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The Weird Rules For Divorce By Combat In Medival Europe
Would you engage in divorce by combat?
Divorce has been a common topic for humanity since its earliest days. Moses wrote about divorce in the Hebrew Bible, the Greeks and Romans wrote endless plays and poems featuring the dissolution of marriage, and today, over half of all new marriages tend to end in heartbreak. Divorce is as old and common as marriage itself.
Over the years, the practice of divorce has changed with the times. In some cultures, men could leave their wives at any time for any reason. In other cultures, a reason or legal document would have to be obtained and then approved by an authority. Some cultures allowed men to have multiple wives simultaneously, reducing the need for official divorce proceedings. Today, divorce is settled in civil court.
According to one Medieval work, Hans Talhoffer’s Fechtbuch, divorce was once settled via trial by combat. The book, written in the 15th century, lays out elaborate rules for duels involving a husband and wife regarding divorce. The book is so prominent that a surviving copy maintains a home in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(The book is included in the art collection because it features dozens of fascinating period drawings. The drawings depict various combat styles and moves for…
