>
> The short answer to this question is that such a marriage wd have been
> frowned upon. This was expanded to include
> relationships est. soley by marriage (affinity) or god-parenthood
> (spiritual). A definate no-no marrying one's stepmom. Medieval churchmen
> often looked the other way on 2nd cousin marriages (cf Bouchard), but I
> don't think they wd have let this one slip by.
>
To clarify what I originally said to Conway: Michael is quite right in
saying that the church classed a marriage with a stepmother as incest.
However, at least once, Anglo-Saxon royals behaved otherwise. The
daughter of Charles the Bald, Judith, married Alfred the Great's father
and then his son who promptly died. Alfred took this as a warning and
did not take her up whereupon she returned home in disgrace. I suggested
that other instances where Anglo-Saxon kings married the former king's
wife (like Canute and Emma) might suggest that this was a remnant of an
old pre-Christian custom which other early kings might have violated. I
believe Bede tends to hide the sexual peccadillos of his monarchs and in
the case of Saberht, this might provide a solution to Conway's
genealogical problem.
Jo Ann
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