The Position of Woman in Primitive Society Part 14

[206] Gen. xxiii, 13.

[207] Numb. x.x.xvi, 4-8.

Under mother-right there is naturally no prohibition against marriage with a half-sister upon the father's side. This explains the marriage of Abraham with Sarah, his half-sister by the same father. When reproached for having pa.s.sed his wife off as his sister to the King of Egypt, the patriarch replies: "For indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife."[208] In the same way Tamar could have married her half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children of David: "Speak to the King, for he will not withhold me from thee." And it was her uterine brother, Absalom, who revenged the rape of Tamar by slaying; afterwards he fled to the kindred of his mother.[209] Again, the father of Moses and Aaron married his father's sister, who legally was not considered to be related to him.[210] Nabor, the brother of Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his brother.[211] It was only later that paternal kins.h.i.+p became legally recognised among the Hebrews by the same t.i.tles as the natural kins.h.i.+p through the mother.

[208] Gen. xii, 10-20.

[209] 2 Sam. xiii, 13-16 and 37.

[210] Exod. vi, 20.

[211] Gen. xi. 26-29.

It is by considering these survivals of mother-right in connection with similar customs to be found among existing maternal peoples that we see their true significance. They warrant us in believing that the patriarchal family, as we know it among the Hebrews and elsewhere, was a later stage of an evolution, which had for its starting-point the communal clan, and that these races have pa.s.sed through the maternal phase. We come to understand the change in the privileged position of women. As the husband and father continued to gain in power, with the rea.s.sertion of individual interests, it was inevitable that the mother should lose the authority she had held, under the free social organisation of the undivided clan.

Traces of a similar evolution of the family may, I am convinced, be found by all who will undertake an inquiry for themselves. The subject is one of great interest. So far as my own study goes, I believe that these survivals of the maternal-group customs may be discovered in the early history of every people, where the necessary material for such knowledge is available. I wish it were possible for me even to summarise all the evidence, direct and inferential, that I have collected for my own satisfaction. I must reluctantly pa.s.s over many countries I would like to include; some of these--China, j.a.pan, Burma and Madagascar--have been noticed briefly in _The Truth about Woman_.[212] There is surprising similarity between the facts; and, the more of such survivals that can be found, the more the evidence seems to grow in favour of the acceptance of a universal maternal stage in the evolution of society.

[212] See pp. 156-161.

I must now, before closing this chapter (whose acc.u.mulation of facts may, I fear, have wearied my readers), refer briefly to the races of barbarous Europe. The point of interest is, of course--how far mother-right may be accepted, as at one period, having existed. The earliest direct evidence is the account given by Strabo of the Iberians of ancient Spain. And first it is important to note that the Iberians belonged to the Berber race, now widely regarded as the parent of the chief and largest element in the population of Europe.

There is another fact that must be noted. The general characteristic of the Berber family seems to have been the privileged position they accorded to their women, privileges so great that we meet with strong tendencies towards the matriarchate. This last is still in force among the Touaregs of the Sahara; and there are as well numerous traces of its former existence among the neighbouring Kabyles, though there the most rigorous patriarchate has replaced the maternal family.[213] We have seen, too, that in ancient Egypt, where the Berbers were largely represented, women enjoyed a position of extraordinary freedom and authority.

[213] Letourneau, _op. cit._ 328.

Bearing this in mind, we may accept the statement of Strabo: "Among the Cantabrians usage requires that the husband shall bring a dower to his wife, and the daughters inherit, being charged with the marriage of their brothers, which const.i.tutes a kind of gynaecocracy." There is possibly some exaggeration in the term gynaecocracy; yet if there is no proof of "rule by women," there can be no doubt that, through the system of female inheritance, property was held by them, and this must certainly have given them the power always involved by the possession of wealth.

The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is sufficiently indicated by the fact that they took part in the activities usually considered as belonging to men. It was these women who played their part in driving back the Roman legions from the mountainous districts of northern Spain; we read of them fighting side by side with men, where they used their weapons with courage and determination. They received their wounds with silent fort.i.tude, and no cry of pain ever escaped their lips, even when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. To women as well as men liberty was a possession more valued than life, and, when taken prisoners, they fell upon their own swords, and dashed their little ones to death rather than suffer them to live to be slaves. Nor were the activities of women confined to warfare. Justin speaks of women as not only having the care of all domestic matters, but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing of these Amazons, tells us that they would often step aside out of the furrows "to be brought to bed," and then, having borne a child, would return to their work "just as if they had only laid an egg." He notes, too, as being practised among them the _couvade_, whereby the husband, in a.s.sertion of his legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was born.[214]

[214] See in this connection my book, _Spain Revisited_, pp.

