A survey of attitudes to marriage as represented in medieval legal and literary texts. Medieval marriage has been widely discussed, and this book gives a brief and accessible overview of an important subject. It covers the entire medieval period, and engages with a wide range of primary sources, both legal and literary. It draws particular attention to local English legislation and practice, and offers some new readings of medieval English literary texts, including Beowulf, the works of Chaucer, Langland's Piers Plowman, the Book of Margery Kempe and the Paston Letters. Focusing on a number of key themes important across the period, individual chapters discuss the themes of consent, property, alliance, love, sex, family, divorce and widowhood. CONOR MCCARTHY gained his PhD from Trinity College Dublin.
Reviews
An ambitious, careful and well-researched account that introduces a new level of juridical subtlety to the analysis of a wide range of medieval marriage texts and provides an insightful characterization of specific tensions within marriage laws and theology. * MEDIEVAL REVIEW *



Book Information
ISBN 9781843831020
Author Conor McCarthy
Format Hardback
Page Count 194
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd