‘Bound from Either Side’: The Limits of Power in Carolingian Marriage Disputes, 840–870
Rachel Stone
The article discusses four marriage disputes in ninth-century Francia which involved noblemen: Count Stephen of the Auvergne, Boso Italy, Baldwin Flanders and royal vassal Falcric. All these men were affected by Carolingian reforming measures on consanguineous marriage, divorce raptus (abduction). examines how gender social status forms power strategies used different parties cases: archbishops popes, kings, women noblemen themselves. A paradoxical situation is revealed: despite patriarchal basis society, even elite over was often highly contingent. Yet such restrictions did not imperil order: masculinity questioned.
Gender & History