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Abstract

In late medieval and early modern Germany, it was legal and acceptable for heads of noble households to imprison female family members as a method of punishment or coercion. Although few fathers took advantage of this strategy, brothers who succeeded their fathers as heads of households proved far less reluctant to incarcerate their sisters when the women challenged their authority. This practice of gendered coercion often led to politically destructive, divisive, and emotionally charged conflicts among siblings. This article examines the conflicts between noble brothers and their sisters, and explores why women refused to obey their brothers and what the consequences of their rebellion were. As Shakespeare has reminded us, the emotional discord between aristocratic brothers often altered a family's political fortunes. This article suggests that the same was true for the relationship between noblewomen and the brothers who tried to control them.

Keywords

siblings family conflict nobility early modern Germany

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References

Reinhard Seyboth , Die Markgraftümer Ansbach und Kulmbach unter der Regierung Markgraf Friedrichs des Älteren (1486-1515), Schriftenreihe der historischen Kommission bei der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. 24 ( Göttingen , Germany: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht , 1985), 11.

There are exceptions to this. See Hans Medick and David Warren Sabean , Interest and Emotion: Essays on the Study of Family and Kinship ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1984); and for the most recent study, see Stefan Brakensiek , Michael Stolleis , and Heide Wunder , Generationengerechtigkeit? Normen und Praxis im Erb- und Ehegüterrecht 1500-1850, Zeitschrift für historische Forschung ( Berlin: Duncker & Humblot , 2006), 37.

Karl-Heinz Spiess , Familie und Verwandtschaft im deutschen Hochadel des Spätmittelalters, 13. bis Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts ( Stuttgart , Germany: Franz Steiner , 1993); Mathias Beer , Eltern und Kinder des späten Mittelalters in ihren Briefen: Familienleben in der Stadt des Spätmitteltalters und der frühen Neuzeit mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Nürnbergs (1400-1550) (Nuremberg, Germany: Schriftenreihe des Stadtarchivs Nürnberg, 1990); Beatrix Bastl, Tugend, Liebe, Ehre: Die adelige Frau in der Frühen Neuzeit ( Vienna : Bóhlau, 2000 ); and Joel F. Harrington , Reordering Marriage and Society in Reformation Germany ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1995).

Jonathan Dewald , The European Nobility, 1400-1800 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1996), 13.

Jörge Rogge , “Nur Verkaufte Töchter?” in Principes: Dynastien und Höfe im späten Mittelalter, ed. Cordula Nolte , Karl-Heinz Spiess , and Ralf-Gunnar Werlich , Interdisziplinäre Tagung des Lehrstuhls für algemeine Geschichte des Mittelalters und Historische Hilfswissenschaften in Greifswald in Verbindung mit der Residenzen-Kommission der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen vom 15.-18. Juni 2000 ( Stuttgart , Germany: Jan Thorbecke , 2002), 237.

This is changing, primarily for early modern English aristocratic families . See Adrian Tinniswood , The Verneys: A True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England ( London : Jonathan Cape , 2007); and Stella Tillyard , A Royal Affair: George III and His Troublesome Siblings ( London: Chatto and Windus , 2006).

Tamara K. Hareven called these “families of orientation and families of procreation.” Tamara K. Hareven, “The History of the Family and the Complexity of Social Change ,” American Historical Review 96, no. 1 (1991): 106 .

Lynn Abrams and Elizabeth Harvey , Gender Relations in German History: Power, Agency and Experience from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century ( Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press , 1997), 4 ; see also Cordula Nolte , “ Gendering Princely Dynasties: Some Notes on Family Structure, Social Networks, and Communication at the Courts of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach around 1500 ” Gender and History 12, no. 3 (2000): 707 ; and Rogge , “ Nur Verkaufte Töchter? ” in Principes: Dynstien und Höfe im späten Mittelalter. Interdisziplinäre Tagung des Lehrstuhls für algemeine Geschichte des Mittelalters und Historische Hilfswissenschaften in Greifswald in Verbindung mit der Residenzen-Kommission der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen vom 15.-18 . Juni 2000, ed. Cordula Nolte, Karl-Heinz Spieß and Ralf-Gunnar Werlich ( Stuttgart : Jan Thorbecke , 2002), 237 . I use the term relative here to define noblewomen's political identity. Heide Wunder has shown that noblewomen did have access to power as regents in early modern Germany, as has Helga Meise in “ `habe ich die politica bei H. Richter angefangen': Herrschaftsalltag und Herrschaftsverständnis der Landgräfin Elisabeth Dorothea von Hessen-Darmstadt (1640-1709) ” in Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung in der Frühen Neuzeit: Geschlechter und Geschlecht , ed. Heide Wunder, Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 28 ( Berlin: Duncker & Humblot , 2002 ), 113-34 . Pauline Puppel has also written on gynaecocratie in early modern Germany. She notes that in numerous tracts from the end of the sixteenth century through the first half of the seventeen it was often the opinion that women might have been as good as or better rulers than men . Pauline Puppel , “Gynaecocratie: Herrschaft hochadeliger Frauen in der Frühen Neuzeit,” in Geschlechterstreit am Beginn der europäischen Moderne: Die Querelle des Femmes , ed. Gisela Engel, Friederike Hassauer, Brita Rang, Heide Wunder ( Königstein / Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag , 2004 ), 153 .

