The Legal Status of Women within the Episcopal Principality of Liège during the Early Modern Period (15th-18th century)

According to John GILISSEN (1912-1988), outstanding legal historian from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the early modern period is marked by a significant decline in women’s rights and freedoms owing to the reintroduction of Roman law in several parts of Europe – above all within the Holy Roman Empire and in Italy, to a lesser extent in France – from the 15th century onwards. This assumption, seemingly shared by a larger audience, but rarely substantiated, will likely astonish the Roman law scholar: Indeed, the whole of Ancient Rome’s history is that of a gradual economic and legal emancipation of women since the early archaic period until the rise of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, in the 4th century A.D. An extensive study of the legal status of women in the Principality of Liège between 1477 (year of the death of Charles the Bold and subsequent liberation and so-called “renaissance” of Liège) and 1795 (disappearance of the Principality following its annexation to France) might help shed some light on this conundrum: because it was part of the Holy Roman Empire and governed by a prince-bishop, Liège was heavily subjected to the influence of Roman law and to that of Roman canon law, or so-called “ius commune”, issued by the Catholic Church. Therefore, exploring the way in which Roman law was received in the Principality of Liège will allow finding out if, and if so, why Roman law, a symbol of emancipation in its original context, became an instrument of women’s domination in the early modern period.

Keywords:feminist legal history, principality of Liège, modern era, women's legal status

Disciplines:Civil law, History of law, Roman law, Early modern history, Comparative law, Gender studies

Project type:PhD project