Marriage, sin and the community in the Register of John Chandler, Dean of Salisbury 1404-17
The Register of John Chandler, Dean of Salisbury 1404-17 preserves a rich variety of cases presented to the church courts of early fifteenth-century Salisbury.
The personnel of English and Welsh castles, 1272-1422
In England, the role played on the continent by the castellanies would appear to have been performed by the county castle and the sheriff, a post that remained firmly under the king’s control in all but a few counties. Instead, a more subtle link between the castle community and political power will have to be found. It will be searched for in the appointment of constables to royal castles, and in grants of ownership of castles, royal or forfeited. It may be found in the building activity that was so common in this period, or in the marriage alliances that created many of the great castle owning estates.
Triangles of the Sacred Sisterhood
In courtly works, the resolution is generally in favour of the status quo as a courtly adulterous affair rarely works out, while in the fabliau the marriage is generally left intact, although a deceitful wife may be given carte blanche to philander.
Marriage Impediments in Canon Law and Practice: Consanguinity Regulations and the Case of Orthodox-Catholic Intermarriage in Kyivan Rus’, ca. 1000–1241
This paper focused on marriage alliances in Eastern Europe and the issue of canon law and consanguinity.
Good Morals for a Couple at the Burgundian Court: Contents and Context of Harley 1310, Le Livre des bonnes meurs of Jacques Legrand
London, British Library, Harley MS. 1310 is one of the gems unearthed during the multi-year project to describe the illuminated manuscripts of the Harley Collection and to digitize its images.
The Legal Framework of Divorce ‘a mensa et thoro’ and the Administration of Justice within the Low Countries
This paper discussed the divorce procedures in the Low Countries during the late middle ages and early modern period.
Adultery in Late-Medieval Northern France
This paper focused on adultery and canon law in later medieval northern France.
Qui facit adulterium, frangit fidem et promissionem suam: Adultery and the Church in Medieval Sweden
This paper was part of a series on Canon Law and Medieval Marriage.
Erectile dysfunction in the Middle Ages
Like today, the problem of male impotence in the Middle Ages was often taken seriously and had important consequences for marriages and families. This can be seen in two court cases from 14th century York.
Marriage and elite structure in Reinassance Florence; 1282-1500
About 10,500 dated marriages among Florentine surnamed families, over the period 1282-1500, have been collected and computerized from a variety of sources.
Madness and Gender in Late-Medieval English Literature
Madness has been long misrepresented in medieval studies. Assertions that conceptions of mental illness were unknown to medieval people, or that all madmen were assumed to be possessed by the devil, were at one time common in accounts of medieval society.
Working women and guildsmen in the Flemish textile industries: Gender, labor and the European Marriage Pattern in an era of economic change
Traditionally the European marriage pattern(EMP) is considered as one of the key elements in the demographic history of Early Modern Europe, preparing Europe for the transition towards the Industrial Era. But recently, mediaevalists have also tried to claim its origins…
“In all gudly haste”: The formation of Marriage in Scotland, c.1350-1600
In particular, it focuses on betrothals, marriage negotiations, ritual, and the place that these held in late medieval Scottish society.
“I will never consent to be wedded with you!”: Coerced Marriage in the Courts of Medieval England
The goal of this paper is to provide a reasonable answer to this predicament: if a woman did find herself the victim of coerced marriage, what were her legal options?
Formation and Transformations of Dynastic Ties between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland from 1386–1501
JŪRATĖ KIAUPIENĖ is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Lithuanian History, Vilnius, Head of the Section on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Professor of History at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. She published numerous books and articles on this subject.
Constructions of Gender in Medieval Welsh Literature
The discussion of gender in medieval literary criticism is generally considered
to be a relatively new field, having achieved real momentum only in the latter half of the twentieth century. However, since it was the early fifteenth century when Christine de Pisan wrote a response to Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose, it cannot really be imagined that the medieval audience was too primitive to be fully aware of the subtext inside their stories.
The daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine: a comparative study of twelfth-century royal women
This thesis is the first study of the daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine which considers them in a dynastic context.
The Roman De La Rose and the Thirteenth Century Prohibitions of Homosexuality
This paper, a tentative approach by someone who is not an expert in this area or on this text, argues that Guillaume de Lorris offers a veiled description of a male to male love relationship.
Husbands, Wives, and Adultery in Late-Medieval Northern France
If painting a slightly less stark picture of gender inequality than the above account of total repression for women and total freedom for men, modern scholars generally assume that medieval European courts did not enforce the Christian prohibition against husbands’ adultery.
Tales of a Medieval Cairene Harem: Domestic Life in al-Biqai’s Autobiographical Chronicle
The extraordinarily intimate nature of the text is best illustrated by the author’s tell-all accounts of his own messy domestic life: failed marriages, family feuds, harem melodrama, as well as childbirth, nursing, and infant mortality.
Saints and sinners in the works of Marie de France
What was Marie trying to share with her twelfth century audience when she wrote The Lais?
Living Links: The Role of Marriage between Welsh and Anglo-Norman Aristocratic Families in the Welsh Struggle for Autonomy, 1066-1283
These marriages were utilized by the Welsh in their attempts to preserve their political identity and autonomy against the incursions of the Anglo-Normans, as well as to gain advantages over their Welsh rivals. The Anglo-Normans, in turn, used the marriages to gain land and influence in Wales.
“Ek Skal Hér Ráða”: Themes of Female Honor in the Icelandic Sagas
A major goal of this thesis is to not only interpret the representations of women from these sagas, but also to place these representations in the context of the time and the writers. Icelanders wrote these sagas a couple centuries after the Viking age ended and are based nearly entirely on oral tradition.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth : the making of a Welsh prince
Finally, this thesis seeks to address the limitations on Llywelyn’s successes, in light of succeeding events and concludes with a discussion of Llywelyn’s legendary status in the modern world.
Oda: An Extraordinary Example of a Medieval Woman’s Religious Authority and Economic Power
hristianity posed as a shackle for many women in the early Middle Ages. Though sexism and female subordination were prevalent prior to the emergence of this monotheistic religion, Christianity established its own justifications for continuing in the male domination.