● Patriarchy
○ Greek : “rule” and “father”
○ Nearly every culture was patriarchal
○ Families, villages, local lords, kings, even God himself was a man
■ The head of the family was the father ; members of the family had to be
obedient
■ Villages were controlled by elders (men) ; everyone had to be obedient to
these elders
○ Women’s social position derived from a man : fathers or husbands
○ Religions often are patriarchal
○ Consent of fathers for marriage
● Marriages
○ Family pressure and community approval
■ Ask the father to court his daughter
■ Everything is monitored by a chaperone
○ Economics
■ Dowries ; can become very expensive if you have multiple daughters
○ Age at first marriage varied widely
■ Might marry as teenagers with very large gaps
■ Northern Europe average age was 25 to get married
■ In Britain average age was 27.5 and 26.3 for women (considered older)
○ Premarital sex
■ As soon as you got engaged you could start sleeping together
■ Laws are established if pregnancy occurs
○ Adultery
○ Sodomy
2/14/25
Case Study : Marie Antoinette and Diamond Necklace Affair
● Louis 15th has a necklace commissioned for his mistress (million dollar necklace)
● His mistress is banished and the jewelers offer the necklace to Louis 16th and he says
no ; so does Marie (says they needed ships)
● This Cardinal (Rohan) and the Queen (Marie Antoinette) have beef now ; Rohan
wants to get in the good graces so he can be closer to the monarchy
● Jeanne de le Motte ; vulnerable woman trying to improve her status ; sleeping with the
cardinal ; told the cardinal she was close with the queen (he asks her to pass letters to the
queen) ; has never met the queen and forges letters to the cardinal
● The necklace jewelers tell Jeanne to try and get her to convince the queen to buy the
necklace
○ Greek : “rule” and “father”
○ Nearly every culture was patriarchal
○ Families, villages, local lords, kings, even God himself was a man
■ The head of the family was the father ; members of the family had to be
obedient
■ Villages were controlled by elders (men) ; everyone had to be obedient to
these elders
○ Women’s social position derived from a man : fathers or husbands
○ Religions often are patriarchal
○ Consent of fathers for marriage
● Marriages
○ Family pressure and community approval
■ Ask the father to court his daughter
■ Everything is monitored by a chaperone
○ Economics
■ Dowries ; can become very expensive if you have multiple daughters
○ Age at first marriage varied widely
■ Might marry as teenagers with very large gaps
■ Northern Europe average age was 25 to get married
■ In Britain average age was 27.5 and 26.3 for women (considered older)
○ Premarital sex
■ As soon as you got engaged you could start sleeping together
■ Laws are established if pregnancy occurs
○ Adultery
○ Sodomy
2/14/25
Case Study : Marie Antoinette and Diamond Necklace Affair
● Louis 15th has a necklace commissioned for his mistress (million dollar necklace)
● His mistress is banished and the jewelers offer the necklace to Louis 16th and he says
no ; so does Marie (says they needed ships)
● This Cardinal (Rohan) and the Queen (Marie Antoinette) have beef now ; Rohan
wants to get in the good graces so he can be closer to the monarchy
● Jeanne de le Motte ; vulnerable woman trying to improve her status ; sleeping with the
cardinal ; told the cardinal she was close with the queen (he asks her to pass letters to the
queen) ; has never met the queen and forges letters to the cardinal
● The necklace jewelers tell Jeanne to try and get her to convince the queen to buy the
necklace
