History Horrors

With all of the public attention on a particular domestic abuse incident this week I figured it may be time to write about wife beating. It’s not a subject you write about lightly, but there are myths and moments of interest for readers of the darker side of history.

One of the myths may be the “The Rule of Thumb.”  In medieval times The Rule of Thumb was supposed to refer to the width of the branch you could use to whip your wife–it was to be no thicker than your thumb. However, this may not be what Rule of Thumb originally meant.

According to About.com:  “Rule of thumb” as a phrase predates all such known references, in any case. The “rule of thumb” was used for measurements in many different fields, from brewing to money-changing to art.

And as the article continues it suggests that The Rule of Thumb became associated with wife beating even if it didn’t originally refer to it.

Wife beating must have been in the public conscious though because it’s something that could not be hidden as demonstrated by this collection of wife beating cartoons.

It is suggested that one of the main reasons a woman could be beaten was that she was a piece of property. Something that may have happened as a result of monogamy and religious and/or state ceremony. Wives were not allowed to rise above their husbands or falter in the case of adultery. Women who could not submit had to be knocked back down as in the French Code of Chivalry:

The French Code of Chivalry specified that a husband of a scolding wife could knock her to the earth, strike her in the face with his fist, and break her nose so she would always be blemished and ashamed.

The real question for husbands was: Is it wise to batter someone who makes your food or has access to your private parts?

Poison was the weapon of choice when it came to women who were tired of their husbands–whether they were wife beaters or just plain boring. Victorian times recorded several infamous female poisoners who we will explore in further posts: Adelaide Bartlett, Madeline Smith, Florence Maybrick, Mary Ann Cotton, Christina Edmunds and more.

There are worse things than poison. We all remember what Lorena Bobbitt did. It’s best to be good to your wife. They may not have the same upper body strength as men, but their cunning can cut your life or penis short in a horrible way.