Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe

by Jack Goody

Book Overview

Around 300 A.D. European patterns of marriage and kinship were turned on their head. What had previously been the norm - marriage to close kin - became the new taboo. The same applied to adoption, the obligation of a man to marry his brother's widow and a number of other central practices. With these changes Christian Europe broke radically from its own past and established practices which diverged markedly from those of the Middle East, North Africa...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521289254
• ISBN13: 9780521289252
• Release Date: July 1983
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 324 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A real eye-opener!

Why did Europe in particular develop the prohibitions against marry close kin that are still with us today? Why are a deceased spouse's siblings, the spouses of deceased siblings, various degrees of cousins, and god-children forbidden from being considered eligible marriage partners? The ancient Israelites, Greeks, and Romans had no such prohibitions. The Germanic peoples who settled northern Europe after the Roman Empire fell in the West did not carry these taboos with them. Where did they come from?This book argues that Fourth Century Christianity invented these marriage prohibitions which had previously not existed in either Biblical or Roman civil law traditions. The effect, if not the actual purpose, of these prohibitions was to limit the number of inheritance strategies available to property owners. By narrowing the options for trans-generational wealth transfers (including the virtual disappearance of civil adoption), the developing Church became the beneficiary of an increasingly large number of heirless people.The wealth of the Church expanded to such a point that the lay authorities had to legislate against various accumulation strategies used by the Church - culminating ultimately with the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.The premise is a fascinating one and does a reasonable job of explaining why we have the marriage prohibitions which are with us today. The first few chapters are a bit of a tough read as they set the anthropological ground work of the study. However, the subsequent chapters are a historians delight. Truly an innovative work.