.[877]

[870] The German _wette_ and Anglo-Saxon _wed_ are from the same
root as _beweddung_.

[871] SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 30, 31, 317, note.

[872] _Ibid._, 34, 35; SCHROEDER, _Rechtsgeschichte_,
293, 294.

[873] On the oath and _Handschlag_, see SOHM,
_op. cit._, 47-50; on hand-fasting, FRIEDBERG,
_Eheschliessung_, 39 ff.

[874] On the morning-gift and dower see HEUSLER,
_Institutionen_, II, 374-79; THRUPP, _The Anglo-Saxon
Home_, 60; GUNDLING, _De emptione uxorum, dote et
morgengaba_ (Helmstedt, 1821); GENGLER, _Die Morgengaba_
(Bamberg, 1843); ECKHARDT, "Das Witthum," _Zeitschrift
für deutsches Recht_, X, 437 ff.; GRUPEN, _De uxore
theotisca_, 49-140; BRUNNER, "Die frankisch-romanische
Dos," _Berliner Sitzungsber._, XXIV, 545 ff.; SIEGEL,
_Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, 455-57; FRIEDBERG, "Zur
Geschichte," _ZKR._, I, 365, 366; SPIRGATIS, _Verlobung
und Vermählung_, 14; SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 84-94
ZOEPFL, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, III, 19-21.

[875] SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 84-89.

[876] _Ibid._, 89-94.

[877] GLANVILLE, Lib. VI, cap. 1; PHILLIPS,
_Englische Reichs- und Rechtsgeschichte_, II, 381. Compare
SCHROEDER, _op. cit._, I, 89; II, 24-67, _passim_;
YOUNG, in _Essays_, 174; LABOULAYE, _Cond. des
femmes_, 117 ff., 124 ff.; GRIMM, _Rechtsalt._, 441;
and especially the monograph of ASHWORTH, _Das Witthum
(Dower) im eng. Recht_, 9 ff., 18 ff.

This third phase of the _beweddung_ may be clearly discerned in the English laws of the pre-Norman period, and seems to have been the prevailing form after the beginning of the tenth century. The following formulary, dating perhaps from the reign of Eadmund or Æthelstan, besides its peculiar interest as being the earliest English betrothal ritual extant, is an excellent example of the formal contract, though some of its provisions are not clear:

"1. If a man desire to betroth a maiden or a widow, and it so be agreeable to her and her friends, then it is right that the bridegroom, according to the law of God, and according to the customs of the world, first promise and give a 'wed' to those who are her 'foresprecas,' that he desire her in such wise that he will keep her, according to God's law, as a husband shall his wife: and let his friends guarantee that.

"2. After that, it is to be known to whom the 'foster-laen'[878] belongs: let the bridegroom again give a 'wed' for this: and let his friends guarantee it.

"3. Then, after that, let the bridegroom declare what he will grant her, in case she choose his will, and what he will grant her, if she live longer than he.

"4. If it be so agreed, then it is right that she be entitled to half the property, and to all, if they have children in common, except she again choose a husband.[879]

"5. Let him confirm all that which he has promised with a 'wed;' and let his friends guarantee that.

"6. If they then are agreed in everything, then let the kinsmen take it in hand, and betroth their kinswoman to wife, and to a righteous life, to him who desired her, and let him take possession of the 'bohr'[880] who has control of the 'wed.'

"7. But if a man desire to lead her out of the land, into another thane's land, then it will be advisable for her that her friends have an agreement that no wrong shall be done to her; and if she commit a fault, that they may be nearest in the 'bot,' if she have not whereof she can make 'bot.'"[881]

[878] The meaning of "foster-laen" is uncertain. SCHMID
wrongly identifies it with the _gyft_ of INE, 31, and
thinks it is the purchase price of the bride, that is, the
_weotuma_: _Gesetze_, 34, 35, note. THORPE regards it
also as the purchase price paid to the family of the bride:
_Anc. Laws_, I, 254, note. SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I,
51 n. 13, believes it to be a provision for maintenance of the
children. But SOHM renders it _Weinkauf_, "drink-money,"
and this is probably right. It is a form or application of the
_arrha_, which is not now paid down, but, the contract being
formal, is promised to the guardian. The _arrha_ had customarily
been spent in treating the guests: _Eheschliessung_, 30, 31, 317,
note.

[879] "The language of this law seems to indicate that the
_legal_ endowment of the woman was one-third of the chattels, as
in INE, c. 57. By contract, however, before marriage,
the husband might increase this to one-half."--THORPE,
I, 255, note.

[880] The _bohr_ was the surety for fulfilment of the pledges.

[881] THORPE, _Anc. Laws_, I, 255, 257, who classes this
formulary with the laws of Eadmund. SCHMID leaves the
date undetermined, but thinks it may with as much probability be
ascribed to Eadmund or Æthelstan as any other king: _Gesetze_,
lxv, find _Anhang_, VI, 391, 393. _Cf._ POLLOCK AND
MAITLAND, _Hist. Eng. Law_, II, 367; and DIECKHOFF,
_Kirchliche Trauung_, 68 ff., who gives the text of this ritual.

