The Medieval Idea of Marriage

This wide-ranging book offers fascinating insights into the nature of marriage in the Middle Ages, both in its social, political, legal, and religious aspects, and in its treatment in contemporary art and literature.

Drawing on sources as diverse as the letters of Abelard and Heloise, the epics of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and Jan van Eyck's painting Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, and Chaucer's poetry, this most complete account of medieval marriage ever published explores such topics as the role of the Church Fathers and the Bible, the practice and law of marriage, the cult of celibacy, and the relationship between marriage and architecture.