Power, corruption and human nature

[Swatopluk]

I think the mistress was for pleasure, the queen for progeny*. That way the marriage would be guided by rational (mainly dynastic) principles. The monarch's base urges could be satiated but still in a formalized way (avoiding the trouble quite common elsewhere with philandering).
There were some queens that would actually have preferred it that way (even if their head was not at stake as with Henry VIII).

*this also follows in a way the church doctrine that "a woman's husband should not be her lover"**
**the "visions" of some saints regularly included men in hell for having too passionate sex with their wifes.

[Aggie]

**the "visions" of some saints regularly included men in hell for having too passionate sex with their wifes.

It's a good thing I'm going there anyways.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

*this also follows in a way the church doctrine that "a woman's husband should not be her lover"**

Where does that leave the wife? She can't have a toy on the side, legally speaking, but isn't supposed to enjoy what her husband has to offer?
Good thing I ain't a queen. I'd get really bored, very fast, and find someone to distract me.
AND I'd take the Mistress shopping, leaving the King to his own devices.

[pieces o nine]

That is by no means an outdated idea. Remember JP2s theologians offering as a cogent argument against birth control the assertion that it cheapens the value of the woman by permitting her husband to commit adultery with his own wife within the marriage?


Those guys really need to get out more! Maybe a nice, long stint performing practical, front-line care for actual human beings, rather than the imaginary ones they write about, would be helpful.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

That is by no means an outdated idea. Remember JP2s theologians offering as a cogent argument against birth control the assertion that it cheapens the value of the woman by permitting her husband to commit adultery with his own wife within the marriage?

I had no idea such a concept existed. How did they explain the mechanics of committing adultery with one's own wife?

Those guys really need to get out more! Maybe a nice, long stint performing practical, front-line care for actual human beings, rather than the imaginary ones they write about, would be helpful.

Amen...er...

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Amen...er...

Ruumble? 

_{(as in the noise a toadfish sometimes makes, as a sign of agreement)}

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Amen...er...

Ruumble? 

_{(as in the noise a toadfish sometimes makes, as a sign of agreement)}

Meeeeybe, meeeeybe.