medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Although I think he works primarily on the records of the English church,
the many works of RH Helmholz on canon law may be of some assistance.
15th century episcopal court records from Lincoln also cite parish priests
(I mean benefice holders not chaplains) for spiritual incest if they have
had sexual relations with their parishioners.
Rosemary Hayes
----- Original Message -----
From: "MJ Ailes" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 12:36 PM
Subject: [M-R] Incest and spiritual affinity
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Colleagues
I am working on an Old French text in which a baptised Saracen convert
then marries the daughter of his baptismal sponsor (Charlemagne). I
understood this to be spiritual incest, but the text gives no indications
of this being problematic. Investigating this I have only been able to
find references to the spiritual relationship as an impediment to marriage
in English sources: Sheehey ‘Marriage Theory and Practice in the Conciliar
Legislation and Diocese Statutes of Medieval England’, in Marriage, Family
and Law in Medieval Europe refers to Canon II of the Council of
Westminster setting as an impediment to marriage the spiritual affinity
rising between a person baptised and all the children of those who
baptised and sponsored him. Statutes for the dioceses of Exeter and
Salisbry also present this as an impediment to marriage. On the continent
the only reference to this seems to be much earlier, in the Law of the
Lombards (Lynch Godparents and kinship in Early Medieval Europe). My text
probably dates from the early 13th-c. so the Statutes of the Fourth
Lateran Council would be an obvious place to look but seem to contain no
reference to spiritual affinity in the decrees which decrease the
impediments to marriage. I would be grateful for any suggestions about
where to look for this
Marianne (Ailes)
--
Dr Marianne Ailes
Senior Lecturer in French
School of Modern Languages
Bristol
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|