JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS OR DROIT DU SEIGNEUR MEANS RIGHT OF FIRST NIGHT
JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS OR DROIT DU SEIGNEUR MEANS RIGHT OF FIRST NIGHT Vasily Polenov : Le droit du Seigneur (1874); a nineteenth-century artist's painting of an old man bringing his young daughters to their feudal lord Droit du seigneur[a] ('lord's right'), also known as jus primae noctis[b] ('right of the first night'), and prima nocta, was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on their wedding nights. Historians David A. Walker and Hector McKechnie wrote that the "right" might have existed in medieval Europe,[1][2] but the consensus among historians is that it is a myth[3][failed verification], and that all references to it are from later periods.[4][5] Terminology The French expression droit du seigneur translates as "right of the lord", but native French prefer the terms droit de jambage (French: [dʁwa d(ə) ʒɑ̃baʒ], from jambe, ...