Merry E. Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1993), 252.

10.

Heide Wunder , ed., Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung in der Frühen Neuzeit: Geschlechter und Geschlecht ( Berlin: Duncker and Humblot , 2002); and Bastl, Tugend, Liebe, Ehre.

11.

Nolte , “ Gendering Princely Dynasties” 706.

12.

Rogge , “ Nur Verkaufte Töchter?” 262-63.

13.

Nolte , “ Gendering Princely Dynasties” 705.

14.

Heide Wunder , “ Gender Norms and Their Enforcement in Early Modern Germany,” in Abrams and Harvey, Gender Relations in German History, 39.

15.

Margareth Lanzinger , “ Generationengerechtigkeit mittels Vertrag. Besitz- und Vermögensregelungen zwischen Reziprozität und Unterordnung, Ausgleich und Begünstigung,” in Brakensiek, Stolleis, and Wunder, Generationengerechtigkeit? 257-63; and Erica Bastress-Dukehart , The Zimmern Chronicle: Nobility, Memory and Self-Representation in Sixteenth-Century Germany ( Aldershot, UK: Ashgate , 2002), 165.

16.

This concept is not original to Spiess. See also Roger Sablonier , Adel im Wandel: Eine Untersuchung zur sozialen Situation des ostschweizerischen Adels um 1300 ( Göttingen , Germany: MPI Göttingen , 1979).

17.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 456. On the same topic, see also Wolfgang E. J. Weber , “Dynastiesicherung und Staatsbildung. Die Entfaltung des frühmodernen Fürstenstaates” in Der Fürst. Ideen und Wirklichkeiten in der europäischen Geschichte ( Cologne , Germany: Böhlau , 1998), 91-136.

18.

Nolte , “Gendering Princely Dynasties” 707.

19.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 456.

20.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft , 456 ; Gerald Strauss, Law, Resistance, and the State: The Opposition to Roman Law in Reformation Germany ( Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press , 1986), 120 ; Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger , “ Der Grafenstand in der Reichspublizistik ” in Wunder, Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung in der Frühen Neuzeit, 48; and Judith Hurwich, Noble Strategies: Marriage and Sexuality in the Zimmern Chronicles , Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies 75 ( Kirksville, Mo.: Truman State University Press , 2006), 107 .

21.

Sablonier, Adel im Wandel ; and Heinz Reif , Westfälischer Adel 1770-1860: Vom Herrschaftsstand zur regionalen Elite, Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft 35 ( Göttingen , Germany: Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft , 1979). For a critique of using a European model for family relationships, see Hareven , “ The History of the Family” 106-8.

22.

Nolte , “Gendering Princely Dynasties” 708.

23.

Hurwich , Noble Strategies , 31.

24.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 275.

25.

Cordula Nolte , Familie, Hof und Herrschaft: Das verwandtschaftliche Beziehungs-Kommunikationsnetz der Reichsfürsten am Beispiel der Markgrafen von Brandenburg-Ansbach (1440-1530) ( Ostfildern , Germany: Jan Thorbecke , 2005), 274 ; see also Jörge Rogge , “ Gefängnis, Flucht und Liebeszauber: Ursachen und Verlaufsformen von Geschlechterkonflikten im hohen Adel des deutschen Reiches im späten Mittelalter ” Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 28, no. 4 (2001): 496 .

26.

For more on marriage among German nobility and Roman law, see Stollberg-Rilinger , “ Der Grafenstand in der Reichspublizistik” 48; and Ute Gerhard , Frauen in der Geschichte des Rechts: von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart ( Munich: C. H. Beck , 1997).

27.

Nolte, Familie , Hof und Herrschaft, 275. Judith Hurwich appeared to counter this argument, at least for southwest German nobles mentioned in the Zimmern Chronicle. See Hurwich , Noble Strategies, 108.

28.

