評(píng)論
打印
But there's another important feature of Venetian dowries
威尼斯人的嫁妝有其他重要的特點(diǎn)
Dowry inflation may have impoverished patrician families
嫁妝的飛漲可能使貴族家庭赤貧
But it enriched patrician women
但卻令貴族女性成為富婆
The reason is that dowries were the property of the wives who brought them to the marriage
因?yàn)榧迠y是妻子的財(cái)產(chǎn)被帶到夫家
The principle derived from Roman law was that the dowry was a daughter's inheritance
羅馬法衍生出的法則規(guī)定嫁妝作為女人的遺產(chǎn)
to be used as her contribution to the well-being of her new family
是為夫家福利做出的貢獻(xiàn)
It was to be administered by her husband
由丈夫管理
But only until the marriage ended with the death of one of the spouses
當(dāng)一方先亡而婚姻結(jié)束
Then it reverted to her
便重新由女人支配
Or if she pre-deceased her husband to heirs she could freely choose in her will
又或者女人比丈夫早逝，她可以在遺囑中自主選擇繼承人
Let's think for a moment about the long narrative of a marriage between its contracting
可以想象到漫長(zhǎng)的婚姻始于雙方訂立婚約
And the death of either husband or wife
終止于一方的死亡
And by the way 85% of the time it was the husband who died first
另外85%的婚姻中丈夫往往先卒
One obvious reason is the age difference between bride and groom
原因之一顯然是男女之間的年齡差
Usually 12 to 15 years
通常是12到15年
In the 15th century the median preferred marriage age for brides was 16 years, for men it was 30
15世紀(jì)女人的婚齡趨向于16歲，男人則是30歲
That meant that bridegrooms usually began marriage with some governmental and economic experience
意味著男人在結(jié)婚時(shí)已經(jīng)有參與政務(wù)和經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)
They were members of the adult male patriciate
已進(jìn)入成年男性貴族圈
Brides on the other hand were utterly lacking experience
另一方面新娘則完全缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)
They entered their marriages usually without knowing the men they were marrying
結(jié)婚時(shí)新娘通常未見(jiàn)過(guò)新郎
following a childhood or early adolescence sequestered at home or in a convent
新娘的童年與早期的青春期在封閉的家中或修道院度過(guò)
out of the public eye and harm's way
遠(yuǎn)離公眾視線，免受傷害
Except when they went to church and then always chaperoned
除了去教堂之外，其他時(shí)間總有人伴隨
So the arrangement of a marriage rarely included any direct participation of the bride
因此籌辦她們的婚事幾乎不需要她們參與
When the formal contracting took place brides were often as recorded as stating
在辦理正式手續(xù)時(shí)，新娘通常是這樣被登記的
That they freely accepted the husband chosen for them
她們自愿接受為其選定的丈夫人選
Free consent of course was a requirement for a valid marriage according to church law
當(dāng)然，出于自主意愿是婚約生效的基礎(chǔ)，這是教會(huì)法規(guī)定的
But we can imagine the pressures on a 16 year old girl
但可以試想一個(gè)16歲少女是在壓力迫使之下
to accede to the wishes of the adults surrounding her when the contracting took place
同意身邊大人們的意愿來(lái)締結(jié)婚姻的契約
Consider the contrast between these young brides adult mothers rearing their children and widowed grandmothers
思考年輕新娘和育有兒女的母親與守寡的祖母間的對(duì)比
all three groups fit into the category of married women
這三種人組成已婚婦女這一群體
But there are vast differences between them
但三者之間有區(qū)別
And that brings up what I like to call the euchsorial cycle
我將此構(gòu)成稱為euchsorial周期
The arc of experience followed from youthful bridehood to mature wife and motherhood to widowhood
人生從年輕的新娘成長(zhǎng)為成熟的妻子和母親，慢慢經(jīng)歷直至成為寡婦
In the course of that cycle the meanings of marriage love and lineage
在這一周期中，婚姻，愛(ài)情和血統(tǒng)的意義
shifted and evolved in the life of a married couple
在每對(duì)夫婦的生活中轉(zhuǎn)變演化
And especially of a married woman
對(duì)已婚婦女來(lái)說(shuō)尤其如此
It's hard to believe that there was much love in bloom at the contracting
很難想象一個(gè)足不出戶的少女
when a sheltered young girl first laid eyes on the man that had been chosen for her
會(huì)在見(jiàn)到婚約一方的新郎第一眼時(shí)便對(duì)其產(chǎn)生深刻的情感
Venetians nobles married their daughters young for two main reasons
威尼斯貴族把這么小的女兒嫁掉有兩個(gè)原因
To as early a start as possible in the quest for a suitable husband
要想覓得良夫越早越好
And to give prospective husbands reasonable assurance that the brides would enter the marriage unsullied
也為了讓準(zhǔn)丈夫相信新娘是一個(gè)黃花閨女
