#9349 - Marriage Sources - Luther and the German Reformation

Marriage Class ! ! Issue of what the Reformation changed -- conflicting historiography ! ! ! ! ! *> Marriage and sexuality -- think that there were major changes => new historiography Luther has a very negative attitude -- everything has fallen Solidification of patriarchy e.g. divorce courts Parental responsibility -- cannot have secret marriages Theory was not always translated into practice *> Early marriage may not be economically viable Greatest change -- marriage is not a sacrament => secular control ! ! Marriage ! ! ! ! ! ! ! *> Consent between a couple *> Sexual union Women sue for the loss of virginity and child support *> Often dissolved on the grounds of defective proof -- only God knows Luther's area of Germany -- consummate marriage before the wedding Issue that the conscience may know it is married but this is not recognised by the secular authorities *> Are you married? - Before God you are If the marriage is not consummated, the sacrament has not taken place -- cover put over the couple to symbolise sexual union In general, many marriages are very public -- need public recognition What is the single moment of marriage? Issue of future tense ! ! Marriage happens at the bridal door -- just outside the church *> Then they would go into the church *> Liminal area -- not yet a sacred space but related to one ! ! Introduction of divorce *> Impotence, adultery and desertion - Impotence -- annulment ! Can remarry if you are the innocent party *> Marriage is now secular Secret marriage with the brother of the husband -- protects the inheritance ! ! ! Early years -- based on scripture => less practically applicable *> Adulterer can remarry elsewhere -- be fruitful and multiply ! ! Increasing secular registers of marriage ! Serfs -- trying to keep people from moving ! Towns -- try to control the population => servant women cannot get married or only those with a certain amount of property ! Marriage is secular -- yet it is spiritually right to marry and have children ! People have many marriage problems -- pastors have to try to sort these out ! ! ! ! *> Luther becomes very involved Philip of Hesse -- by conscience rather than by law *> Not divorce -- first wife has done no wrong OT basis for bigamy *> Conscience v. public Sexual need -- monastic vows are invalid => not physically designed to fulfil these vows At least Philip's bigamy does not undo a marriage -- Luther is very against this ! ! Marriage of the clergy -- regularises something which is already happening in many ! ! ! ! ! places Pastor's wife -- e.g. the cook Luther's wife is from a noble family Carlstadt also marries a noblewoman Children of pastors can marry other pastors => professional dynasties Issue of clerical income -- may be marrying into poverty ! ! Anabaptists -- issue of the place of sex in marriage *> Luther -- not a problem => good in marriage ! Luther still praises chastity -- just sees it as practically impossible *> Symptomatic of his negative view *> Discussion of eunuchs ! ! Kinship of permitted degrees ! 1522 -- purely biblical approach ! ! ! ! ! *> Yet later he rejects Mosaic law Catholic priests have sold people wives -- can give money to remove impediments of consanguinity Affinity -- can marry adopted children Rejects godparents as Catholic -- yet he has them for all of his children *> Network of relationships *> Insular community Should not marry unequal ages Even if you cannot procreate you should still marry -- allows sex for older and pregnant women ! ! Economy is organised through marriage ! Apprenticeships, guild memberships etc. -- based on marriage ! Interesting that marriage practices were still so unclear ! ! Marriage -- mature member of the community ! ! Luther -- financial trouble *> *> *> *> *> 100 gulden a year from the elector Thinks he shouldn't have to pay taxes Doesn't make money from publishing Yet they own a couple of farms and the large house in Wittenberg Has a lot of patrons ! Luther and masculinity *> Ideal man -- shifting idea - Not a celibate monk - Being a father => not effeminate *> Material and spiritual responsibility for the family *> Luther is aggressive and confrontational *> Luther has 6 children ! ! Women in the domestic sphere -- very important job *> Household, children and finance Luther came from a mining family in Mansfeld ! *> Labour was not in the house -- greater gender division of labour - Father is not at home ! In a student town -- there is a lot of prostitution ! Childbirth -- suffering as part of baptism ! ! Writings v. table talk *> Would never have published his own table talk How did the Reformation change women's roles? ! ! Role as wife + mother = concerning marriage and sexual relations - links to - Role within religious community = abolition of convents ! ! Sexual relations key to definition of female roles during the Reformation Conceptions of sex important in determining how women experienced the Reformation in Germany ! ! Luther on Sex: * Both men and women have 'natural desires' o Since 'the fall' of Adam and Eve, cannot be suppressed o Should not be suppressed - carnal lustful desires o (tension that Luther doesn't really resolve is his notion of sex as inherently sinful, and sex as natural and