The Myth of Prima Nocta
One of the Most Horrifying Medieval Laws Probably Didn’t Exist
The award-winning film 1995 Braveheart is deservingly considered one of the best films from the 1990s. The Mel Gibson epic depicts the life of the Scottish hero William Wallace and his struggle for independence from English rule. While a fantastic piece of filmmaking and storytelling, it is riddled with historical inaccuracies.
A shortlist of inaccuracies include the wearing of kilts (hundreds of years too early), blue warpaint (about a thousand years too late), and an affair with the princess of England (Isabella was a child in France at the time of Wallace’s death and would never have met him). There are also issues with how Wallace is depicted almost as an educated commoner instead of a member of Scottish nobility as well as making Edward I seem like a homicidal maniac (though the Scots probably saw him that way).
However, one scene in the film, which becomes a catalyst for Wallace’s rebellion, purports a historical myth passed down through the century. In an attempt to “breed out” the resistant Scots, Edward I allows the nobles to invoke the right of prima nocta. This allowed the noble to sleep with any female subject on her wedding night. This violation, which Wallace witnesses at a friend’s wedding, along with the murder of his wife, incites Wallace to rise against the English.
What Was Prima Nocta?
Prima nocta is a shortening of the Latin phrase jus prima nocta or “right of the first night.” This gave the ruler the right to bed any female subject regardless of social rank on her wedding night. Similar customs are mentioned in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Histories of the Greek historian Heroditus, though the term is not used in either source. There is also evidence that the city of Volsinii in Italy revolted against the Etruscans for the abuses of the female population.
Since the Epic of Gilgamesh is a literary work and Heroditus was known to stretch the truth, whether this custom was true is debatable. Sadly, as we know that men in power can often abuse that power and those subject to them, such a custom is not out of the realm of reality in the ancient world.
While there is no evidence of the prima nocta in Medival records, there are records of a marriage fine or merchet. While some historians have pointed to this as evidence of payment to avoid the vile custom, it was more likely compensation to the lord for a subject leaving his land. Similar indulgences were paid to the Catholic Church to wave a prohibition on intercourse on the couple’s wedding night.
Looking at Medieval laws and sources, historians have found no valid reference to the custom. They do pop up more from monastic sources, using it as a metaphor either for sexual immorality in society or to show non-Christian communities as barbaric. While some non-European cultures, such as the Khitan in modern China, some areas of the Hawaiian Islands, and Central Asian cultures, there is no evidence of the custom taking place in Medival Europe.
Where Did the Myth Come From?
So, if Edward I did not encourage his men to rape women on their wedding day as part of some ancient right, then where did this myth come from? Gibson did not come up with the plot device for his movie. For that answer, we have to look at the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mentions of the ancient practice began to pop up in the 1500s with stories of how kings in the past abolished the custom of jus prima nocta. The Scottish king Malcolm III supposedly did so under the influence of his wife in the 11th century, Ferdinand II of Aragon, in the 1480s.
Renaissance and Early Modern literature used the custom as a plot device in plays and novels to show how evil the antagonists were. French philosopher and writer Voltaire would coin the term droit de seigneur (“lord’s right”) when speaking of the Early Middle Ages or the Dark Ages.
Voltaire and his contemporaries used the term to show how far society had come by the 17th century and the age of the Enlightenment. They were no longer these barbaric people with low morals but sophisticated people with rational laws.
The myth of prima nocta also was a powerful political tool. By showing how better your group was than your enemy, you could gain sympathy and justification for your actions. For instance, if Edward I had indeed incited this custom into law, the Scots had a good reason to revolt (of course, they had multiple real reasons to revolt against English overlordship).
Why Does the Myth Continue?
So if prima nocta did not exist, why does it still come up in pop culture? The easy answer, it is a handy plot device. If you want to make your villain seem horrible, there is nothing worse than legalizing sexual assault. Films such as Braveheart and television shows like Game of Thrones have used the act or threat of the act as a way to show how horrible some of the characters were.
There is still a debate amongst some scholars on if such customs did exist. While there may have been similar customs in ancient times in Europe, most historians agree that I had died out before the Medieval period.
