Divorce is wrongly believed to be a modern invention. In fact, it was not uncommon in the Middle Ages
Divorce in Medieval England. From One to Two Persons in Law
By Sara M. Butler
Routledge 2013
ABSTRACT:
Medieval history is littered with stories about famous royal and noble repudations of wifes as well as downright divorces. Nevertheless the popular belief as that divorce is a modern invention. Not so, claims Sara Butler in a new book published by Routledge.
Divorce in Medieval England is intended to reorient scholarly perceptions concerning divorce in the medieval period. Divorce, as we think of it today, is usually considered to be a modern invention. However, Divorce in Medieval England challenges that viewpoint, documenting the many and varied uses of divorce in the medieval period and highlighting the fact that couples regularly divorced on the grounds of spousal incompatibility. Because the medieval church was determined to uphold the sacrament of marriage whenever possible, divorce in the medieval period was a much more complicated process than it is today. Thus, this book steps readers through the process of divorce, including: grounds for divorce, the fundamentals of the process, the risks involved, financial implications for wives who were legally disabled thanks to the rules of coverture, the custody and support of children, and finally, what happened after a medieval divorce. Readers will gain a much greater appreciation of marriage and women’s position in later medieval England.
The book complements the work of the legal historian R. H. Helmholz who wrote on Marriage Litigation in Medieval England in 2007 as well as the work of historian Frederik Pedersen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sara M. Butler is Associate Professor of Medieval History at Loyola University New Orleans. Her first book was The Language of Abuse: Marital Violence in Later Medieval England (2007). She has published also on suicide, violence against children, abortion, and medical practitioners at law.
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