Marriage And The Family In The Middle Ages Frances And Joseph Gies by Frances And Joseph Gies 9780062016737, 0062016733 instant download after payment.

From bestselling historians Frances and Joseph Gies, authors of the classic “Medieval Life” series, comes this compelling, lucid, and highly readable account of the family unit as it evolved throughout the Medieval period—reissued for the first time in decades.
“Some particular books that I found useful forGame of Thronesand its sequels deserve mention.Life in a Medieval CastleandLife in a Medieval City, both by Joseph and Frances Gies.” —George R. R. Martin, author ofGame of Thrones
Throughout history, the significance of the family — the basic social unit — has been vital. In Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages, acclaimed historians Frances and Joseph Gies trace the development of marriage and the family from the medieval era to early modern times. It describes how the Roman and barbarian cultural streams merged under the influence of the Christian church to forge new concepts, customs, laws, and practices. Century by century, the Gies follow the development — sometimes gradual, at other times revolutionary — of significant components in the history of the family including:
•   The basic functions of the family as a production unit, as well as its religious, social, judicial, and educational roles.
•   The shift of marriage from private arrangement between families to public ceremony between individuals, and the adjustments in dowry, bride-price, and counter-dowry.
•   The development of consanguinity rules and incest taboos in church law and lay custom.
•   The peasant family in its varying condition of being free or unfree, poor, middling, or rich.
•   The aristocratic estate, the problem of the younger son, and the disinheritance of daughters.
•   The Black Death and its long-term effects on the family.
•   Sex attitudes and customs: the effects of variations in age of men and women at marriage.
•   The changing physical environment of noble, peasant, and urban families.
•   Arrangements by families for old age and retirement.

Expertly researched, master historians Frances and Joseph Gies—whose books were used by George R.R. Martin in his research forGame of Thrones—paint a compelling, detailed portrait of family life and social customs in one of the most riveting eras in history.

Library Journal: 

Two experienced popular historians have assembled a well-researched and well-written overview of a lively topic in medieval scholarship, the history of the family. They start from the Roman, Germanic, and Christian backgrounds of medieval family life, cover its recently discovered 11th- and 12th-century transformations, and exploit the rich late medieval examples of family life. Among other topics the authors treat family definition and size, marriage rules and customs, and sexual relations. Especially because it offers the general reader a critical sense of the scholarship that resulted in this material, this is recommended for public and college libraries. Richard C. Hoffmann, York Univ., North York, Ontario
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.