So, the premise that laws set in the 6th c AD led to democratic institutions in modern day is the sort of framing that we avoid in history: progressivism. Where the past is framed in perspective of modern outcomes, of inevitability.
-
Show this thread
-
Medieval history should not be studied in a vacuum, but when we trace continuity from 1500 years ago to today, that ignores that events as they occur don't have a goal, nothing has just one rooting factor, and history is messy.
2 replies 7 retweets 66 likesShow this thread -
I also want to say that consanguinity was not the same, over all periods, or enforced. Yes, marriage eventually became considered a sacrament. But that didn't stop a regular couple living in rural wherever from basically just exchanging gifts and saying, okay we're married.
2 replies 4 retweets 62 likesShow this thread -
Medieval marriage is a difficult and complex topic that intersects with the Church, dogma, control, political unions, economics, etc.
1 reply 2 retweets 46 likesShow this thread -
Also, when we talk about it we usually discuss it within the perspective of the visible people in the sources aka nobles.
1 reply 2 retweets 43 likesShow this thread -
So, onto sources. Constance B. Bouchard, "Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in Tenth and Eleventh Century France," Speculum 56:2 (1981): 268 - 287. Discusses that consanguinity was maintained, however, it was not always adhered to and there were ways to skirt around it.
1 reply 2 retweets 40 likesShow this thread -
Mayke de Jong, "An Unsolved Riddle: Early Medieval Incest Legislation," in Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective, which surveys the problems of the topic and the debates.
1 reply 2 retweets 38 likesShow this thread -
Also, the erosion of family ties is something that is widely discussed under the entirety of the scholarship on feudalism (however applicable/inapplicable that word and model may be now). I mean...Marc Bloch. Scholarship has moved past him but...foundational.
1 reply 2 retweets 35 likesShow this thread -
Medieval marriage is widely discussed. WIDELY discussed. Georges Duby is a classic, albeit outdated perhaps now.
2 replies 2 retweets 34 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @AdmiralHip
Georges Duby, as you suggest, is very outdated. H wrote gorgeously, but is part of the problem, he assumes a powerful institutional Church in opposition to secular power, and that this Church could have and did impose said incest rules.
1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
Yes, I agree. It does however suggest the nuance in family relations much more so than the Science article. His work certainly falls into an older historiographical trend of institutions and such.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.