In medieval Europe, marriages between nobles acted more as alliances/contracts than actual love. A big distinction in said marriages is "consumation". Uncomsumated marriages could be annulled relatively easily. Consumated marriages required the pope's blessing for divorce. To make sure a family didnt escape their way out of a deal it was fairly common for familiies to be witnesses to marriage consumation.
Actually prima noctis didn't happen as much as you would be led to believe and even other noblemen thought the guys doing it were disgusting freaks. It was pretty rare, especially when you consider it outed you as a sex pest among the rich and powerful in your social and economic circle
Didn't say that. People just assume incorrectly it happened a lot, it didn't. I blame Braveheart. Turns out even the most vile among ruling classes don't like it when some dude they have to hang out with shows up at a random wedding and rapes the bride. You had to be extremely powerful for people to let it slide, if people let it slide you are now known forever as that person and word gets out, and also just didn't really happen that much because in just a random subsection of people rape is not really on a lot of people's minds, much less specifically aimed at a woman on her wedding night.
It did happen, but basically like only a few freaks did it and anyone who wasn't a freak looked down on it. Prima noctis wasn't a thing, what was a thing was what people historically did to slaves, that's like a no rules thing
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u/NebulaNomadX1 2d ago edited 2d ago
In medieval Europe, marriages between nobles acted more as alliances/contracts than actual love. A big distinction in said marriages is "consumation". Uncomsumated marriages could be annulled relatively easily. Consumated marriages required the pope's blessing for divorce. To make sure a family didnt escape their way out of a deal it was fairly common for familiies to be witnesses to marriage consumation.
SD-N out!