REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN MATRIMONIAL LAW AND CUSTOM IN EUROPE, 1150–1600. Ed Mia Korpiola Brill: Leiden (www.brill.nl), 2011. x + 323 pp. ISBN 9789004210486. €128.

Published date01 September 2013
Pages441-442
DOI10.3366/elr.2013.0179
AuthorFrederik Pedersen
Date01 September 2013

In this well-conceived volume Mia Korpiola has gathered together thirteen contributions from American and European scholars to examine the extent of regional variation in the application of matrimonial law and custom in Europe in the Middle Ages. The contributions were originally given as part of a series of seminars held over several years in Helsinki, and they vary in scope and geographical coverage. Some cover aspects of pan-European law and others focus on regional evidence for the application of law and the influence of custom. Both the contributors and the contributions are well chosen, and the volume presents a series of papers that range widely and demonstrate both that European marriage law was remarkably uniform and that marriage customs and the consequences of marriage could vary within certain limits, i.e. within the framework provided by the canon law of the mediaeval church. The book includes contributions from established scholars, such as James Brundage, Anthony Musson, Philip L Reynolds and Trevor Dean, but also provides a platform for contributions by relative newcomers. It is particularly pleasing to see how the book provides an insight into marriage customs in the Baltic area, where for too many years there has been a consensus among historians that too little material survives to make meaningful investigations of the social consequences of marriage possible.

The collection consists of thirteen essays, the first three of which provide an overview of the European tradition. Mia Korpiola introduces the book with a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction contextualising the question that is being asked and surveying recent literature on the subject. James Brundage traces the development of the legal profession and its influence on the development of marriage law and offers some comparisons between the learned law and custom. Philip L Reynolds traces the regional variations in theories about marital consent and consummation in the twelfth-century learned law. These...

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