Douaires, dots, gains de survie La ­condition patrimoniale de ­l’épouse épique au regard ­d’un régime matrimonial embryonnaire

Epic literature testifies to the existence of an embryonic matrimonial law conforming to the legal rules of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, a period when the relationship between inheritance and the wife was at the heart of matrimonial strategies. At the same time, by connecting the notions of the dower, dowry, and the right of survivorship with earlier matrimonial practices, fictions convey a hybrid image of legal-historical realities positioned between overlapping and evolving norms.