ordained by God) * Denial of or resisting natural desires leads to sin through fornication or adultery * Also goes against natural and divine ordinance * Luther bases his teaching on Genesis 1:28 "Be fruitful and multiply" - he asserts this is of the upmost importance - * In his letter to three nuns in Wittenberg (1524) Luther wrote: "Although women are ashamed to admit such things, both Scripture and experience teach that among many thousands there is not one to whom God gives the grace to maintain pure chastity. A woman does not have the power [to do this] herself." * * ! ! ! In order to act upon these desires free from sin, individuals must enter a marriage union - this way they can also procreate For Luther, sex and marriage were so inextricably linked - for a pious Christian, one didn't come without the other How did this affect the roles of women? On the whole, weren't radically re--defined: Lutheran teaching intensified traditional role of woman as wife and mother - entrenched domesticity of female duty ! Sexual role within marriage * Women's vocation, or calling, was to bear children - most important duty * However, could only enjoy sex within a marital union - thus a woman should, and must, marry, in order procreate and so she can have a sexual outlet ! ! Marriage = balance of duties / desires between men and women - but also subject to natural social order * Wife's role was to support and obey her husband * She enjoyed spiritual equality with her husband before God, but inequality in worldly sense * Wife is the helpmeet and subordinate of the husband! * Woman's role was to support her husband, be obedient to him ! Role as wife links to role as mother * Job to have children, feed them, raise them etc * V important role as teacher too - raising good Christian children essential to salvation -- huge responsibility here; ! ! One big change however, was the implications of Reformation for sexual choice: True Protestant innovation not so much found in theology and imagery of marriage; more about eradicating Catholic religious ideal of celibacy * No longer was virginity accredited sacred or holy status; * Celibacy was seen as unnatural - against human nature - and a contradiction of God's Word and bible teaching * Individuals no longer had a choice about whether they wished to remain single and celibate or enter into a marital relationship * For a pious Christian, marriage only choice! ! ! ! ! Biggest impact on nuns: = Thus, taking monastic vows was no longer seen as a higher calling = Nuns during reformation attracted much distain and contempt - = Seen as burning in their own lust, supressing carnal desires and instincts - inherently sinful = Women no longer had a role within the institution of the church hierarchy Susan Karant--Nunn: The more Luther attacked celibacy and vows, the more important marriage had to become WHY? To combat chaos of sexually immoral behaviour that would supposedly follow with decline of celibacy and vows ! ! ! Conservative nature of Reformation impact on female roles within German society * Increase in policing of sexual actives and morals * Women have a very specific role in society to fulfil: wife and mother Wife = helpmeet, obedient to husband, sexual partner * No longer have a choice about entering marriage and / or a sexual relationship ! How did the reformation change masculinity? Changes in notions of masculinity were not only affected by the Reformation, but by economic developments of the 16th century. ! Role of man as head of family unit emphasized in a new patriarchal order -- Husband as Christ's figure - family mirroring governmental structure with man as head of family -- world--wide discipline and order were seen to stem from the family unit and from the husband -- husband had a responsibility over his children's souls more importantly than their bodies - in the late medieval period this appeared to have been part of the female sphere, relating more to late medieval concepts of female piety. -- husband's role as teacher and preacher in the family mirrors what happens in the reformation with primarily male preachers and male priests and bishops e.g Luther -- marriage is seen to encompass a new order, led my the man - Luther cites the proverb "Early to rise and early to wed." 'because from that there come people who retain a sound body, a good conscience, property, and honor and family.' (p.10 of 11, of Luther's Sermon on the estate of marriage) - marriage functions as a way to prevent further moral ills. 'plagues have befallen lands and people because of fornication'. - marriage set apart as a paradigm for righteous religious life - seen as a measure for the prevention of sin. -- Luther says that 'he who refuses to marry must fall into immorality' - the act of marriage is seen as a masculine act - one initiated by men. -- many vernacular guides were written on the subject of husbandry and fatherhood by reformers and moralists.