2nd Edition

Love, Sex & Marriage in the Middle Ages A Sourcebook

Edited By Conor McCarthy Copyright 2022
354 Pages
by Routledge

354 Pages
by Routledge

354 Pages
by Routledge

This updated edition collects an extensive range of evidence for how people in the European Middle Ages thought about the emotional state of love, the physical act of sex, and the social institution of marriage. Included are extracts from literary and theological works, medical and legal writings, conduct books, chronicles, and letters. These texts discuss married couples who are not having... Read more

Introduction   Part 1: Ecclesiastical Sources  1. Sex, Marriage and the Church in Early Medieval England  2. Theology and Canon Law  3. Canon Law and Actual Practice  4. Beyond Medieval Christendom  Part 2: Legal Sources  5. Early Medieval English Law  6. Early Medieval Germanic and Celtic Laws  7. Anglo-Norman/English Law  8. Cases from the Secular Courts  Part 3: Saints’ Lives, Letters, Chronicles, Conduct Books  9. Saints' Lives and Female Religious Writings  10. Letters  11. Chronicles  12. Conduct Books  Part 4: Literary Sources  13. Old English Literature  14. Middle English Literature  15. Welsh Literature  16. Irish Literature  17. Icelandic Literature  18. Latin Literature  19. Arabic Literature  20. French Literature  21. German Literature  22. Italian Literature  Part 5: Medical Writings  23. Medical Writings on Love  24. Medical Writings on Sex

 

Biography

Conor McCarthy is Director of Philanthropy at the National Library of Australia. He holds a PhD from Trinity College, Dublin. His publications include Marriage in Medieval England: Law, Literature and Practice (2004), Seamus Heaney and Medieval Poetry (2008), and Outlaws and Spies: Legal Exclusion in Law and Literature (2020).