Sibling Conflict within Early Modern German Noble Families

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.