Did you know that medieval attitudes towards sex and the sexes were steeped in religious hypocrisy? Prostitutes are refused burial on consecrated ground, yet the bishop of Winchester receives rent from brothels in the red-light district of Southwark, just outside the City of London's walls.
Battle of the sexes
It is a particularly confusing time to be a woman. On the one hand, motherhood is regarded as a woman's most wonderful gift. On the other, young women are encouraged by the Church to become nuns because virginity is the ideal state, with marriage a poor second. A priest in the 1200s points out the advantages of a religious life and gives a description of pregnancy: 'Your pink, healthy face will become thin, and turn sickly green like grass.'
Men are confused, too. The Church teaches that women's sexuality is morally inferior and downright dangerous – they are 'the gateway to hell', according to one scholar – yet reams of chivalrous poetry point out that women are to be respected and admired for their beauty and gentleness.
Marriage and family
Among the general population, marriages usually take place when the couples are in their late 20s, after the man has secured an income. Parental consent is usually sought but isn't essential. Most marriages take place in church but it isn't stipulated in law: often stating your marriage vows in front of witnesses is sufficient. The minimum age for marriage under Church and common law is 12 for girls and 14 for boys. But nobles operate under a different set of rules.
Betrothals, arranged by the parents, regularly occur during infancy. Edward II's daughter Joan is married to Prince David of Scotland in 1328 when she is seven and he is four. Princess Isabella of France marries Richard II in 1396 when she is seven, although she has the opportunity to change her mind later.
Lady Margaret Beaufort is 13 when she gives birth to the future Henry VII in 1457. But in 1414, a Welsh couple are sent to Henry V as a 'marvel' because they have had a baby: allegedly, she is seven and he is nine.
Sex outside marriage is deemed very sinful by the Church, but it goes on all the same. Lords of the manor even make a profit from it. They impose fines on village women for fornication and for bearing illegitimate children. At Wakefield manor in 1316, seven female villeins are fined for 'lechery'.
The average family size for nobles is four surviving children. For ordinary people, it just is two.
I read this book called the dark side of christian history, the abuses meted out to women in the middle ages were horrific.