The eleven essays offered in "Women, Marriage, and Family in Medieval Christendom" reflect the spirit and originality of Father Michael M. Sheehan, for whom the volume was collected. The essays consider three thematic categories that were dominant in most of Sheehan's own scholarly work: the role, position, and contributions of medieval women; the development of Christian marriage, especially in the High Middle Ages; and the secular family with its legal and emotional relationships. A close reading of the papers, particularly those concerned with the themes of marriage and the family, reveal what we can designate as the Sheehan school of social history. The collection expands on several of Sheehan's research areas, and while it shows a considerable interest in medieval England, it does not disregard the Continent. The volume is a worthy tribute to Sheehan and will be of great interest to students of social and legal history, women's history, the development of marriage, and the idea of the family.
Author(s): Constance M. Rousseau, Joel T. Rosenthal (eds.)
Series: Medieval Institute Publications. Studies in Medieval Culture, 37
Publisher: Western Michigan University
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: XX+432
City: Kalamazoo
Preface / Joel T. Rosenthal ix
Contributors xi
Introduction / Constance M. Rousseau xv
Michael Sheehan, a Personal Profile by a Friend / Walter H. Principe, C.S.B. 1
The Interdisciplinary Context of a Career / J. Ambrose Raftis, C.S.B. 11
Bede's Women / David A. E. Pelteret 19
"Dominae" or "dominatae"? Female Mysticism and the Trauma of Textuality / Dyan Elliott 47
Salisbury Women and the Pre-Elizabethan Parish / Audrey Douglas 79
Individualism and Consensual Marriage: Some Evidence from Medieval England / Jacqueline Murray 121
"I will never have none ayenst my faders will": Consent and the Making of Marriage in the Late Medieval Diocese of London / Shannon McSheffrey 153
"Maritalis affectio": Marital Affection and Property in Fourteenth-Century York Cause Papers / Frederik Pedersen 175
Husband and Wife in Criminal Proceedings in Medieval England / Margaret H. Kerr 211
The Cultural Construction of Childhood: Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation / Kathryn Ann Taglia 255
"Que nos in infancia lactauit": The Impact of Childhood Care-givers on Plantagenet Family Relationships in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries / John Carmi Parsons 289
Kinship Ties, Behavioral Norms, and Family Counseling in the Pontificate of Innocent III / Constance M. Rousseau 325
The Curteys Women in Chancery: The Legacy of Henry and Rye Browne / Timothy S. Haskett 349
Index 399
