Feudal marriage rules let men repudiate wives repeatedly to gain land

Evidence

The more marriages, the more domains for a man; and thus the more repudiations; the Church hypocritically authorizes them; as marriage was forbidden between relatives up to the seventh degree, and as kinship was defined by spiritual relations such as godmother and godfather as well as by blood relations, some pretext or other can always be found for an annulment; many women in the eleventh century were repudiated four or five times. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Complements the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article’s theme of marriage norms as social control, though focused on repudiation rather than dress.
• SHARE: A striking, specific fact — eleventh-century women repudiated four or five times — for a medievalist friend who studies marriage and kinship law.
• XREF: connects to: In feudalism woman functioned as property transmitting land to men — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207; Feudal knighthood’s ethos actively scorned women and their counsel — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207; Widowed noblewomen had to remarry instantly to hold their land (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• In feudalism woman functioned as property transmitting land to men #corroborates (0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207
• The institution of inheritance causally produced woman’s subordination to man’s property #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 182
• Widowed noblewomen had to remarry instantly to hold their land #expands (0.82)
• Medieval lords sequestered women to monopolize reproduction #expands (0.80) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 699
• Feudal knighthood’s ethos actively scorned women and their counsel #expands (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207