Regional variations in matrimonial law and custom in Europe, 1150-1600 / edited by Mia Korpiola.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

E pluribus unum : custom, the professionalization of medieval law, and regional variations in marriage formation / James A. Brundage -- The regional origins of theories about marital consent and consummation during the twelfth century / Philip L. Reynolds -- Separation and marital property in late medieval England and the Franco-Belgian region / Monique Vleeschouwers-Van Melkebeek -- Widows, property, and law in Lithuania and some other countries / Jurgita Kunsmanaite -- Images of marriage : a comparison of law, custom, and practice in medieval Europe / Anthony Musson -- A regional cluster : Italian secular laws on abduction, forced and clandestine marriage (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries) / Trevor Dean -- Forfeiting the marriage portion : punishing female adultery in the secular courts of England and Italy / Caroline Dunn -- Marriage disputes in the consistorial court of Freising in the late middle ages / Kirsi Salonen -- Marriage causes in late medieval Sweden : the evidence of Bishop Hans Brask's register (1522-27) / Mia Korpiola -- The marriage process in the light of family correspondence : a comparative perspective on the Swedish evidence / Anu Lahtinen -- Rituals before tribunals in renaissance Italy : continuity and change, 1400-1600 / Cecilia Cristellon and Silvana Seidel Menchi.

Much research has been done on medieval marriage in the last decades. However, few books have a pronouncedly comparative approach. This book discusses how much was regional and universal in medieval marriage law and practices in Europe. The sources used range from secular and canon law to court practice and from images to private correspondence. Articles discuss medieval and Reformation Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Sweden. Both marriage formation and marital property, two intertwined aspects, are considered in the articles. The book offers fresh evidence on the scope of regional variation tolerated by the Church, regional practices, and European trends.