291-304.

Spain is a land that I know well, and for this reason I have chosen to write of it in fuller detail. Persistent relics of the early maternal period even yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly conservative people. Women are held in honour. There is a proverb common all over Spain to the effect that "he who is unfortunate and needs a.s.sistance should seek his mother." Many primitive customs survive, and one of the most interesting is that by which the eldest daughter in some cases takes precedence over the sons in inheritance.

Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration of the family property pa.s.sed to the eldest child, whether a boy or a girl; and in the case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take the name of the family and to live in the wife's home. Spanish women always retain their own names after marriage, and as far back as the fourth century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting an attempt to limit this freedom. The practice is still common for children to use the name of the mother coupled with that of the father, and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite unusual absence of preference for paternal descent. This is very significant.

It explains the recognition given in old Spain to the unmarried mother; even to-day in no country, that I know, does less social stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The profound Spanish veneration of the Virgin Mary, as well as the number of female saints, is another indication of the honour paid to women, which must, I am certain, be connected with a far back time when G.o.ddesses were wors.h.i.+pped. I would note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of hospitality. This belongs to the ideals of communal life. I know nothing to equal it in the common habits of other European countries.

It may be compared with the conditions in the joint-family communities of the American Indians.[215]

[215] See pp. 107-109.

Much more might be said on the position of the Spanish women. I have, however, written elsewhere of these women,[216] of their intelligence, and strength, and beauty, and of the active part they take still in the industrial life of the country. There can be no question that some features of the maternal customs have left their imprint on the domestic life of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom of action and privileges, which even in England have never been established, and only of late claimed.

[216] _Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish Cities._

As we may expect, there is less direct evidence of mother-right in the other European countries than is the case in conservative Spain.

Dargun, who has written much on this subject,[217] believes that maternal descent was formerly practised among the Germans. He holds further "that the ancient Aryans at the time of their dispersion regarded kins.h.i.+p through the mother as the sole, or chief, basis of blood-kins.h.i.+p, and all their family rights were governed by this principle." There is much conflict of opinion on this matter, and it would, perhaps, be rash to make any definite statement. We may recall what Tacitus says of the Germans:

[217] _Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im Germanischen Recht und Leben_, Vol. XVI, quoted by Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, pp. 103 _et seq._

"The son of a sister is as dear to his uncle as to his father; some even think that the first of these ties is the most sacred and close; and in taking hostages they prefer nephews, as inspiring a stronger attachment, and interesting the family on more sides." The same authority tells us that the Germans of his day met together to take a clan meal, to settle clan business, _i. e._ for the clan council--and to arrange marriages. This is strong confirmation of what I am trying to establish.[218] Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient religion. There are many Teutonic G.o.ddesses, who may well be connected with the primitive tribal-mothers.[219] Religion here, as so often elsewhere, would seem to have been symbolised as feminine. Not only the seers, but the sacrificers among the early Teutons were women.[220] To this evidence may be added that in Germany up to a late period the mother could be the guardian of her children; that a wife had to be bought by the husband, both she and her children remaining under the guardians.h.i.+p of her father. All this points to mother-right and the existence of the maternal clan.[221] Let us note also that in the Slav communities women had the right to vote, and might be elected to the government of the community.

[218] _De moribus Germanorum_, XX. See also K. Pearson, _The Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 132.

[219] Grimm, _Mythologie_, Vol. I, p. 248.

[220] K. Pearson, _The Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 102.

[221] Starcke, _op. cit._ p. 105, citing Dargun and Grimm.

See also Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 339-340.

It will interest my readers to know that mother-descent must once have prevailed in Britain. Among the Picts of Scotland kings.h.i.+p was transmitted through women.[222] Bede tells us that down to his own time--the early part of the eighth century--whenever a doubt arose as to the succession, the Picts chose their king from the female rather than from the male line.[223] There is an ancient legend which represents the Irish as giving three hundred wives to the Picts, on the condition that the succession to the crown should always be through their females--

"There were oathes imposed on them, By the stars, by the earth, That from the n.o.bility of the mother Should always be the right to the sovereignty."[224]

[222] Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ pp. 41-42.