The form of betrothal here described is that of the _wed_. The _foster-laen_, or wine-money, a substitute for the _arrha_, is not paid down, but it is merely promised to the guardian; while the morning-gift--"in case she choose his will"--and the _weotuma_--"if she live longer than he"--are the important elements, and these belong to the bride.[882]

[882] SOHM, _Eheschliessung_, 155, 100 n. 60, 317.
SCHROEDER, _Güterrecht_, I, 53, 54, 96, reverses the
meaning of these passages; and holds that the phrase "in case she
choose his will" refers to the _weotuma_; and the phrase "if she
live longer than he," to the morning-gift. But see POLLOCK
AND MAITLAND, II, 363, who render the last clause by
"dower," and the first by "morning-gift."

Such was the form of _beweddung_ generally prevailing among the Germanic nations about the time of the Norman Conquest. It had been reached, as we have seen, only through several successive phases of development, not sharply defined, but overlapping each other. In the first stage, falling mainly or wholly within the prehistoric era, the betrothal is a real contract, according to which there is two-sided fulfilment. The payment of the price and the delivery of the bride go hand in hand.[883] In the second stage, existing at any rate from the time of Tacitus onward, the transaction is still in form a real contract of sale, but there is only one-sided fulfilment. The purchase price is paid to the guardian, but the tradition of the bride is postponed. Next a solemn act through payment of a nominal sum, or _arrha_, is deemed sufficient, the payment of the actual price, or _weotuma_, being reserved for the nuptials, when, often, it is paid, not to the guardian, but to the bride, disclosing to us the genesis of the dower. The _beweddung_ is still a real contract, but not a contract of sale. Finally, even one-sided fulfilment is no longer required. Nothing is paid and nothing is transferred at the betrothal, which now consists of promises and sureties, accompanied by a solemn act which engendered the obligation. The real contract of sale has been transformed into a merely formal contract, which provides for future fulfilment on the part of both guardian and bridegroom.

Let us now turn to the second act in marriage, the _gifta_, or actual "giving" of the bride to the husband. Here there is no lack of ceremony and solemn phrases. Legally the _gifta_ is a distinct transaction subsequent to the betrothal in the order of time.[884] Very generally in German lands late autumn or early winter was the favorite season for the celebration of marriages. So also, during the waxing moon, a Tuesday or a Thursday was preferred for the wedding day.[885] As among the Greeks, Romans, and Hindus,[886] the nuptial ceremony appears to have consisted of three parts: the solemn tradition, the joyous home-bringing of the bride, and the festal initiation into the wedded life in the bridegroom's house.[887] Of these the _gifta_, or tradition, is most important, and it takes place in the home of the bride.[888] The father or guardian by blood takes the lead in the proceedings, and is thus the prototype of the modern priest or magistrate. The first act is the solemn surrender of the bride together with the symbols of the husband's power and protection: the sword, the hat, and mantle, or other objects of similar significance. Then, on reception of the bride, the bridegroom pays the _weotuma_, or delivers the charter providing for the morning-gift or other allowance for the widow; and, at the same time, makes symbolical assertion of the power which he thus acquires over the wife: for example, by treading upon her foot--a custom, says Sohm, which at later time finds a more refined expression in the delivery of a shoe or slipper.[889] From this arose the belief, still existing in some parts of Germany, that the bride will rule the family, if before the altar, after the blessing is pronounced by the priest, she places her foot upon that of the bridegroom. "Who carries the slipper rules."[890]

[883] BRUNNER, _Rechtsgeschichte_, I, 74.

[884] This is the view of SOHM, _Trauung und
Verlobung_, 38-57; _Eheschliessung_, 89, 90, 100, 59 ff.; as
opposed to FRIEDBERG, _Verlobung and Trauung_, 21
ff.; _Eheschliessung_, 21, 22, who thinks that the _Trauung_
and _Verlobung_ usually coincided. _Cf._ SCHROEDER,
_Rechtsgeschichte_, 293; and DIECKHOFF, _Kirchliche
Trauung_, 67, who agrees with Sohm.

[885] For very interesting details relating to the German
_Trauung_ see WEINHOLD, _Deutsche Frauen_, II, 362-413.
The old English betrothal ceremonies are best described by
ROEDER, _Die Familie bei den Angelsachsen_, 15 ff.

[886] HAAS, in WEBER'S _Indische Studien_,
V, 327-29, 391-99. LEIST, _Alt-arisches Jus Gentium_,
133-71, gives a full discussion. _Cf._ above, chap. iv, pp. 171
ff.

[887] For the North Germans, LEHMANN, _Verlobung
und Hochzeit_, 80-88; WEINHOLD, _Altnordisches
Leben_, 243-52; and in general, _idem_, _Deutsche Frauen_,
368 ff., 406 ff., 399. The third part of the ceremony is the
_Bettbeschreitung_, or bedding of the newly married pair.
Normally this takes place in the bridegroom's house, as
according to northern custom: LEHMANN, 85-87; but
sometimes it appears to have taken place in the bride's home
before the home-bringing: WEINHOLD, I, 399 ff. _Cf._
FRIEDBERG, _Eheschliessung_, 22, 45, 64.