-- dealt with issues e.g how to raise one's children and how to be a good father. ! Mature manhood increasingly associated with marriage -- marriage becomes the way in which men become adult men - they graduate from journeymen to masters in their professional guilds, and in conjunction with this, set up their separate household, and begin to cohabit with their wife for the first time. In practice however, the economic situation of particularly the later 16th century, when it became harder for men to graduate to the status and financial stability of being a 'master', meant that couples often had to wait longer in between engagement and marriage until conditions were right. -- marriage rituals emphasise the different roles that the man and woman are signing up to play. Gifts to each other for example - the man's role being more monetary and material, he might present the betrothed with jewellery and ornamental tankards denoting his personal wealth and willingness to keep the woman in a manner appropriate to his rank, where the woman would present the husband with items which symbolized a willingness to devote herself to control over the household tasks e.g handkerchiefs and shirts.1 -- masculinity thus connected to an ability to provide financially and materially for a wife and family. -- masculinity appears to be less connected with sex than with providing the function as a good husband in material and moral ways ! Masculinity and sex -- after the reformation-- tighter control over prostitution - men were increasingly condemned and prosecuted for the use of prostitutes - using prostitutes was not seen as portraying masculine strength, but weakness and wickedness. A good Christian man would remain faithful to his wife. Men who committed adultery were increasingly equally punished to women. -- nonetheless - being a man still connected to a man's virility - e.g in Luther's sermon on the estate of marriage, he speaks of eunuchs and of those who have entered monasteries. --He refers to eunuchs who have been born as such as 'those who are impotent or who are by nature not equipped to produce seed and multiply because they are physically frigid or weak or have some 1 Lyndal Roper, The Holy Household, p.134 other bodily deficiency which makes them unfit for the estate of marriage' - implies that you cannot be a man if you are unfit for marriage. - one's masculinity is still connected to one's sex. -- the most emphasized exceptions to Luther's views upon adultery are those which involve cases where the man cannot sexually satisfy the woman - Luther advises women to address the issue with their husband suggesting that she say "Look my dear husband, you are unable to fulfill your conjugal duty toward me; you have cheated me out of my maidenhood and even imperiled my honor and my souls salvation; in the sight of God there is no real marriage between us. Grant me the privilege of contracting a secret marriage with your brother or closest relative...Consent to being betrayed voluntarily by me, as you have betrayed me without my consent." -- in the same way though, Luther advocated the divorce of a woman who would not uphold her side of the marital deal. He says that (p.6 of 11) 'one finds many a stubborn wife like that who will not give in, and who cares not a whit whether her husband falls into the sin of unchastity ten times over.' Going on to say, 'Do not deprive each other, except by agreement' - each party appears to have a right to the other's body. -- sex is thus seen as one of the major cruxes of marriage and is somewhat used synonymously with marriage - 'there is no real marriage' without it. For a man, being sexually deficient is seen as a betrayal of the male part of the marriage bargain. - sex is thus still integrally connected to the masculine role as husband-- becoming a father even more important to notions of masculinity. ! After the reformation - there was a changed attitude towards celibacy -- rather than celibacy being a man's ideal - the Reformation upheld man's sexuality as an integral part of how God made men and women - not purely a command by God, but a natural part of the way that humans were made. Luther says that those who can resist marriage are 'rare, not one in a thousand, for they are a special miracle of God. No one should venture on such a life unless he be especially called by God...or unless he finds God's grace to be so powerful within him that the divine injunction, "Be fruitful and multiply," has no place in him.' -- this contributed to a condemnation of monastic life - it was believed that these restrictions upon men's sexual behaviours were actually responsible for more instances of adultery, for the practice of having concubines by Bishops and priests and thus of the hypocrisy of the Catholic church. -- whereas before the Reformation - such acts of hypocrisy are deemed as weakness in giving in to sexual desire - men reporting of their failing consciences and guilt in such acts as masturbation and whoring, after the Reformation, such desires are set firmly within the natural order, and are facilitated by a new system which accepts sex as a primary feature of masculinity and an acceptable and very desirable feature of Godly life. -- this was a change from the medieval period - families feared sex and thus marriage because it was something that was condemned - many more families sent their children to monasteries and nunneries so that they could avoid these perceived difficulties. ! Reformers appeared to remove aspects of guilt relating to married life by changing the religious paradigm from one of celibacy to one of marriage.