On the origins and role of ‘wise women’ in causes for annulment on the grounds of male impotence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11892961 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jacqueline Murray (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 235-249 |
| Publication date | 1990-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Medieval History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0304-4181 • E-ISSN: 1873-1279 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1016/0304-4181(90)90004-k |
| OpenAlex | W2012117033 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 13 |
By 1215 the medieval Church's doctrine of marriage was established. The requirements for and impediments to marriage had been articulated and ecclesiastical courts began to enforce the canon laws governing marriage. One of the impediments to the formation of the bond was male impotence. This impediments posed difficulties to the courts, which used a variety of means to substantiate the allegation. One innovation of English origin was the use of wise women to examine the husband. How this practice developed and later spread to other parts of Europe can be explained by piecing together fragments of evidence from ecclesiastical courts, confessors' manuals, and other sources. The use of wise women helped to alleviate the problems which such cases could pose and, in the process, gave women a prominent role in the legal system. This investigation provides insights into the social and psychological as well as legal contexts of sexuality in the Middle Ages
Allegation · Annulment · Criminology · Doctrine · Human sexuality · Political science · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
Queering the History of Marriage
Quand l’historien masque que la norme fabrique le crime
The Indian Panchayat, Access to Knowledge and Criminal Prosecutions in Colonial Bombay, 1827–61
The European family and canon Law
Neither Bewitched nor Beguiled
Sex Ambiguity in Early Modern Common Law (1629–1787)
More than Mothers
Gender and Authority of Oral Witnesses in Europe (800–1300)
An Uncertain, Useless, and Disgraceful Means of Proof
On the laws and customs of England
The family, sex and marriage in England, 1500-1800
Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe
Marriage Litigation in Medieval England
Matrimonial Politics in Thirteenth-Century Aragon
Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in England, 1570-1640
The Canon Law On the Formation of Marriage and Social Practice in the Later Middle Ages
The Double Standard
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.26 |
| Citation span | 1991 - 2021 (31) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |