They could put their wives to death for infidelity; and if they happened to kill them without justifiable cause, in a moment of anger, the law punished them only by a temporary prohibition to bear arms.
The ancient German women could not inherit the estates of their fathers; but by subsequent laws they were permitted to succeed after males of the same degree of kindred.
Women of the northern nations rarely ate and drank with their husbands, but waited upon them at their meals, and afterward shared what was left, with the children. This custom could not have originated in the habit of regarding women as inferior beings; for the whole history of the north proves the existence of an entirely opposite sentiment. It was probably owing, in part, to the circumstance that women were too busy in cooking the food, to wish to eat at the same time with the men; and partly, perhaps, to the fact that these feasts were generally drunken carousals.
The eastern nations imagine the joys of heaven to consist principally in voluptuous love; but northern tribes seem to have believed that they chiefly consisted in drinking. In the Koran, the dying hero is assured that a troop of houries, beautiful as the day, will welcome him with kisses, and lead him to fragrant bowers; but according to the Edda,[2] a crowd of lovely maidens wait on heroes in the halls of Odin, to fill their cups as fast as they can empty them.
[2] The sacred book of the Scandinavians.
In a state of society so turbulent as that we are describing, men had little leisure, and less inclination, for the sciences; women, having better opportunities for observation and experience in common things, acquired great knowledge of simple remedies, and were in fact the only physicians. Their usefulness, virtue, and decorum, procured them an uncommon degree of respect. The institution of marriage was regarded with the utmost reverence, and second marriages were forbidden. Tacitus says: “The strictest regard to virtue characterizes the Germans, and deserves our highest applause. Vice is not made the subject of mirth and raillery, nor is fashion pleaded as an excuse for being corrupt, or for corrupting others. Good customs and manners avail more among these barbarous people, than good laws among such as are more refined. It is a great incitement to courage, that in battle their separate troops, or columns, are not arranged promiscuously, as chance directs, but consist of one united clan, with its relatives. Their dearest pledges are placed in the vicinity, whence may be heard the cries of their women, and the wailing of infants, whom each one accounts the most sacred witnesses and dearest eulogists of his valor. The wounded repair to their wives and mothers, who do not hesitate to number their wounds, and suck the blood that flows from them. Women carry refreshments to those engaged in the contest, and encourage them by exhortations. It is said that armies, when about to give way, have renewed the struggle, moved by the earnest entreaties of the women, for whose sake they dreaded captivity much more than their own. Those German states which were induced to number noble damsels among their hostages, were much more effectually bound to obedience, than those whose hostages consisted only of men. Indeed they deem that something sacred, and capable of prophecy, resides within the female breast; nor do they scorn the advice of women, or neglect their responses.”
The Goths were likewise remarkable for purity of manners. Their laws punished with heavy fines the most trifling departure from scrupulous respect toward women. After the conquest of Rome, they were accustomed to say: “Though we punish profligacy in our own countrymen, we pardon it in the Romans; because they are by nature and education weak, and incapable of reaching to our sublimity of virtue.”
Once, when a civil war arose in ancient Gaul, the women rushed into the midst of the battle, and persuaded the combatants to be reconciled to each other. From that time, the Gauls admitted women to their councils of war, and such disputes as arose between them and their allies were settled by female negotiation. Thus in a treaty with Hannibal, it was stipulated that should any complaints be made against the Carthagenians, it should be settled by their general; but in case of any complaints against the Gauls, it should be referred to their women.
On account of the confusion at times attendant upon the best regulated camp, the strictest laws were made for the protection of northern women, who universally followed the army. The operations of the soldiers were from time to time settled in a council, of which their wives formed a part; and when in danger of defeat, they feared their dishonor more than the swords of the enemy. If a man occasioned a woman the loss of her fair fame, he was obliged to marry her, if she were his equal in rank; if not, he must divide his fortune with her; and if he would not comply with these conditions, he was condemned to death.
The ancient Britons long submitted patiently to the outrageous oppression of the Romans; but when the tyrants scourged their queen Boadicea, and loaded her daughters with insult and abuse, they fought with a desperate fury, that seemed resolved on freedom or extermination. The women themselves joined the army by thousands, and contended with the utmost bravery. “They cared not for the loss of their own lives,” says Holinshed, “so they might die avenged.” The Britons had priests called druids, among whom were women held in the highest veneration.