‘Dishonourable’ youth, guilds, and the changed world view of sex, illegitimacy, and women in late-sixteenth-century Germany

Boes, Maria R.

doi:10.1017/s0268416003004697

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…The Free Imperial City of Frankfurt closed its municipal brothels and turned prostitution into a crime in 1574. From 1562 to 1696, the same city pronounced more verdicts for sexual infringements (“fornication,” adultery, incest) than for violent crimes [21]. Medieval trade and manufacturing were under the control of the guilds, which embraced quality, economic, and religious aspects.…”

Section: German Civil Law: Excluded From Guilds and Tournamentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock

Obladen¹

2022

Neonatology

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This paper investigates causes and consequences of the prejudice towards extramaritally born infants. The main rationale for such defamation seems to have been religious teachings. However, rather than a matter of sexual morals, “illegitimacy” became an economic issue when infants were maintained on taxpayers’ money. Under most civil laws, “bastards” could not inherit. In German-speaking states, they were excluded from the guilds, which deprived them of professional training. They found refuge in “dishonest” professions and life in poverty. In the Late Middle Ages, a third of the population was probably born extramaritally. From 1400 to 1600, the illegitimacy ratio dropped markedly, but from 1650 to 1850, it seems to have gradually risen from around 5 to 9% in most European states. French authorities did not search for the putative father but offered the mother the possibility to abandon her child in a foundling asylum. In 1990, the term “illegitimacy” was replaced by “born out of wedlock.” After an extramarital birth, the infant mortality rate was elevated by 40–50% above that of maritally born infants. After 1960, effective contraception changed sexual morals, but marital fell more than extramarital fertility. Paternity was no longer uncertain. The Catholic church’s influence decreased; and legal reforms protected the infant. Today, half of all infants in Europe are born out of wedlock; that is no longer a proxy for poverty.

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Section: German Civil Law: Excluded From Guilds and Tournamentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock

Obladen¹

2022

Neonatology

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“…96 Guild membership was bound to proper moral conduct: illegitimate children were excluded and members who were prosecuted for fornication, adultery or other immoral behavior could lose their guild membership. 97 Such emphasis on legitimate births by guilds was absent in early modern Holland. Historians have argued that this may have been a factor contributing to the relatively strong economic position of women in Holland, or to put it differently, the relatively weak economic position of women in early modern Germany.…”

Section: Extrajudicial and Semi-judicial Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting Justice: A Comparative Perspective on Illegitimacy and the Use of Justice in Holland and Germany, 1600–1800

Kamp¹,

Schmidt²

2018

Journal of Social History

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Extramarital sexuality has always been regarded as a transgression of the accepted norms. The increasing criminalization of extramarital sexuality after the Reformation led to an intensification of the prosecution of illegitimacy by secular authorities. But in the pluriform early modern legal landscape a whole range of judicial, semi-judicial and extrajudicial institutions and mechanisms existed to exercise control over deviant behavior. This paper focuses on the institutional setting in which social control over illegitimacy was exercised in the early modern period in Holland and Germany, working with Martin Dinges' concept of the "uses of justice." Both regions experienced several waves of criminalization of sexuality during and after the Reformation, and women were disproportionately affected by this. However, research for both regions has shown that women were not only 'passive victims' in this process, but also shaped the institutions, by actively making use of them. It has been suggested in the literature that in the early modern period Dutch women enjoyed a rather favorable position compared to women in neighboring countries, and that they were granted considerable leeway in social and legal respects. Considering the differences in the legal system in both countries, the question arises whether there were fundamental differences in the way that social control was exercised over illegitimacy in Germany and the Netherlands, and whether Dutch women were truly granted more leeway in a social and legal respect with regard to illegitimacy.

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Common People: The Crafts

Craig¹

2016

Women and Business Since 1500

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‘Dishonourable’ youth, guilds, and the changed world view of sex, illegitimacy, and women in late-sixteenth-century Germany

Cited by 7 publications

References 10 publications

Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock

Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock

Getting Justice: A Comparative Perspective on Illegitimacy and the Use of Justice in Holland and Germany, 1600–1800

Common People: The Crafts

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