Shen Moyuan
As we all know, when the "Hundred Years' War between England and France" was in its later stages, a heroine appeared in France, Joan of Arc (1412-1431), whose appearance turned the tide of the war in France. Later, she was taken prisoner by the British and interrogated, and when asked for her name, she replied: "With my father's surname, my name is Joan of Arc; with my mother's surname, my name is Jean Romey." ”
In Europe at that time, such a phenomenon of names was not surprising. In fact, in the village where Joan of Arc lived, most of the girls took their mother's surname. Not only that, but in Western Europe at the height of the Middle Ages, about one in ten people took their mother's surname. Why did the phenomenon of motherly surnames become popular in medieval Europe, where patriarchy was strict and women were inferior? What factors are behind this phenomenon? This also has to look for clues from the social environment and cultural atmosphere of Western Europe at that time.
The scene of Joan of Arc's trial
A countercurrent: the emergence of the phenomenon of following the mother's surname
Until the 10th century AD, patrilineal family succession had been dominant in Western European societies. There are more than 80,000 records of paternal surnames in Italian charters, and nearly 10,000 cases of paternal surnames in Spain, northern France and Germany. In contrast, there are only a few records of matrilineal surnames.
When the time came to the middle of the Middle Ages, an anomalous trend emerged in Western European society. Beginning in the second half of the 10th century AD, records of mother's surnames proliferated across Western Europe and reached their peak in the 11th century. In the 11th century, Italy, Spain, and Germany all accounted for more than 8% of the total population. The most prevalent area of the phenomenon was in the south of France: in the 10th and 12th centuries, the proportion of people with their mother's surnames in the region reached 9%, 12% and 10%, respectively. By the 11th century, the surname of the mother had become part of the social custom.
A typical phenomenon is that when people have documents that need to be notarized, they only need to say the name of one of the parents to the scribe. A man whose full name is Petrus filius Silvestri can simply follow his father's surname and write it down as "Petrus Silvestri"; occasionally, he can take his mother's name and write it "Petrus de Silvestro". In the records of the Public Charter, many people have adopted the mother's surname directly. For example, "Azo filius Formose" takes the maternal surname, with the name "Azo de Formosa". Both men and women could use the name of one of their parents as a sign of identification, even if their parents had died, which became a common practice in Western Europe at that time.
The proportion of western European surnames with the mother's surname changed every 25 years in the 8th-12th centuries AD (Source: Susan Moshar Stuard, ed, Women in medieval Society, University of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Why, then, did Western European societies in the 10th and 13th centuries run counter to patriarchal traditions? We can glimpse this in many ways, including religion, social attitudes, changes in the economic status of women and the impact of war.
Covering Up "Sin": The Phenomenon of Clerical Illegitimate Sons Taking the Mother's Surname
Start by setting your sights on the church. At that time, the discipline of the church in Western Europe was already showing signs of "corruption", and after the 8th century, the priesthood of the church was often free to buy and sell, and corruption and pleasure were prevalent. Clergy secretly took wives and concubines, resulting in a large number of illegitimate children. But the illegitimate children of the clergy were, after all, the product of a violation of ecclesiastical law, and therefore illegitimate children, who could not obtain an official name from their father, had to turn to their mother's family.
This phenomenon is particularly common in areas such as central Italy, around Rome and Tuscany. A will from 790 AD lists the names of the 11 servants of the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno, many of whom came from clergy families. In this will, at least 4 people adopted their mother's surname to confirm their identity (e.g., using the expression "Tesia, daughter of our free woman Honoria"). In addition, in the charter of the Capua region in 1109, the "son of the priest Benedict" adopted his mother's surname, known as the "son of Gaita". In 1108, in the charter of the Region of Naples, "Fasana, daughter of the priest Sergius", also adopted her mother's surname, known as "de Maroccia". Hugo, the son of the Bishop of Florence, adopted his maternal surname in the 1059 Charter, calling himself "son of Minuta". It can be said that in the high middle ages, the children of priests with their mother's surname basically became a common practice in religious circles.
In fact, due to the religious character of Christianity, clergy need to maintain, at least superficially, the image of poverty, so in religious marriages, wives often hold economic power and hold high positions in the family. This feature also removes obstacles to the mother's surname of the children of priests to a certain extent. In 960, in Vercelli, married priests were ordered by the bishop to abandon their wives, but they retorted: "Without our wives, we will spend our lives naked and hungry." In 970, when Bishop Ratherius of Verona tried to force celibacy among his subordinate clergy, he found that "almost everyone's excuse is 'this is absolutely impossible, because it will plunge us into poverty'." ”
Economic base: inheritance of land and wealth by aristocratic women
When we study the surviving charters further, we can see that in the vast parts of Western Europe it was not the church that was most closely associated with the phenomenon of motherly surnames, but the aristocracy and the knightly class. The establishment of the land inheritance rights of aristocratic women and the rapid improvement of their economic status during this period became an important inducement for the surge in the record of maternal surnames in Western Europe in the 10th and 13th centuries.
