Taming husbands: women's use of Protestant moral codes in post-Reformation separation cases in the German county of Lippe
During and after the Reformation, many Protestant territories in Germany established marriage courts in order both to manage and to resolve an increasing number of divorce and separation cases. Most suits for marriage separation were filed by women on the grounds of domestic violence. Violent behavi...
| Published in: | Reformation & Renaissance review |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2015]
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| In: |
Reformation & Renaissance review
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| IxTheo Classification: | KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBB German language area KDD Protestant Church NCF Sexual ethics XA Law |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | During and after the Reformation, many Protestant territories in Germany established marriage courts in order both to manage and to resolve an increasing number of divorce and separation cases. Most suits for marriage separation were filed by women on the grounds of domestic violence. Violent behaviour of men was commonly accepted as a traditional means of protecting both their social reputation and their social control over the household as paterfamilias. There was, therefore, much ambiguity about where the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate violence lay. In court, female plaintiffs accordingly had recourse to Protestant moral codes to reinterpret and criminalize male attitudes which could in other contexts have been conceived of as socially acceptable. In so doing, they successfully cooperated with the civil and ecclesiastical court authorities which had a social, economic, and religious interest in domesticizing marital relations. |
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| ISSN: | 1462-2459 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Reformation & Renaissance review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1179/1462245915Z.00000000076 |