Marriage, Inheritance, and the Balance of Power in Twelfth-Century England and France

Marriage, Inheritance, and the Balance of Power in Twelfth-Century England and France

Diggelmann, Lindsay Mark

Thesis: PhD Philosophy in History, The University of Auckland (2004)

Abstract

This project attempts to chart the importance of the social institutions of marriage and inheritance in giving rise to political change in England and France during the period 1100-1215. It benefits from the study of diverse primary sources that include chronicle histories, legal and financial documents, charters, diplomatic treaties, letters, and contemporary works of imaginative literature. It also takes into account the extensive secondary literature dealing with the period both in the area of historical research and in related fields such as anthropology, political science, and literary criticism. The thesis is broadly divided into two parts, with four chapters devoted to an extended analysis of major themes and a further four providing a narrative reading of the period to illustrate the ideas put forward.

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