H. C. Erik Midelfort , Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany ( Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia , 1999); Heide Wunder , He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon: Women in Early Modern Germany, trans. Thomas Dunlap ( Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press , 1998), 161; and Rogge , “ Gefängnis, Flucht und Liebeszauber.”

29.

Midelfort, Mad Princes, 58-59.

30.

Midelfort, Mad Princes, 145.

31.

Peter Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, Gemahlin Herzog Gerhards VII. von Schleswig ( Neumünster , Germany: Karl Wachholtz , 1957), 64. Hirschfeld has included many of the letters between Agnes and Jakob as well as other primary sources.

32.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 63.

33.

Paul Herrmann , ed., Zimmerische Chronik, 4 vols. ( Meersburg am Bodensee , Germany: F. W. Hendel Verlag , 1932), 1:180.

34.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 86.

35.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 93.

36.

“Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, Echtheitserklärung der Bischöfe Nikolaus von Schleswig und Johannes von Lübeck für die Zwillinge, 1433 Februar 4” in Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 222.

37.

Ibid.

38.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 106.

39.

“Herzogin Agnes an Markgraf Jakob, 1433, Reg. M. Bad. 5327—Abbildung 6” in Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 224.

40.

“Hans Erhard Bock von Stauffenberg und Konrad Ameling an Markgraf Jakob, 1433 September, Lübeck,” in Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 225-26.

41.

For more on how these financial obligations were indicators of social prestige and status, see Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 344-62.

42.

The correspondence between Agnes and Jakob before her return to Baden indicates that Jakob had begun negotiations for her second marriage without consulting her.

43.

Nor did he intervene when Adolf took the twins from her. Her daughter was sent to a convent, where she died within the year. Her son's fate was no better; he drowned soon after under mysterious circumstances. See “Herzogin Agnes an Markgraf Jakob, 1434 Januar 25. Lübeck,” in Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 226.

44.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 188.

45.

“ Mandat des Basler Konzils an Markgraf Jakob, 1436 März 2” in Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 236.

46.

“ Aus dem Testament des Markgrafen Jakob von Baden,” in Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 238.

47.

In 1446, Jakob was a member of a delegation representing the emperor that included Albrecht Achilles von Brandenburg, Archbishop and Prince Elector Dietrich von Mainz, Chancellor of the Empire Kaspar Schlick , and Enea Silvio Piccolomini. Hirschfeld wrote that “ das Ergebnis war die Anerkennung Papst Eugens IV. Gegenüber dem Konzil zu Basel, dessen Rolle damit endgültig ausgespielt war, auch als Beschützerin der Herzogin Agnes” (Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 196).

48.

“Kurfürst Albrecht von Brandenburg an seinen Sohn, Markgraf Johann von Brandenburg. Ansbach” 21 May 1481, in Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, ed. Georg Steinhausen ( Berlin: R. Gaertners , 1899), 232.

49.

“Kurfürstin Anna von Brandenburg an ihre Tochter, Königin Barbara von Böhmen” 21 May 1481, in Steinhausen, Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 232.

50.

Steinhausen , Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 233-34 n. 2.

51.

The most recent work that details Barbara's conflict with her brothers is Nolte, Familie, Hof und Herrschaft. Older works include Constantin Höfler, Barbara, Markgräfin zu Brandenburg, verwittwete Herzogin in Schlesien, vermählte Königin von Böhmen, Verlobte Konrads Herrn zu Haydek. Ein deutsches Fürstenbild aus dem XV. Jahrhunderte. Nach den geheimen Correspondenzen des hohenzollerschen Hausarchives ( Prague , 1867); Richard Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg im ausgehenden fünfzehnten Jahrhundert (1486-1499) (Kurfürst Johann und die Markgrafen Friedrich und Siegmundt) ( Munich: Vereins für Geschichte der Mark Brandenburg , 1919); and Seyboth , Die Markgraftümer Ansbach und Kulmbach. Many of the letters regarding sibling conflict are included in Steinhausen, Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters .

52.

Although Barbara was not yet living in Prague with the king, he had signed the marriage contract, which meant that he was legally obligated to follow through with the alliance. Seyboth , Die Markgraftümer Ansbach und Kulmbach, 78.

53.

Steinhausen , Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 302 n. 2. Her brothers even offered another sister, Dorothy, to the king, but to no avail.

54.

Seyboth , Die Markgraftümer Ansbach, 78; and Nolte , Familie, Hof und Herrschaft, 276.

55.

As quoted in Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 55.

56.

Barbara had turned over her rights to the Silesian possession to her brother Johan in 1491 in exchange for 200 florins a year.

57.

Nolte, Familie , Hof und Herrschaft, 277.

58.

Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 57-58.

59.

Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 59-61.

60.

