Childwite

In medieval England, a childwite, or child-wit, was a fine paid by a man to a lord for unlawfully impregnating his bond-woman (female slave). The term was also selectively used of free women.

See also

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. Missing or empty |title= (help)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.