Uneheliche Schwangerschaften und weiblicher Gesindedienst im vormodernen Nürnberg Eine Untersuchung zu Klagen von schwangeren Mägden vor städtischen Gerichten

Abstract

In late medieval society, both consensual and forced sexual relationships between maidservants and their masters were common. Although such behaviour was considered morally reprehensible and punishable by the authorities, the contemporary structural conditions of female servitude supported such relationships. Sometimes they ended in illegitimate pregnancies with negative social and economic consequences for the maidservants. Some of the cases of illegitimate pregnancies were brought before the Nuremberg courts. The surviving claims for custody and alimony in the Nuremberg court records reveal both the desire for justice and the social plight of the pregnant maidservants. With the help of the author­ities, they obtained financial support from the children’s fathers to provide for themselves and their children. In addition, they always tried to preserve their sexual in­tegrity and female honour as much as possible. To this end, they used gender-specific argumentation structures to leverage contemporary female stereotypes and social grievances to their advantage. As active, self-confident protagonists, they fought for their social and economic survival and belie the image of the passive female object in a patriarchal social order.