Widows in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Britain - Softcover

Alamichel, Marie-Françoise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3039114042 ISBN 13: 9783039114047

Publisher: Verlag Peter Lang, 2008

Synopsis

This volume provides a comprehensive study of widowhood in Medieval Britain based on literary and historical sources from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries. The book is divided into two parts: the first deals with the Anglo-Saxon period, the second with the Medieval period. Because widows shared certain preoccupations specific to their status, the two parts deal with similar topics: the fundamental role played by the Church in the doctrine of marriage, and the dominant male discourse about widows. Widows had a specific legal status: special laws affected their lives and their relationships with their children and other relatives. Much attention is consequently devoted to family structures and to the legal and social aspects of inheritance. The volume also explores the various options widowhood offered and the highly debated degree of independence widows had in their life choices.

About this title

About the Author

The Author: Marie-Françoise Alamichel was educated at the Sorbonne from where she received a Ph.D. for her thematic study and translation of twelfth-century Layamon’s Brut. She was a lecturer in English at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne for ten years and is currently Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Marne-la-Vallée (France). She has published many articles on the early Arthurian corpus, and medieval ideas, feelings and values.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verlag Peter Lang
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3039114042
• ISBN 13: 9783039114047
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 357