Description:
The stigmatization as 'bastards' of children born outside of wedlock is commonly thought to have emerged early in Medieval European history. Christian ideas about legitimate marriage, it is assumed, set the standard for legitimate birth. Children born to anything other than marriage had fewer rights or opportunities. They certainly could not become king or queen. As this volume demonstrates, however, well into the late twelfth century, ideas of what made a child a legitimate heir had little to do with the validity of his or her parents' union according to the dictates of Christian marriage law. Instead a child's prospects depended upon the social status, and above all the lineage, of both parents. To inherit a royal or noble title, being born to the right father mattered immensely, but also being born to the right kind of mother. Such parents could provide the most promising futures for their children, even if doubt was cast on the validity of the parents' marriage. Only in the late twelfth century did children born to illegal marriages begin to suffer the same disadvantages as the children born to parents of mixed social status. Even once this change took place we cannot point to 'the Church' as instigator. Instead, exclusion of illegitimate children from inheritance and succession was the work of individual litigants who made strategic use of Christian marriage law. This new history of illegitimacy rethinks many long-held notions of medieval social, political, and legal history.
Review Quotes:
"This is Sara McDougall's second book and it should establish her as one of the high flyers among American medieval historians...she concentrates on royal cases--explored in rich detail though without wasted words--which should interest political historians even if they are not particularly concerned with medieval marriage as such, but the thesis applies more generally, a fortiori. She attacks the conventional narrative with the verve of a brilliant litigator with all the facts at her command, ranging from Merovingian Francia to the thirteenth century....[An] important contribution to our understanding of politics, inheritance and the papacy in the Middle Ages."--David d'Avray, English Historical Review
"[U]ndoubtedly a significant work of scholarship, rich in detailed discussion, and full of thought-provoking suggestions that are sure to stimulate new research...[T]his book sets the agenda for a thoughtful reassessment of the ideas, laws, and practices of medieval inheritance and marriage as a whole, and will repay the reader's engagement with its suggestions."--Kathleen Neal, H-Net
"[T]hought-provoking....This is an important book that should stimulate the beginning of many new conversations..."--Kathleen Neal, H-Histsex