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

355 Pages·2022·12.996 MB·English

by  Conor McCarthy (editor)

Love, Sex & Marriage in the
Middle Ages
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 prom-
ises of marriage made in the hope of obtaining sex. Learned texts discuss
the etymology of sexual terms and the medical causes of difficulties in con-
ceiving. 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.
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).

Love, Sex & Marriage in the
Middle Ages
A Sourcebook
Second Edition
Edited by
Conor McCarthy
Cover image: From the book of Messire Lancelot du Lac, Gautier
Map, 1401–1425 © BnF
Second edition published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 Conor McCarthy
The right of Conor McCarthy to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2004
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McCarthy, Conor, editor.
Title: Love, sex and marriage in the Middle Ages: a sourcebook /
edited by Conor McCarthy.
Description: Second edition. | Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New
York, NY: Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021053357 (print) | LCCN 2021053358 (ebook)
| ISBN 9780367706579 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367706555
(paperback) | ISBN 9781003147404 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Marriage—History—To 1500—Sources. | Marriage—
England—History—To 1500—Sources. | Sex—History—To
1500—Sources. | Sex—England--History—To 1500—Sources. |
Families—History—To 1500—Sources. | Families—England—
History—To 1500—Sources. | Great Britain—History—Medieval
period, 1066–1485—Sources.
Classification: LCC HQ513 .L685 2022 (print) | LCC HQ513 (ebook) |
DDC 306.709/02—dc23/eng/20211217
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021053357
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021053358
ISBN: 978-0-367-70657-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-70655-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-14740-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003147404
Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
Acknowledgements x
Permissions xii
Introduction 1
PART I
Ecclesiastical Sources 27
Introduction 29
The Church Fathers 32
1 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 32
2 Augustine of Hippo, The Excellence of Marriage 33
3 Augustine of Hippo, Holy Virginity 36
4 Augustine of Hippo, The Excellence of Widowhood 37
5 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God 38
6 Jerome, Against Jovinian 39
Early Medieval England 42
7 The Penitential of Theodore 42
8 Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People 50
9 The Law of the Northumbrian Priests 51
Theology and Canon Law 52
10 Hincmar of Rheims, The Divorce of King Lothar and Queen
Theutberga (De Divortio Lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae) 52
11 Peter Damian, Book of Gomorrah (Liber Gomorrhianus) 54
12 Peter Damian, Letter 61 55
13 Gratian, Decretum 56
14 Peter Lombard, Sentences 60
vi Contents
15 The Fourth Lateran Council 61
16 Gregory IX, A Voice in Rama (Vox in Rama) 64
17 Decretals of Gregory IX 65
18 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 66
19 English Ecclesiastical Statutes 69
Canon Law and Actual Practice 76
20 Office of Same-Sex Union 76
21 The Sarum Missal 77
22 An Ecclesiastical Court Case from the Province of Canterbury 80
23 Two Cases from an Episcopal Visitation of Canterbury Diocese 83
24 A Rural Dean’s Court 85
25 The Trial of Arnaud of Verniolle 87
Beyond Medieval Christendom 90
26 Canons of the Council of Nablus 90
27 Maimonides, The Book of Women (Sefer Nashim) 91
PART II
Legal Sources 95
Introduction 97
Early Medieval English Law 99
28 Laws of Æthelbert of Kent 99
29 Laws of Ine of Wessex 101
30 Laws of King Alfred 102
31 Laws of King Canute 104
