Marriage, sex and civic culture in late medieval London / Shannon McSheffrey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McSheffrey, Shannon.

Series:

The Middle Ages series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marriage--England--London--History--To 1500.

Marriage.

Marriage law--England--London--History--To 1500.

Marriage law.

Sex and law--England--London--History--To 1500.

Sex and law.

London (England)--Social life and customs.

London (England).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (300 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Awarded honorable mention for the 2007 Wallace K. Ferguson Prize sponsored by the Canadian Historical Association How were marital and sexual relationships woven into the fabric of late medieval society, and what form did these relationships take? Using extensive documentary evidence from both the ecclesiastical court system and the records of city and royal government, as well as advice manuals, chronicles, moral tales, and liturgical texts, Shannon McSheffrey focuses her study on England's largest city in the second half of the fifteenth century. Marriage was a religious union-one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church and imbued with deep spiritual significance-but the marital unit of husband and wife was also the fundamental domestic, social, political, and economic unit of medieval society. As such, marriage created political alliances at all levels, from the arena of international politics to local neighborhoods. Sexual relationships outside marriage were even more complicated. McSheffrey notes that medieval Londoners saw them as variously attributable to female seduction or to male lustfulness, as irrelevant or deeply damaging to society and to the body politic, as economically productive or wasteful of resources. Yet, like marriage, sexual relationships were also subject to control and influence from parents, relatives, neighbors, civic officials, parish priests, and ecclesiastical judges. Although by medieval canon law a marriage was irrevocable from the moment a man and a woman exchanged vows of consent before two witnesses, in practice marriage was usually a socially complicated process involving many people. McSheffrey looks more broadly at sex, governance, and civic morality to show how medieval patriarchy extended a far wider reach than a father's governance over his biological offspring. By focusing on a particular time and place, she not only elucidates the culture of England's metropolitan center but also contributes generally to our understanding of the social mechanisms through which premodern European people negotiated their lives.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction

PART I. LAW AND SOCIAL PRACTICE IN THE MAKING OF MARRIAGE IN LATE MEDIEVAL LONDON

1. Making a Marriage

2. Courtship and Gender

3. By the Father's Will and the Friends' Counsel

4. Gender, Power, and the Logistics of Marital Litigation

5. Place, Space, and Respectability

PART II. GOVERNANCE, SEX, AND CIVIC MORALITY

6. Governance

7. Gender, Sex, and Reputation

Conclusion: Sex, Marriage, and Medieval Concepts of the Public

Appendix: Legal Sources

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780812203974

0812203976

OCLC:

859161008