Germanic Origins; A Study in Primitive Culture

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V HUSBAND AND WIFE The husband a warrior, the wife housekeeper and fanner--Bights of women--Germanic chastity--Woman as sibyl--Her courage--Wooing and wedding--How far love was a factor--Dower or price--Ceremony of marriage--Punishment for infidelity. Let us come closer to the family life of our forefathers. The free German was essentially a warrior, and such farming as he had was in the hands of his wife, who was helped by slaves and the weaker members of the household. To look after the cattle and the horses was work for the freeman so long as nomadic habits prevailed; but he had no taste for grubbing and raking and gathering of crops. To steal cattle--provided the theft was open, there was no disgrace in it1--smacked of war; just as the moss-troopers and raiders of the Scottish border in very late times were not by any means without allies of gentle blood. Meanwhile, farming slipped into Germanic life under feminine escort, and began very modestly indeed. The primitive German wife, says Lippert,2 span wool, made clothes, cared for the fowls, and--tried her hand at raising barley. In other respects her position in the state was pitiable enough; and Wackernagel reminds us2 that, if we may believe Gregory of Tours, the Franks once held serious debate in one of their church assemblies whether or not a woman was a human being. Yet this importance in the household and in the farm gave her a certain responsibility, leadership, and dignity. We must remember, too, what an important part the German woman played in matters of divination and religion; add to the power of the wise woman, like Veleda, the chastity for which Tacitus so warmly praises the German wife, and we can imagine that this was no race of sheer barbarians. Suetonius 3 lauds the insight...