Note 75 — III. GENERAL PATHOLOGY.[28] (continued 3)

The laws of the early Middle Ages gave the husband the right to kill the wife; those of the later Middle Ages, the right to beat her. The latter right was used freely, even by those of high standing (comp. Schultze, Das höfische Leben zur Zeit des Minnesangs, Bd. i, p. 163 et seq.). Yet, by the side of this, the paradoxical chivalry of the Middle Ages stands unexplained.