The stigmatization as ''bastards'' of children born outside of wedlock is commonly thought to have emerged early in Medieval European history. Christian ideas about legitimate marriage, it is assumed, set the standard for legitimate birth. Children born to anything other than marriage had fewer rights or opportunities. They certainly could not become king or queen. As this volume demonstrates, however, well into the late twelfth century, ideas of what made a child a legitimate heir had little to do with the validity of his or her parents'' union according to the dictates of Christian marriage law. Instead a child''s prospects depended upon the social status, and above all the lineage, of both parents. To inherit a royal or noble title, being born to the right father mattered immensely, but also being born to the right kind of mother. Such parents could provide the most promising futures for their children, even if doubt was cast on the validity of the parents'' marriage. Only in the late twelfth century did children born to illegal marriages begin to suffer the same disadvantages as the children born to parents of mixed social status. Even once this change took place we cannot point to ''the Church'' as instigator. Instead, exclusion of illegitimate children from inheritance and succession was the work of individual litigants who made strategic use of Christian marriage law. This new history of illegitimacy rethinks many long-held notions of medieval social, political, and legal history.
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McDougall employs an impressive array of sources, including individual case studies, theological writings, chronicles, genealogies, letters, charters, and literary works, providing a rare glimpse into the lives of an array of noble families. The significance of maternal lineage in determining status calls into question past tendencies to discount the importance of royal wives and mothers during this period. McDougall situates the sources, particularly those issued by the church, within the wider context of the individual disputes that prompted their production. This approach allows McDougall to identify the full range of factors that informed attitudes about royal succession between 900 and 1250, providing an important caution against the temptation to "read back" terms and practices on the past. * Erin L. Jordan, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth *
With tremendous patience, [McDougall] skillfully and deeply contextualizes familiar primary sources (legal treatises, theological texts, chronicles, letters, and legal documents), taking nothing for granted. She takes great care to avoid facile assumptions about etymology and linguistic shifts while carefully accounting for authorial bias and purpose. She casts a sceptical eye at all the secondary literature on the subject of legitimacy as she tries to determine, as much as possible, what illegitimacy meant to kings and queens as they measured throne worthiness...This book is essential reading for all scholars, particularly those with an interest in monarchy and political theory. * Theresa Earenfight, Speculum *
By reassessing traditional theories on illegitimacy and offering an alternative reading of primary sources, this study will likely serve as a stepping stone for new studies on marriage and inheritance practices in the Middle Ages. * Lisa Demets, Ghent University, Women's History Review *
McDougall employs an impressive array of sources, including individual case studies, theological writings, chronicles, genealogies, letters, charters, and literary works, providing a rare glimpse into the lives of an array of noble families. * Erin L. Jordan, Journal for the History of Childhood and Youth *
Sara McDougall has written a brilliant and important book, one that should be essential reading as we reevaluate the assumptions of traditional scholarship on how political communities in medieval Europe were formed and maintained. ... Her deep reading into the secondary literature and her willingness to reference works of scholars who are writing "against the grain" mark her as belonging to the community of trailblazers who demand that traditional political history be challenged, especially in the realm of assumptions about gender, women's roles, and female status. Both are deeply appreciated by this reader. * Linda E. Mitchell, The American Historical Review *
Sara McDougall's new book on bastardy in the Middle Ages is a fundamental contribution to the field of family history, remarkable for the breadth and number of examples provided across Europe and the Mediterranean throughout four centuries, the in-depth analysis of literary, documentary and legislative sources considered, and the convincing nature of the case she puts forward. * Francesca Petrizzo, Cerae: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies *
This will remain a landmark study, a profound insight into a fundamental principle of social organization. * R.I. Moore, Times Literary Supplement *
undoubtedly a significant work of scholarship, rich in detailed discussion, and full of thought-provoking suggestions that are sure to stimulate new research ... this book sets the agenda for a thoughtful reassessment of the ideas, laws, and practices of medieval inheritance and marriage as a whole, and will repay the reader's engagement with its suggestions. * Kathleen Neal, H-Net *
This is Sara McDougall's second book and it should establish her as one of the high flyers among American medieval historians ... she concentrates on royal cases -- explored in rich detail though without wasted words -- which should interest political historians even if they are not particularly concerned with medieval marriage as such, but the thesis applies more generally, a fortiori. She attacks the conventional narrative with the verve of a brilliant litigator with all the facts at her command, ranging from Merovingian Francia to the thirteenth century ... [an] important contribution to our understanding of politics, inheritance and the papacy in the Middle Ages. * David d'Avray, English Historical Review *
