The Family and Religious Ideologies in Medieval Europe

Abstract

The medieval Christian Church was slow in developing a comprehensive theology or canon law of marriage, but it did establish certain principles of great significance in social life. Sexual morality was the same for both sexes, all classes and all nations. Marriage was monogamous, and close or incestuous marriages were forbidden. A uniform sexual morality worked to create uniform or commensurable household units. The requirement of monogamy and the incest prohibition prevented powerful males from monopolizing women. And monogamy and a stricter sexual morality were precon ditions for the formation, from the eleventh century, of agnatic lineages. Finally, religious writers of the period, particularly the authors of saints' lives, made frequent use of familial images. The article contends that these images can be used in investigating the emotional life of medieval families.

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