Medieval lords sequestered women to monopolize reproduction
Evidence
Reproduction outside of marriage was also tied with rank and wealth. To an extraordinary degree, powerful lords sequestered young women inside the walls of their castles, plucking them from their homesteads to work as maids and attendants. There is abundant evidence that these lords mated prolifically with harems of these women, often siring dozens of illegitimate children. In some cases, they prevented these women from marrying other men; in others, they sequestered them as virgins, and then married them off after they had had a child with the castle lord. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 699
Categorization
- XREF: Human parallel to male monopolization of females — exactly the reader’s stated interest in animal-human warfare parallels — connects to: Excess rival males over scarce fertile females drove knightly combat in medieval Europe — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 169; Medieval tournaments replaced actual battle as the arena for sexual selection among knights — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 175; Feudal marriage rules let men repudiate wives repeatedly to gain land — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207 (+2 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 699
Related
- Medieval Frankish law priced women according to their reproductive capacity (similarity 0.86)
- Excess rival males over scarce fertile females drove knightly combat in medieval Europe (similarity 0.84)
- Medieval tournaments replaced actual battle as the arena for sexual selection among knights (similarity 0.83)
- Younger noble sons could only marry rare heiresses, intensifying mate competition (similarity 0.80)
- Proudhon reduces wives’ role to reproduction that must then be discarded (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Excess rival males over scarce fertile females drove knightly combat in medieval Europe
#expands(0.75) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 169 - Medieval tournaments replaced actual battle as the arena for sexual selection among knights
#corroborates(0.70) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 175