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Odo's Saal.
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Women enjoyed no independent status in this patrilineal society. They were confined to house and garden, yet their position was not unenviable. Although they played no role in public affairs, they elicited respect. The German mother was the light of the family, whose devotion to her man and children was her surest title to authority. Her moral influence injected a stability into German society that helps explain its historic conservatism and sentimentality. Marriage rested upon a sales contract. A German tribesman bought his bride for a fixed sum of money (Mitgift). This remained the property of the wife after marriage, affording her a small measure of independence. Only rarely might the Mitgift be confiscated by the husband. At the marriage ceremony a ring and sword were solemnly exchanged:". . . she is reminded," wrote Tacitus, "by the very first ceremonies with which her marriage begins that she comes as a partner in labors and dangers, who will suffer and dare the same thing as her husband in peace, the same thing in war. . . ." * German women lived fenced around with chastity, and adultery was very rare. Its punishment was dire and at the wish of the husband. He might strip her in the presence of her relations and drive her with lashes through the village. In Saxony an adulteress was usually driven to hang herself, after which her corpse was burned and her seducer hanged above her ashes. Little wonder that monogamy and lifelong marriages were the rule among the Germans!
The Discussions of Odo's Saal.:
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