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How Did the Peasantry Love? The Meanings of Love among the Finnish Country Population in the Second Half of the 17th Century as Revealed by District Court Records
| During the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in the study of emotions in history. However, there has been very little research into the emotional life of early modern people, especially love, using primary sources. In Finland, there exists a source material that touches immediately on the everyday life of the peasantry: the district court records, which have survived in a practically unbroken series. The whole spectrum of life is to be found in these documents. So far, however, they have not been utilized for the study of emotions.
In this paper, I shall use the district court records as a basis for an examination of the significance of love in the marriage process and in the subsequent relationship between the spouses. The district court records can be seen as narratives of the peasants’ testimonials and the proceedings of the trials filtered by court clerks. Through a very close reading of these narratives, I shall examine the significance of the role of emotions in the choosing of a spouse, the meanings attached to marital love and the importance attributed to it in the relationship between man and wife. I also examine how love appeared in extramarital relationships. In this study, the love of the Finnish peasantry will be connected to a wider international context by comparing the western and eastern parts of Finland with their respective western and eastern influences. This may reveal possible differences in the significances and expressions of emotions arising from different family systems and cultural features and differences and similarities with the rest of Europe.
An analysis of the empirical material seems to indicate that love played a significant role in both the marriage process and married life. Love or the lack of it could be used as justification for entering into marriage or rejecting it. Marital love could have different meanings. Firstly, marital love was seen as a duty. It manifested itself in proper conduct towards one’s spouse, patience and staying together despite hardships. Marital love was likewise closely connected with sexual intercourse between the spouses. Love also manifested itself in the material care of one’s spouse, as well as intimacy and tenderness. Furthermore, love could be seen as burning desire. This aspect of it was manifested especially in adulteries or affairs between persons of different social standing.
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