The Making of Marriage in Medieval France

Abstract

Georges Duby described medieval, Catholic marriage as the product of two competing groups of people, clergy and nobles, each with their own conflicting ideas of marriage. Clergy wanted indissoluble and monogamous marriage, while nobles wanted to divorce and remarry at will. This widely influential idea of marriage is extremely misleading. Clergy and nobles did not comprise distinct and competing camps, nor did they have opposing ideas of marriage. Instead, together, as members of the powerful families that dominated medieval Europe, these men and women created and implemented Christian marriage as monogamous and indissoluble. Using as a case study the scandalous marriage of a twelfth-century abbess, this article will demonstrate the flaws in Duby's argument, and also we can learn about medieval marriage, and medieval society more broadly, by applying this new approach.

The cultural evolution of love in literary history

“…More generally, the conception of love in the medieval literature is that it is spiritual rather than physical, that is long-term rather than short-term: "For the trobairitz and troubadours, the idea of sexual desire as an appetite was utterly inadequate for describing all the things that lovers felt for each other" (73). These observations suggest that the new conception of marriage that emerged in medieval Europe was in line with people's preferences and may not have been imposed by the Church (74,75). In fact, it is possible that people's preferences have caused religious doctrine to evolve.…”

Primary Source Analysis: The Good Wife’s Guide p. 50 – 98

“…The mechanics of marriage in France was based on an agreement between clergies and nobles. Clergies wanted a "indissoluble and monogamous marriage", while nobles wanted to divorce at will, summarises Sara McDougall from George Duby's work [8]. In the end, the church decided to agree with the clergies, in which Sara McDougall explains that it was the result of the will of powerful people and the interests of both the nobles and clergies.…”

“…[10] Marital love, according to Andreas Capellanus, is based on affection rather than love itself which corresponds to extramarital relationships [6]. The purpose of marriage explains why nobles wanted to marry to their blood: to keep their properties within their family's control [8]. The marriage of nuns was strictly illegal in the Middle Age, France included, which is why the author uses the word 'sister' in the text.…”

Romantic relationships across boundaries: global and comparative perspectives

“…However, families often tried to arrange marital alliances in ways that benefited the family at large, for example, through the acquisition of titles, property and power, and this often meant marrying within a rather closedand sometimes directly relatedsocial circle (Duby, 1978;Molho, 1994;D'Avray, 2015, pp. 64-79; for an alternative perspective, see McDougall, 2013). These views frequently came to a head, as in the case of Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose union with a close relative was technically illegal under Canon Law, resulting in the successful annulment of her marriage.…”