32 Concerning the Betrothal of a Woman 107
33 Old English Marriage Agreements 108
Early Medieval Germanic and Celtic Laws 111
34 The Lombard Laws 111
35 Early Irish Laws 115
36 The Laws of the Salian Franks 117
Anglo-Norman/English Law 120
37 Coronation Charter of Henry I 120
38 Magna Carta 121
39 Statute of Westminster I 121
40 Statute of Westminster II 122
41 Bracton 123
Contents vii
42 Britton 129
43 Borough Customs 129
44 The Regulation of Brothels in Late Medieval London 130
Cases from the Secular Courts 133
45 Cases from the Manorial Courts 133
46 A Fourteenth-Century Rape Case 135
47 The Case of John/Eleanor Rykener 137
48 The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer 139
PART III
Saints’ Lives, Letters, Chronicles, Conduct Books 143
Introduction 145
Saints’ Lives and Female Religious Writings 148
49 Hildegard of Bingen, Know the Ways (Scivias) 148
50 The Life of Christina of Markyate 152
51 Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms, Lament for Dolce
of Worms 154
52 Jacob of Voragine, The Golden Legend 156
53 St Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden, Book of Heavenly
Revelations (Liber Celestis Revelacionum) 159
54 Julian of Norwich, Shewings of Julian of Norwich 160
55 The Book of Margery Kempe 162
Letters 164
56 Letters of Heloise and Abelard 164
57 A Woman’s Love-Letter 166
58 The Paston Letters 167
Chronicles 170
59 Aelred of Rievaulx, The Nun of Watton 170
60 Chronicle of Richard of Devizes 172
61 Gerald of Wales, The History and Topography of Ireland 172
62 Annals of the Friars Minor of Colmar 175
63 Jean Froissart, Chronicles 175
Conduct Books 177
64 Holy Virginity (Hali Meiðhad) 177
65 The Ménagier of Paris, Manual for his Wife 179
viii Contents
PART IV
Literary Sources 181
Introduction 183
Old English Literature 186
66 Beowulf 186
67 The Wife’s Lament 187
68 Wulf and Eadwacer 189
69 Riddles 25, 44, 45 190
Middle English Literature 192
70 Middle English Lyrics 192
71 Cleanness 194
72 Geoffrey Chaucer, Portrait of the Pardoner 195
73 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue 196
Welsh Literature 218
74 Gwerful Mechain, Poem to the vagina (Cywydd y cedor) 218
Irish Literature 220
75 Táin Bó Cuailnge 220
76 Niall Frassach’s Act of Truth 222
Icelandic Literature 224
77 Njal’s Saga 224
Latin Literature 227
78 Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 227
79 Marbod of Rennes, ‘The Unyielding Youth’ 232
80 Andreas Capellanus, On Love (De Amore) 233
81 Alan of Lille, The Complaint of Nature (De Planctu Naturae) 236
82 Giovanni Boccaccio, Famous Women (De Mulieribus Claris) 238
Arabic Literature 241
83 Ibn Hazm, The Ring of the Dove 241
French Literature 247
84 A Lyric by Marcabru 247
85 Azalais de Porcairagues, ‘Now we are come to the cold time’ 248
Contents ix
86 Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot 250
87 Etienne de Fougères, Book of Manners (Livre de Manières) 256
88 Marie de France, Yonec 257
89 Jean Bodel, The Peasant from Bailleul 270
90 Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, The Romance
of the Rose 273
91 Christine de Pizan, The Tale of Griselda 277
German Literature 282
92 A Lyric by Hartmann von Aue 282
Italian Literature 283
93 Dante Alighieri, Inferno 283
94 Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio 285
PART V
Medical Writings 289
Introduction 291
Medical Writings on Love 293
95 Avicenna, A Treatise on Love 293
96 Constantine Africanus, Viaticum 295
97 Gerard of Berry, Glosses on the Viaticum 296
98 Peter of Spain, Questions on the Viaticum (Version A) 297
99 Bona Fortuna, Treatise on the Viaticum 297
Medical Writings on Sex 299
100 Constantine Africanus, On Intercourse (De Coitu) 299
101 Trotula 300
102 Hildegard of Bingen, Causes and Cures 305
103 Pseudo-Albertus Magnus, Women’s Secrets (De Secretis
Mulierum) 306
Bibliography 309
Index 328