Margaret Mikulska:
>I'm not sure why this point is misunderstood. Nowadays people believe
>that ius primae noctis was a historically documented medieval (and later)
>custom. In reality, it did not exist (at least not as an accepted custom
>- certainly there were cases of upper class men abusing lower class women
>and girls); it was invented by the 18th-century French philosophes. So
>in the 18th century at least the brighter people understood that it was
>a fiction, but a fiction invented and used to fight class inequality -
>something that is very well shown in Beaumarchais's play. Of course Da
>Ponte makes us believe the custom existed, but he knew very well it was
>just a rhetorical device and he uses it as such.
I understand your point. However, I'm now confused about why you object to
a Trump Tower Le Nozze. Too real? Too close to the bone?
Steve Schwartz