[78] Dowers were first introduced into England by the Danish king, Cnut or Canute, and into Denmark by Swein, father of Canute, who bestowed it upon Danish ladies in grateful acknowledgment of their having parted with their jewels to ransom him from the Vandals. For account of Dowers, see History of Dowers; Grote.—History of Greece 2, 112-13; Alexander.—History of Women; Lord Kames.—Sketch of the history of Man; Histoire des Morales des Femmes. In Denmark, King Sweinn Forkbeard was the first to give woman a share in her parents’ property. Saxo Grammaticus says, The king was taken prisoner by the Vinds who demanded so large a sum of money for his ransom, the men of Denmark would not pay it, so their king remained a prisoner. The women of Denmark sold their ornaments and ransomed him. From gratitude the king decreed that afterwards daughters should inherit one-third of their father’s property. Journal of Jurisprudence. One especial right belonged to wives among the Northmen; this was the custody of her husband’s keys, and if he refused them the wife could compel him by law to give her their possession. These were the keys of the store-room, chest, and cupboard.
[79] The law of dower was less favorable to the wife in the 13th century than it became later.
[80] See Reeves pp. 156-6.
[81] Sheldon Amos.—Science of Law.
[82] History of Women, 1779.
[83] Higgins says the word widow comes from Vidya, to know.
[84] Ancient Laws of Ireland, Sanchus Mor. pp. 347-51.
[85] At a time when the English law of husband and wife, which now for three centuries, has been substituted for the Irish law in this country, has been condemned by a committee of the House of Commons, as unjust towards the wife, and when the most advanced of modern thinkers are trying to devise some plan by which wives may be placed in a position more nearly approaching to equality with the husband, it is interesting to discover in the much despised laws of the ancient Irish, the recognition of the principle on which efforts are being made to base our legislation on this subject. Preface to Sanchus Mor. Vol. 2.
[86] Vol. 3, p. 35.—Ibid.
[87] Rambles and Studies in Old South Wales.—Wirt Sikes.