- Belgium
Chanelle Delameillieure
KU Leuven, Department of Medieval History, Graduate Student
- PhD student of medieval history at the University of Leuven. (marriage, law and justice, marital disputes, criminality, gender,...) PhD PROJECT : ‘Family’s wishes, children’s choices. Parental and judicial control over marriage formation in the late medieval Low Countries’. SUMMARY: Late medieval Church law allowed individuals to marry without familial consent. That much we know, but historians disagree on the precise nature of late medieval marriage. While some conside... morePhD student of medieval history at the University of Leuven.
(marriage, law and justice, marital disputes, criminality, gender,...)
PhD PROJECT : ‘Family’s wishes, children’s choices. Parental and judicial control over marriage formation in the late medieval Low Countries’.
SUMMARY: Late medieval Church law allowed individuals to marry without familial consent. That much we know, but historians disagree on the precise nature of late medieval marriage. While some consider it a family matter in which the individuals’ wishes were irrelevant, others ascribe a greater degree of self-determination to the marriage partners. This project analyzes parental and judicial control over marriage formation in the late medieval Low Countries, and the circumvention thereof. Similar studies have hitherto been limited to one city. However, as recent research has suggested that differences in marriage formation might have been connected to the specific economic and political structure of a city, this project investigates the phenomenon in three cities with a different socioeconomic background in the fifteenth century, viz. Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent. Moreover, the research studies how control over marriage formation changed over the course of that century. This project examines the involvement of multiple authorities in marriage formation in order to surpass the one-sided approach of previous research which focused on a single source type. To do so, the settlement of marriage formation disputes is scrutinized through criminal records. These will be supplemented by bottom-up sources, such as diverse private contracts, to determine the capacity of the marriage partners to act individually.edit - Jelle Haemersedit
This article addresses the issue of consent in abduction and elopement cases, aiming to contribute to a better understanding of marriage formation in the fifteenth-century duchy of Brabant. It challenges the division between abduction and... more
This article addresses the issue of consent in abduction and elopement cases, aiming to contribute to a better understanding of marriage formation in the fifteenth-century duchy of Brabant. It challenges the division between abduction and elopement in current historiography. Whereas some historians believe in the high frequency of elopements as means for youngsters to freely choose their own spouse, I argue that socioeconomic interests motivated most abductions. Although some women certainly succeeded in influencing marital choices themselves, the abduction/elopement was not a frequently used method to oppose social norms and arranged marriages.
Research Interests:
LA FAMILIA URBANA: MATRIMONIO, PARENTESCO Y LINAJE EN LA EDAD MEDIA
THE URBAN FAMILY: MARRIAGE, KINSHIP AND LINEAGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
THE URBAN FAMILY: MARRIAGE, KINSHIP AND LINEAGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