[223] Bede, II. 1-7.

[224] McLennan, _Studies_, p. 46.

Similar traces are found in England: Canute, the Dane, when acknowledged King of England, married Emma, the widow of his predecessor, Ethelred. Ethelbald, King of Kent, married his stepmother, after the death of his father Ethelbert; and, as late as the ninth century, Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, wedded Judith, the widow of his father. Such marriages are intelligible only if we suppose that the queen had the power of conferring the kingdom upon her consort, which could only happen where maternal descent was, or had been, practised. These marriages with the widow of a king were at one time very common. The familiar example of Hamlet's uncle is one, who, after murdering his brother, married his wife and became king.

His acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is explained if it was the old Danish custom for marriage with the king's widow to carry the kingdom with it. In Hamlet's position as avenger, and his curious hesitancy, we have really an indication of the conflict between the old and the new ways of descent.[225]

[225] See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, Vol. II, 282-283.

The Celtic population of Britain preserved the inst.i.tution of the clan much longer than the other European races. In Wales and in Ireland, in particular, communism was strongly established. The clan was responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines, and received the compensations.[226] There are numerous indications of mother-right. In Ireland women retained a very high position and much freedom, both before and after marriage, to a late period: temporary unions were freely allowed, and customs having the force of law safeguarded the rights of the wife. "Every woman," it was said, "is to go the way she willeth freely."[227]

[226] Letourneau, _op. cit._ p. 338. Maine, _Early Inst.i.tutions_, pp. 113 _et seq._

[227] Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_.

The early Celtic mythologies and folk-records are full of these survivals. G.o.ddesses are frequent as primeval tribal-mothers. Let me give one instance. The Irish G.o.ddess Brigit (whose attributes at a later date were transferred to St. Bridget) is referred to in a ninth-century glossary as--_operum atque artificiorum initia_. She was the tribal-mother of the Bringantes. Similarly Vote was tribal-mother of the Burgundians; and the G.o.ddess Bil of the Billings, and there are numerous other cases. In a recent book on _Ulster Folk-lore_,[228] I have been fortunate enough to find a most interesting pa.s.sage referring to the Irish G.o.ddess Brigit. I quote it with pleasure as a fitting ending to this chapter.[229]

"Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, a poetess of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we may perhaps regard as a female Apollo. Cormac in his _Glossary_ tells us she was a daughter of the Dagda and a G.o.ddess whom all poets adored, and whose sisters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the smith. Probably the three sisters represent the same divine, or semi-divine, person whom we may identify with the British G.o.ddess Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo."

[228] By E. Andrews, p. 18.

[229] I would refer the reader to a most interesting article on "Old English Clans" (_Cornhill_, Sept. 1881); this I had not read when I wrote this chapter. The author holds that the clan system was once common to the whole Aryan race. In the Teutonic stock its memory died out in an early stage of development, owing to the strong individuality of the Teutonic mind. Yet it has left behind it many traces.

Numerous examples are given. Perhaps the most interesting is the evidence showing that totemism seems to have existed; the clan names being taken from animals or plants.

CHAPTER XI

THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY STORIES

In the preceding chapter we have found the former existence of the maternal family, or some indication of it, in the early records of many races, proving this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at variance with the patriarchal conditions. Should it be thought that this claim has not been supported by sufficient evidence, I must plead the difficulties of such an inquiry. My survey has been very incomplete. I am certain, however, that these survivals will be recognised by any one who will undertake for themselves the collection and interpretation of the facts from the records of the past.

There is a point to consider here. The absence, or rather the rarity, of mother-right survivals in some civilisations cannot be counted as proof that the maternal system never existed. As I have shown in the earlier chapters of this book, the mother-age was a transitional stage, between the very early brute-conditions of the family and the second firmly established patriarchate. Now, it is clear that the customs of a transitional stage are very likely to disappear; they are also very likely to be mistaken. Bearing this in mind, the number of survivals that do occur are, I hold, extraordinary, and, indeed, impossible to account for if the maternal family was not a universal stage in the development of society. Moreover, I am certain from my own study that these survivals are of much wider occurrence than is believed, but as yet the facts are insufficiently established.