Why do people think your local liege lord being able to marry you „against your will“ was such a horrifying concept?It was technically possible, but you had so many options and outs as a commoner, before it came to that. On the other hand people back then would be terrified the government can just kidnap your children and make sure you never see them again. At least if you bluntly told them that without explaining this doesn’t happen usually and it‘s only intended for the absolute worst cases of child abuse. However this comparison doesn’t hold true anymore ever since it, we don’t exactly know when, it‘s a nebulous date, no one knows when it started to be okay, but when you can just legally castrate your own child. Even the Roman Patriarch, who had a lot of legal authority over his children, would not be able to have his own son castrated. That was not actually allowed. You didn’t owe your father that kind of obedience and Roman society would not let you go through with that. So I don’t understand why people freak out about a local Lord, who acted as the head of household, would in theory be able to decide who you marry.
