This chapter considers how contemporaries understood marital violence, asking what forms it took and when it became unacceptably cruel. It argues that women in post-independence Ireland extended their definition of marital violence beyond the parameters of physical beatings to include verbal, psychological, sexual and economic abuse. Additionally, this chapter explores the short-term causes of marital violence. Episodes of violence often began as domestic conflicts between husbands and wives. Recurring sources of marital conflict included concerns about money or the management of economic resources, sexual jealousy, disagreements about family and children, disputes over faith and religion, and failure to meet gendered expectations of marriage.