Boy oh boy, was the 19th century obsessed with imagining scenes of lords exercising their right to the bride on the night of her wedding! Obesessed, I tell you. Here, in an interpretation of the myth from 1872 by Jules Arsene Garnier, we have the reluctant bride, the obedient but mournful groom, the monks from some nearby abbey, come to enforce the rules, a bunch of overdressed nobles hanging out and watching the fun, the obligatory medieval beggar — is he actually asking the bride for a handout? cause I think that’s not happening — and the lord himself. Note the feather on the lord’s cap, which, unlike feathers of this sort usually, is standing up. Note also his shoes, the absolute worst example of an interpretation of medieval footwear that your hosts have ever seen. Anyway. You’ll be glad to know this never happened.
Everybody knows that the Droit de Seigneur (the right of a feudal lord to sleep with a bride on her wedding night) existed. Except it didn’t. Why, then, did Ferdinand II of Aragon abolish it in 1486? Why indeed. We discuss this. Also we discuss the history of the first night myth. And Michelle explains why you should buy books when you see them, instead of waiting till later.
