By: Jo Geisen
While today it is considered adulterous for any person to have sexual relations outside of marriage, in the Middle Ages, it was common for adultery only to be applied to women who had extramarital sex or men who infringed on the “property rights” of another man by having sex with his wife. Husbands were allowed to engage in any kind of extramarital sexual relationship they desired, as long as that relationship was not with another man’s wife. This double standard for adultery was less prominent in religious laws, where extramarital relationships were a sin no matter what, but there was still much more of a stigma concerning the adultery of women than the adultery of men.
The main reasons for this stigma were the desire for purity of bloodlines and assuredness of paternity. If a woman was having sex with both her husband and a man who was not her husband, any child she bore would be of uncertain paternity and the bloodline of the family could be tainted. Women were considered the property of the men in their lives, most commonly a husband or father. The adultery of a woman was therefore considered “more a crime of property than of sex” (Bullough 6). The punishment for this crime fell on the woman and on the man who had sex with her, if he could be identified and caught. The medieval laws surrounding adultery were informed by Germanic, Roman, and biblical sources, all of which had varying levels of influence on how adultery was defined and punished in the Middle Ages.
Germanic Tradition
In Germanic tradition, if a man caught his wife having sex with another man, he “shaved off his adulterous wife’s hair, stripped her in the presence of her kinsmen, thrust her from his house, and flogged her through the village” (Bullough 5). Execution of the adulterous woman was also a response in some cases. In most cases, the husband was allowed the right to kill his wife and her partner if he caught them in the act, and fathers, brothers, or other male guardians were permitted to physically harm a man who violated the virtue, or in other words took the virginity, of a woman under their care.
Roman Tradition
“Example of a Roman military punishment for Adultery, where the feet of the soldier were tied to two branches of trees bent down, which being suddenly let free, tore the offender apart.”
In Roman custom, the typical punishment for adulterers was “banishment of both guilty partners to different areas of the empire, the confiscation of parts of the property of the male, and the loss of half of the woman’s dowry” (Bullough 7). The husband of an adulterous woman was obligated to divorce her immediately, or else he would be considered a “procurer,” or someone who seeks prostitution (Bullough 7). The legal system surrounding adultery in the Roman Empire was very well established and had very specific rules about who could bring adultery charges against someone and when. The husband or father of an adulteress had to make an accusation within sixty days, after which any person could accuse the woman of adultery within four months, “on the grounds that adultery was an offense against morality” (Bullough 7). Certain emperors changed the rules slightly, with the Christian emperors tending to be more harsh; “Constantine introduced the death penalty, and Justinian not only confirmed it but restored the husband’s right to slay his adulterous wife” (Bullough 7).
“The importance of the virtuous wife is best illustrated by the legend of the rape of Lucretia, an act committed by the son of the last of the Etruscan kings. Lucretia had not fought her rapist (who was related to her) because if she did he said he would kill her and announce that he had found her in an adulterous relationship with another man. Rather than being killed as an adulteress, she submitted to the rape, and when her rapist had departed, she summoned her husband. After informing him of what had happened to her, she took her own life because she had disgraced him” (Bullough 6).
Religious Tradition
Religious rules surrounding adultery varied slightly from other kinds of law and there were sometimes conflicts between them. The main difference and conflict between religious laws and civil laws is the lack of a double standard in religious adultery laws. According to the church, extramarital sex was a sin for everyone, regardless of gender. Religious laws also banned the killing of adulterers. Even if two people were caught in the act of sex, homicide was not allowed, while in medieval civil law, the husband continued to be allowed to kill his adulterous wife and her partner if he caught them in the act. Unlike in Roman law, religious law did not require divorce in the case of adultery. It was, however, permissible for a faithful spouse to divorce an adulterous one, but “only the non-adulterous spouse had the right of divorce” (Bullough 11). If a couple divorced, though, they were not allowed to remarry as long as their former spouse was still alive. Adultery was the only reason the church would grant a divorce, but “the hope was that the guilty party would do penance and the marriage continue” (Bullough 11). If the couple did not divorce, they could not have sex with each other until the guilty partner completed penance.
These various laws surrounding adultery in the Middle Ages are indicative of the strong feelings people held about the subject. Prominent works such as Dante’s Divine Comedy and many of the stories involving King Arthur’s court involve adultery, though it is handled very differently depending on the type of literature.
Works Cited
Bullough, Vern L. “Medieval Concepts of Adultery.” Arthuriana, vol. 7, no. 4, Scriptorium Press, Winter 1997, pp. 5-15.