In medieval Spain, Alphonse VII (the Emperor) of Castile frequently referred to himself as the "son of Urraca", the surname of the king's mother. Emperor AlphonseVille's mother was the heir to the land and property of Alphonse VI, and the emperor's vast territory derived mainly from his matrilineal family, not the patrilineal Raymond of Burgundy. Like many sons of nobles at the time, Alphonse Weir proudly referred to himself by his mother's surname, simply because his possessions came from her. Similarly, in the south of France, Mary, viscountess of Beam, succeeded her brother Gaston V to the throne, but this was resisted by her subordinate subjects, who forced Mary to abdicate the throne to one of her sons. The son (Gaston VI) was thus called the "son of Mary" in the official charter, mainly because his territory was inherited from his mother Mary.
So how could these aristocratic mothers have so much land and property to leave to their children? In a patriarchal medieval society, there was roughly only one reason, and that was through the inheritance of family property. In Catalonia and the south of France, women were widely allowed to inherit inheritances from the 10th century onwards. Western Europe also created an original inheritance method at this time - the limited inheritance system. The restricted inheritance system differed from the traditional inheritance method in which the eldest son inherited the main property, and the nobles who were parents were free to choose a son as the heir based on the talents of the children. By the 10th century, a significant proportion of german landowners were women, roughly 18 per cent of the total. In 10th-century Spain, 17 percent of landowners were women. In the south of France, from the 9th century to the 11th century, this proportion was basically maintained at about 10%. It can be seen that after 950, the period when the proportion of women becoming landowners increased was roughly in sync with the outbreak of the phenomenon of following the mother's surname.
The most famous example of a woman's significant economic advancement through land and property inheritance during this period is eleanor of Aquitaine (1121-1204), one of the richest women of the Middle Ages. Born in the 12th century, Eleanor, as the eldest daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine at that time, was one of the most sought-after marriages in Europe by restricting the inheritance, and in the case of brothers, she still inherited the largest and richest province of France, the Duchy of Aquitaine, at the age of 14. Eleanor went on to marry King Louis VII of France and the Duke of Normandy and became one of the most powerful women in Europe. After eleanor's death, eleanor left his possessions and fiefs to his eldest son, Richard the Lionheart. Thus, in medieval history, Richard naturally had another name, "Son of Eleanor". Like Eleanor's wealth, her name has left a deep imprint on European history, and the source of all this is the land she inherited.
Eleanor of Aquitaine
War Boost: The Mother of "Curtain Down"
The establishment of women's land inheritance rights was only one of the triggers for the rise of the aristocratic class to follow their mother's surname. In the middle of the Middle Ages, Western Europe was a world of constant war, and aristocratic men passionately joined the Crusaders and went to the Eastern World to fight, often leaving their fiefs and leaving them to the women of their families to manage. This tradition actually existed in the early Middle Ages, as early as the 8th century, when the German warrior Riphwinus, while following Charlemagne in his conquests, gave his land and property to his wife.
At the height of the Middle Ages, as the Crusades were in full swing, it was more common for aristocratic women to administer fiefdoms on their behalf. Between 1060 and 1080, in Vendomois in northern France, Lady Hersendis was in full control of her family wealth as her husband had gone to Jerusalem as part of the Crusades. Accompanied by a number of vassal knights, Madame Hesendis went to the abbot of Marmoutier and personally asked him to confirm her authority over her husband's fiefdom. Another example is that during the Crusades, two sons of the nobleman Raymond Donat took part in the Crusades in Auch, in the south of France. Before leaving, they mortgaged their land to their sister Saura. Sora took the opportunity to amass all the lands of her father and brothers into her and her own son's name, and became the de facto administrator of the fief. Many women manage their husbands' fiefs in an orderly manner. In the 12th century, Eustachia of Brou, the wife of William Gouet II, after her husband's participation in the Crusades, often presided over the court on her own and confirmed the tribute paid by his vassals. When her husband returned around 1115, he found the fiefdom in the home well-managed and orderly.
Moreover, in a family without a father, the mother has full control over her children. Lombard law clearly stipulates that when a child is young, the widowed mother may act as the head of the family and the arbiter of economic wealth, and serve as the sole guardian of the child. In this case, widowed mothers often "bowed to the government" and took the place of their children to govern the manor, thus exerting a profound influence on their children and fiefdoms. As a result, the children of the nobility naturally respected their mothers of supreme status and hoped to show their identity by inheriting the surnames of their mothers.
Guillaume V of Poitou did not inherit land from his mother Agnes (from Burgundy), nor did Louis IX inherit France from his Spanish mother Blanche, but they all took their mother's surname. Agnes of Burgundy was herself a notorious noblewoman who played an important role in the history of the Capetian family. At a young age, she was actively involved in politics, creating a stable political environment for her son, so that her son was recorded in the 11th-century Poitevin charter as "lord count William, son of countess Agnes" (son of countess Agnes). Similarly, Louis IX recognized himself as "son of Blanche" mainly because he recognized the importance of the queen mother herself, as she was a very dignified role in the public eye, serving as regent during her son's infancy and continuing to exert influence over the policies of the crown.
