(May 17, 2015 at 9:06 pm)dahrling Wrote: Was it really ever commonplace for lords to sleep with their female serfs on the night they got married to their respective spouse?
It seems not.
http://www.snopes.com/weddings/customs/droit.asp
Quote:The historical record shows far more resistance to the droit du seigneur than evidence of its occurrence, which might indicate that it was primarily a concept employed as a means of extorting money from vassals rather than an actual practice. Alain Boureau argues that the droit du seigneur was largely a myth perpetuated for political reasons (e.g., monarchists in the late Middle Ages cited the droit du seigneur to rally public opinion against local lords; partisans of the French Revolution used it as proof of the corruption and depravity of the Ancien Régime).
Did it happen? Probably. What's a peasant going to do about it? Was it widespread? Apparently no.
