Love, Sex & Marriage in the Middle Ages: A Sourcebook

Description

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 sex, and unmarried ones who are. We encounter marriages for creating alliances, marriages for love, and promises of marriage made in the hope of obtaining sex. Learned texts discuss the etymology of sexual terms and the medical causes of difficulties in conceiving. There are accounts of clandestine marriages, sexual violence, the madness of love-melancholy, and much more. By drawing on diverse voices and presenting less accessible material, this sourcebook provides a nuanced view of how medieval people thought about these subjects and questions the similarities and differences between their perspectives and our own. With an expanded range of texts, wider geographical scope, suggestions for further reading, and updated explanatory material to reflect changes in scholarship in over two decades, this edition is an invaluable resource for students interested in sexuality, gender, and relationships in the Middle Ages. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Permissions Introduction PART I: Ecclesiastical Sources Introduction The Church Fathers 1. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 2. Augustine of Hippo, The Excellence of Marriage 3. Augustine of Hippo, Holy Virginity 4. Augustine of Hippo, The Excellence of Widowhood 5. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God 6. Jerome, Against Jovinian Early Medieval England 7. The Penitential of Theodore 8. Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People 9. The Law of the Northumbrian Priests Theology and Canon Law 10. Hincmar of Rheims, The Divorce of King Lothar and Queen Theutberga (De Divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae) 11. Peter Damian, Book of Gomorrah (Liber Gomorrhianus) 12. Peter Damian, Letter 61 13. Gratian, Decretum 14. Peter Lombard, Sentences 15. The Fourth Lateran Council 16. Gregory IX, A Voice in Rama (Vox in Rama) 17. Decretals of Gregory IX 18. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 19. English Ecclesiastical Statutes Canon Law and Actual Practice 20. Office of Same-Sex Union 21. The Sarum Missal 22. An Ecclesiastical Court Case from the Province of Canterbury 23. Two Cases from an Episcopal Visitation of Canterbury Diocese 24. A Rural Dean’s Court 25. The Trial of Arnaud of Verniolle Beyond Medieval Christendom 26. Canons of the Council of Nablus 27. Maimonides, The Book of Women (Sefer Nashim) PART II: Legal Sources Introduction Early Medieval English Law 28. Laws of Æthelbert of Kent 29. Laws of Ine of Wessex 30. Laws of King Alfred 31. Laws of King Canute 32. Concerning the Betrothal of a Woman 33. Old English Marriage Agreements Early Medieval Germanic and Celtic Laws 34. The Lombard Laws 35. Early Irish Laws 36. The Laws of the Salian Franks Anglo-Norman/English Law 37. Coronation Charter of Henry I 38. Magna Carta 39. Statute of Westminster I 40. Statute of Westminster II 41. Bracton 42. Britton 43. Borough Customs 44. The Regulation of Brothels in Late Medieval London Cases from the Secular Courts 45. Cases from the Manorial Courts 46. A Fourteenth-Century Rape Case 47. The Case of John/Eleanor Rykener 48. The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer PART III: Saints’ Lives, Letters, Chronicles, Conduct Books Introduction Saints’ Lives and Female Religious Writings 49. Hildegard of Bingen, Know the Ways (Scivias) 50. The Life of Christina of Markyate 51. Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, Lament for Dolce of Worms 52. Jacob of Voragine, The Golden Legend 53. St Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden, Book of Heavenly Revelations (Liber Celestis Revelacionum) 54. Julian of Norwich, Shewings of Julian of Norwich 55. The Book of Margery Kempe Letters 56. Letters of Heloise and Abelard 57. A Woman’s Love-Letter 58. The Paston Letters Chronicles 59. Aelred of Rievaulx, The Nun of Watton 60. Chronicle of Richard of Devizes 61. Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland 62. Annals of the Friars Minor of Colmar 63. Jean Froissart, Chronicles Conduct Books 64. Holy Virginity (Hali Meiðhad) 65. The Ménagier of Paris, Manual for his Wife PART IV: Literary Sources Introduction Old English Literature 66. Beowulf 67. The Wife’s Lament 68. Wulf and Eadwacer 69. Riddles 25, 44, 45 Middle English Literature 70. Middle English Lyrics 71. Cleanness 72. Geoffrey Chaucer, Portrait of the Pardoner 73. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Welsh Literature 74. Gwerful Mechain, Poem to the vagina (Cywydd y cedor) Irish Literature 75. Táin Bó Cuailnge 76. Niall Frassach’s Act of Truth Icelandic Literature 77. Njal’s Saga Latin Literature 78. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 79. Marbod of Rennes, ‘The Unyielding Youth’ 80. Andreas Capellanus, On Love (De Amore) 81. Alan of Lille, The Complaint of Nature (De Planctu Naturae) 82. Giovanni Boccaccio, Famous Women (De Mulieribus Claris) Arabic Literature 83. Ibn Hazm, The Ring of the Dove French Literature 84. A lyric by Marcabru 85. Azalais de Porcairagues, ‘Now we are come to the cold time’ 86. Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot 87. Etienne de Fougères, Book of Manners (Livre de Manières) 88. Marie de France, Yonec 89. Jean Bodel, The Peasant from Bailleul 90. Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, The Romance of the Rose 91. Christine de Pizan, The Tale of Griselda German Literature 92. A lyric by Hartmann von Aue Italian Literature 93. Dante Alighieri, Inferno 94. Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio PART V: Medical Writings Introduction Medical Writings on Love 95. Avicenna, A Treatise on Love 96. Constantine Africanus, Viaticum 97. Gerard of Berry, Glosses on the Viaticum 98. Peter of Spain, Questions on the Viaticum (Version A) 99. Bona Fortuna, Treatise on the Viaticum Medical Writings on Sex 100. Constantine Africanus, On Intercourse (De Coitu) 101. Trotula 102. Hildegard of Bingen, Causes and Cures 103. Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets (De Secretis Mulierum) Bibliography Index