Marriage in Medieval England: Law, Literature and Practice

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.