Barbara had help from both Heideck and Duke Georg of Bavaria. She wrote to the duke in 1494 to thank him for his efforts in this matter, in Steinhausen, Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 307.

61.

“Markgräfin Barbara von Brandenburg an ihre Brüder, Markgraf Friedrich und Markgraf Sigmund von Brandenburg. Plassenburg 1493 Oktober 28 ,” in Steinhausen , Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 301-2.

62.

As quoted in Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 69.

63.

For more on this unhappy marriage, see Frida Sauter , “ Herzogin Sabine von Wirtemberg ,” Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 8 (1944/ 1948): 342-43 .

64.

Ibid. , 342; and Sigmund von Riezler, Geschichte Baierns , vol. 4 ( Aalen , Germany: Scientia, 1964), 324.

65.

Baierische Landtagshandlungen, Bd. 20, o.O., 1804, Ausschreiben der Gebrüder Wilhelm und Ludwig herzogen in Baiern an die Landschaft von Wirtemberg von wegen ihrer Frau Schwester der Herzogin zu Wirtemberg, 20 December 1515 ; and Baierische Landtagshandlungen, Bd. 20, o.O., 1804, Schreiben der Herzogin Sabine von Wirtemberg , München , 24 December 1515.

66.

As quoted in Sauter , “ Herzogin Sabine” 342.

67.

As quoted in Sauter , “ Herzogin Sabine,” 342-43.

68.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 335; Hurwich , Noble Strategies, 27; Stefan Brakensiek , “ Generationengerechtigkeit? Normen und Praxis im Erb- und Ehegüterrecht 1500-1850. Eine Einführung” in Brakensiek , Stolleis, and Wunder, Generationengerechtigkeit? 3; and Bastl , Tugend, 160.

69.

Brakensiek , “Generationengerechtigkeit? ” 3.

70.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 327-81. There were exceptions to this; see Margareth Lanzinger , “Generationengerechtigkeit,” 257-63.

71.

Hurwich , Noble Strategies , 27.

72.

Johann Nepomuk Vanotti , Geschichte der Grafen von Montfort und von Werdenberg. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte Schwabens, Graubündens, der Schweiz und Vorarlbergs ( Bregenz , Austria: Lingenhöle , 1845; reprinted in 1988), 407.

73.

Christoph Friedrich von Stälin , Württembergische Geschichte , vol. 3 (1841; reprint, Aalen , Germany: Scientia, 1975), 433; and Vanotti , Geschichte der Grafen von Montfort und von Werdenberg , 395 . The Württembergs were elevated from counts to dukes in 1495 by Maximilian I.

74.

Joseph Heyrenbach , ed., Kaiser Friedrichs Tochter Kunigunde. Ein Fragment aus der Oesterreich-Bayerischen Geschichte. Nach dem Wiener Original ( Vienna , 1778); Sigmund von Riezler , Geschichte Baierns, vol. 3 ( Aalen , Germany: Scientia , 1964), 503; Hermann Wiesflecker , Kaiser Maximilian I, vol. 5 ( Munich: R. Oldenbourg , 1968), 10; Friedrich Hegi , Die Geächteten Räte des Erzherzogs Sigmund von Österreich und Ihre Beziehungen zur Schweiz 1487-1499 ( Innsbruck , Germany: Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung , 1910), 147; and Bastress-Dukehart , The Zimmern Chronicle, 94-105.

75.

Sauter , “Herzogin Sabine” 347.

76.

Wunder , He Is the Sun, She Is the Moon, 159.

77.

Emperor Friedrich III wrote to Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach in September 1452, asking him to convene a diet to mediate between Agnes and her brother-in-law over the issue of her dowry and widow's pension. See “ Mandat Kaiser Friedrichs III. an Kurfürst Friedrich II. Von Brandenburg. 1452 September 12. Neustadt bei Wien” in Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 237. See also “Herzogin Agnes an Markgraf Jakob, 1434 Januar 24. Lübeck, and Herzogin Agnes an Markgraf Jakob 1434 Januar 31. Lübeck,” in Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 226-27.

78.

Steinhausen , Deutsche Privatbriefe des Mittelalters, 233 n. 2.

79.

For fuller discussions of Sabine's finances, see Sauter , “ Herzogin Sabine ” 330-40 ; Johann Ulrich Steinhofer , Neue wirtenbergische Chronik , vol. 4 ( Stuttgart , Germany: 1752), 899 ; Ludwig Friedrich Heyd, Ulrich, Herzog zu Württemberg , vol. 2 ( Tübingen , Germany: Ludwig Friedrich Fues , 1841 ), 252 ; Briefwechsel des Herzogs Christoph von Wirtemberg , vol. 1, ed. Viktor Ernst ( Stuttgart , Germany: W. Kohlhammer , 1899 ), letters 41, 57, 62, 137.

