There is no allocation in the Salic law of the bride-price of a woman on her first marriage.[1]
The bride-price evidently was for the purchase of a woman from her kindred, or for compensation to them for her loss. This comes out clearly in the Anglo-Saxon custom, which, in the absence of direct evidence of detail, may be looked at for the general Teutonic practice. The betrothal, which was the essential part of marriage, was arranged by the respective kindreds (maeg) of the bridegroom and the bride; the bride-price was agreed upon, the bridegroom's maeg guaranteed it, and the bride's kindred might also require a guarantee for her good treatment if she were taken into "another thene's land."[2] Indeed, as in other transactions, it was the group which acted for the individual, protected him or her against wrong, or avenged his or her death.
It is quite clear, from the law of the Reippus, that it was the kindred of the widow, on the mother's side, who had a claim to the bride-price; and the same principle may be fairly assumed to have governed the price at her first marriage. It is clearly laid down that the line of maternal descent is to be followed, the one exception being the brother of the deceased husband. As to this, it may not be an unreasonable conjecture that he was included, for the reason that in past times he had a personal claim over the widow. The practice of the Levirate seems to have been common in Teutonic tribes before they came under the control of the Christian Church. The numerous successive enactments which forbid marriage between persons within certain degrees of relation show what the previous practice was, and instances in the writings of Beda, and of Gregory of Tours, show how common marriages of this character were both in Frankish Gaul and in Anglo-Saxon England. Even as late as the time of Henry I. of England, the marriage of a woman with two brothers is referred to in one of his laws as "humbling her to the day of her death."[3]
It is easily understood, however, why the husband's
