Skip to main content

IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 608: Marriage and Gender in the 12th to the 14th Century, II

Tuesday 14 July 2009, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Viking Society for Northern Research
Organiser:Philadelphia Ricketts, Independent Scholar, Somerset
Moderator/Chair:Pauline Stafford, School of History, University of Liverpool / Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Paper 608-aWomen and Marriage in 12th- and 13th-Century Iceland
(Language: English)
Philadelphia Ricketts, Independent Scholar, Somerset
Index terms: Demography, Gender Studies, Social History, Women's Studies
Paper 608-bMen and Marriage in 12th- and 13th-Century Iceland
(Language: English)
Nic Percivall, University of Exeter
Index terms: Demography, Gender Studies, Social History
Paper 608-cWives and Widows in 14th-Century Maurienne
(Language: English)
Michael H. Gelting, Centre for Scandinavian Studies King's College University of Aberdeen 24 High Street OLD ABERDEEN AB24 3EB
Index terms: Demography, Economics - Rural, Gender Studies, Social History
Abstract

It is often difficult to accurately determine important demographic factors concerning marriage, such as age at first marriage, the frequency of and age at remarriage, the percentage of men and women who never married, and reproduction rates. Yet these factors impact on society. They influence social and economic relations between spouses, and they influence social, economic, even political, interactions between a spouse and others outside the marriage. Here an overview of marital demographics in Iceland and in Savoy, France, is introduced, using this as a basis to examine such themes as economic opportunities for men and women, illegitimacy, and class relations.