80.

Wunder , Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung, 19.

81.

Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 71.

82.

Michael Stolleis , “ Die Prinzessin als Braut,” in Verfassung — Philosophie — Kirche: Festschrift für Alexander Hollerbach , ed. Joachim Bohnert ( Berlin: Duncker and Humblot , 2001), 1-13; and Wunder , Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung, 16.

83.

Hirschfeld , Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 179.

84.

Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg-Ansbach had threatened in 1466 to incarcerate Ursula, his daughter from his first marriage, when she refused an arranged marriage. As Cordula Nolte has noted, Albrecht knew of a precedent for such punishment that involved the Baden family. Nolte suggests that Albrecht was referring to Agnes here, but it was more likely Countess Elizabeth von Württemberg's illicit marriage to Baron Johann of Werdenberg. In 1429, Elizabeth was in the wagon on her way to marry Duke Albrecht III of Bavaria when she revealed she was already betrothed to Johann of Werdenberg. “It did not come up,” writes Werdenberg biographer, Johann N. Vanotti , “ whether this happened with or without the knowledge of her mother.” The end result, according to Vanotti was not only that Elizabeth married a man with few political connections, but that the Württemberg family was obligated to pay the dukes of Bavaria 10,000 florins for breaking their marriage contract. Vanotti, 395; See also Spiess, 29-30 n33: Stälin, vol., 3, 433; ZC: III, 45. Jakob of Baden intended for Agnes to marry Duke Konrad of Silesia-Oels ( Hirschfeld, Markgräfin Agnes von Baden, 178-80).

85.

It is just as likely that Sabine's brother, Wilhelm, knew about Agnes of Baden's clash with Jakob. It is certain that he was aware of the marriage dispute that arose between Barbara of Brandenburg and her brothers. When the marriage collapsed between Barbara and the Bohemian king, Emperor Friedrich III, Duke Wilhelm's grandfather, offered his daughter to the king instead. That daughter, Kunigunde, was Wilhelm's mother. He had another connection to this event as well. His paternal grandfather, Duke Georg of Bavaria, had tried—unsuccessfully—to help Barbara in her cause. Seyboth , Die Markgraftümer Ansbach, 80-83; and Nolte , Familie, Hof und Herrschaft, 280.

86.

Herrmann , Zimmerische Chronik, 1:182.

87.

Erica Bastress-Dukehart , “ Family, Property, and Feeling in Early Modern German Noble Culture: The Zimmerns of Swabia ,” Sixteenth Century Journal 32, no. 1 (2001).

88.

Wolff , Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, 55.

89.

The Zimmerns knew of what they wrote. Their relative, Anna of Zimmern, who had been held prisoner by her brother-in-law when her husband died, found herself at the center of an ugly dynastic dispute that almost led to a feud between her brothers and the Geroldseck family. Anna, under house arrest for three years and entirely isolated from the outside world, secretly married her prison guard days before her release. The Zimmern authors told this story with some bemusement and not a little didactic posturing regarding the dangers inherent in imprisoning a sister. In an ironic twist, it was the Geroldseck family with whom Jakob of Baden was feuding when he could not pay Agnes's dowry. And, it was to Jakob that the Zimmern family turned to mediate their dispute with the Geroldsecks regarding Anna's imprisonment and dowry. Herrmann, Zimmerische Chronik, 1:365-79.

90.

Duke Christoph of Württemberg refused to return the Württemberg duchy to Catholicism following the death of his father, Ulrich, in 1550. His refusal caused dangerous tensions between Christoph and King Ferdinand, and with the Bavarian court. The bishop of Augsburg hoped that Sabine could act as an intermediary, but she proved to be of little influence, especially as she had already made her own religious conversion public. Viktor Ernst , ed., Briefwechsel des Herzogs Christoph von Württemberg ( Stuttgart , Germany: W. Kohlhammer , 1899), 34.

91.

Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft, 31; and Jonathan Dewald , The European Nobility, 1400-1800 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1996), 13.

92.

Nolte, Familie , Hof und Herrschaft, 290.

93.

Nolte , Familie, Hof und Herrschaft, 277.

94.

According to Spiess , once a woman married, “there was literally no longer a place for her in her parent's house”; Spiess, Familie und Verwandtschaft , 470.

95.

Abrams and Harvey , Gender Relations in German History, 4.

96.

Hareven , “ The History of the Family” 108.

Sibling Conflict within Early Modern German Noble Families

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