Women and Marriage in Medieval Society
The feudal world was a face-to-face society in which women participated in important activities and were expected to submit to social discipline like their men.
Joan of Kent : life and legends
There is no biography of Joan, contemporary or modern. All that we know about her life has been pieced together from chronicles and legal records.
Temptation and Redemption: A Monastic Life in Stone
The monks who wrote the legend of Eugenia and those of the other transvestite women/monks were explicitly including a female in an all male monastic milieu. Women, as a rule, were not allowed in male monastic enclosures; the Rule at Cluny strictly forbade any women to enter the grounds.
The Conjugal Debt and Medieval Canon Law
The apostle Paul was the earliest influential spokesman for a Christian view of marriage and sexuality. Marital sex was, for Paul, a safeguard against human weakness (1 Cor. 7.1-2).
Seduction, Abandonment, and Sorcery in Middle English Lyrics
My purpose in writing this article is to expose a different view of romantic relationships that exist in medieval literature, a view that is in opposition to courtly love.
Women and the Law in Early Ireland
In the case of early Ireland we have no marriage charters, no records of law-suits concerning property, and thus virtually no prosopographical data about marital property in the broadest sense or its assignment. What we do have is very detailed treatment of christian marriage in the Latin law tracts and, in the vernacular law, detailed treatment of divorce and the division of marital property in the case of divorce
Love, Marriage, and Happiness: Changing Systems of Desire in Fourteenth-Century England
It is my intention not only to explore the discourse of love and desire in the fourteenth century, but also to examine how the ideas have been altered from those present in the Anglo-Norman and Latin material that was written or widely read in twelfth-century England and what pressures and influences may have brought about these changes.
Be My Medieval Valentine?: Five Fabulous Books on Love!
Five fabulous books to enjoy with your Abelard or Heloise! Happy Valentine’s Day Medievalverse!
Diseases as causes of divorce in Byzantium
Τhe purpose of this study is to describe the diseases for which divorce could be issued if one of the spouses wanted, in Byzantine times.
Christian Marriage in Byzantium: The Canonical and Liturgical Tradition
All Byzantine Christians were offered a choice between celibate asceticism and married life, but in either case they were called to anticipate in their lives the eschatological Kingdom of God.
Marriage and alliance in the Merovingian Kingdoms, 481-639
This dissertation offers a narrative interpretation of Merovingian history from the reign of Clovis I (r. 481-511) through the reign of Dagobert I (r. 629-639). The narrative focuses on the competitive nature of the Merovingian kingdoms and the role that foreign marriages could play in that competition.
The jus primae noctis as a male power display: A review of historic sources with evolutionary interpretation
Although most historians would agree today that there is no authentic proof of the actual exercise of the custom in the Middle Ages, disagreements persist concerning the origin, meaning, and development of a widespread popular belief in this alleged “right” and the existence of symbolic gestures associated with it.
If She Says Yes or Is Silent: A New Interpretation of Female Marital Consent in the Settlement Period in Iceland as Revealed Through the Family Sagas
Icelandic Sagas have captivated the minds of casual readers and historians alike due to their complex depiction of character and deeply resonant storylines. All of the characters are highly nuanced and developed, but many times it is the female characters that catch a reader’s attention because of their exceptional level of activity and variety.
Rape in Medieval England: A Legal History, 1272-1307
Many historians have therefore concluded that although Westminster II’s rape laws were intended to halt the growing incidence of rape and facilitate prosecutions, they were evidently inadequate.
Marriage and the politics of friendship: the family of Charles II of Anjou, King of Naples (1285-1309)
This thesis aims to reassert the importance of the supranational dynasties of Europe in medieval history by considering the so-called Angevins of Naples, and specifically Charles II (1285-1309)
Anglo-Saxon Double Monasteries
Monks and nuns living together: not a cause for scandal but, as Barbara Mitchell explains, an intriguing window onto the variety of monastic life – under the aegis of remarkable abbesses – before the Conquest.
Defining a community: Controlling nuisance in late-medieval London
Looking only at late-medieval London, this study examines nuisance and social regulation through an analysis of secular court records, as well as other relevant municipal sources.
“As Men Do with Their Wives”: Domestic Violence in Fourteenth-Century Lucca
Marriage disputes, such as those contained in the records of the episcopal court of Lucca, offer a glimpse into the meanings and effects of domestic violence in the fourteenth century.
The Emergence of the Medieval Family
By in large, the consensus is now that there was nothing linear, nothing coherent or historically invariant about the emergences and maturation of the medieval family. It is a wild, chaotic, and often difficult story to follow.
HASKINS CONFERENCE: Feudal Prerogatives and Female Vassals: Philip II’s Manipulation of Marriage
This paper discussed the mutually beneficial relationship between Philip II and women, and their experiences in wielding power during his rule.
Sanctified Sex: How Familial Support of the Rule of the Church Turned the Marriage Ceremony into a Religious Rite
During the twelfth and thirteenth century, northern France underwent a subtle but dramatic change in its social power structure: the regulation of marriage fell under the power of the Church
The Remarkable Role of Women in 16th Century French Basque Law Codes
The Remarkable Role of Women in 16th Century French Basque Law Codes Frank, Roslyn M. and Lowenberg, Shelley (University of Iowa) Proceedings of the Western…
700th Anniversary of the Wedding of John of Luxembourg and Elisabeth of Premyslides
Apparently before lunch there was a slight spat between the archbishops about who should sit on the king’s right, but the king wisely calmed the quarrel.
‘Sharper than swords, sturdier than stones’: space, language, and gender in fifteenth-century London
William and Isabel argued, quarreled, and fought most of the time, to the great weariness and nuisance of their neighbours…
Neither privileged nor poverty-‐stricken: Widows in medieval Flanders
Neither privileged nor poverty-‐stricken: Widows in medieval Flanders Kittell, E. Paper delivered at the Human Community Research Consortium, University of Idaho (2011) Abstract In…