In the charters of Aragon, Spain, in the 10th and 12th centuries, as well as in the south of France, we can find a feature in which whenever a vassal or lord was granted a tenured position and issued an oath of allegiance, they often repeatedly mentioned their matrilineal clan in the oath to show their identity. In the charter of the Maglaune region of France, there is a record that between 1155 and 1160, an enthroned vassal took an oath of allegiance, in which he always presented himself as a member of the matrilineal family, and although his father (along with his mother) was at the oath site, he "ordered" their sons to do so without any ill will, thus providing a glimpse of the widespread acceptance of the use of matrilineal surnames in Western Europe.
The Wind of Openness: The Popularity of Elegant Love and the Transformation of Social Attitudes
Along with the economic and social advancement of women, cultural and gender perceptions are also taking place. This brings us to the wave of elegant love that surged in Western Europe in the 10th and 13th centuries, which challenged traditional notions of gender and indirectly promoted the trend of following the mother's surname.
A scene of knightly allegiance that reflects elegant love
The so-called "courtly love" simply refers to the "pure" and spiritual love between young knights and married noblewomen that was popular in the middle of the Middle Ages. During the Crusades, women had the opportunity to take full control of the economy within the family. As a result, they have enough money and freedom to feed their admirers and maintain romantic spiritual love with them. Around 1030, in Vaza, northern Italy, the wife of William III of Monferrat reverently visited the tomb of a saint who was "surrounded by knights who admired herself" and then met a beggar begging for her alms. She refused, saying she didn't have enough wealth to satisfy herself "and all those who pursue me."
Looking through the lyric poems of medieval male and female bards, we can see that elegant love is first and foremost based on the voluntariness of men and women. Just as a man cannot rely on his power to demand that a lady love him, so a noble lady cannot despise a man of low status who courted her. Marie de France, the bard of France, preached in her poem "Eguitan" that when Eguitan, the king of Nantes, courted his housekeeper's wife, the lady said worriedly: "If I happen to love you, and I give you what you want, it is still not an equal sharing; for you are a king with supreme power... You will take a tax on love as your right. Love without equality is worthless. King Equitain swore, "I surrender myself to you; truly regard me as your friend and servant!" I swear, I will do exactly what you say... We are each other's kings. ”
Scenes of activities of medieval troubadours
In addition, elegant love is a love in which women dominate. The so-called word "dame", which originates from the Latin word domina, means that your lady is dominant. Meanwhile, in the bard's poems, the hero habitually refers to his beloved woman as "my lord." Men and women in elegant love act according to the provisions of the vassal contract in the feudal system. Women are like queens in chess, and their status is crucial. With the popularity of elegant love, respecting and protecting women became a fashion in aristocratic society. Lancelot, the protagonist of the legend written by Chrétien, says: "When a knight finds a woman alone, if he is concerned about his good reputation, then he commits suicide by disrespecting the woman." And if he attacked her, he would be ridiculed forever. ”
The love of elegance has brought Western European societies to an unprecedented level of openness. A new concept of marriage has emerged, that celibacy and fidelity to marriage are "boring," and even if they remarry, it's not a big deal. Young men and women change partners frequently, with the result that the number of half-siblings increases dramatically. In this complex family relationship, it is necessary to add the mother's surname to the father's surname to identify the identity.
Charles the Bald of Carolingians is often referred to as the "son of Judith," a title he holds because, on the one hand, his mother was a prominent figure in Carolingian history, and partly because there were too many people in the dynasty named Charles. The title also helps distinguish him from his half-brothers Lother and Louis, the product of an early marriage by his father, Louis the Pious. In 1138, a French population register distinguished half-children in this way: "Petrus Vilelmi was the son of Dulciana, and his half-brother Bertrand was the son of Lucia." ”
On the one hand, the social atmosphere of elegant love is a microcosm of the improvement of women's economic status since the Crusades, on the other hand, it has impacted the traditional view of women and marriage, and promoted the improvement of women's social status. Therefore, whether from the perspective of the mother's economic status or the practical value of distinguishing the identity of the child, the move to break through the traditional shackles of following the mother's surname is more logical.
epilogue
The rampant phenomenon of illegitimate children in the church, the establishment of women's inheritance rights and property rights, the prevalence of elegant love, and the change in the concept of marriage all became the catalysts for the emergence of the phenomenon of mother's surname in this period. In order to fulfill their professional duties, both aristocratic knights and priests needed to somehow get rid of the so-called "family care", which in turn greatly expanded the woman's economic functions, increased her connection to the world, and made her children proud of their matrilineal family. As an anti-traditional counter-current in a hierarchical patriarchal society, the phenomenon of following the mother's surname not only reflects the complexity of the patriarchal social structure, but also provides a new perspective for us to understand the historical basis of the modern women's movement in the West.
bibliography
1. Yi Zhaoyin: A History of Western Women, The Commercial Press, 2009 edition
2.Susan Moshar Stuard，ed，Women in medieval Society，University of Pennsylvania ，1976
3. [E] Suramis Saha: The Fourth Rank: A History of Women in Medieval Europe, translated by Lin Ying, Guangdong People's Publishing House, 2003
Editor-in-Charge: Zhong Yuan
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