Illegitimacy in Medieval Scotland, 1100-1500

Illegitimacy in Medieval Scotland, 1100-1500 by Dr Susan Marshall


ISBN
9781783275885
Published
Binding
Hardcover
Pages
264
Dimensions
156 x 234mm

First full-length examination of bastardy in Scotland during the period, exploring its many ramifications throughout society.

The question of illegitimacy was as important and complex in Scotland as elsewhere in the Middle Ages. This book examines its legal, political, and social implications there between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. It explores illegitimacy in relation to royal succession and to the inheritance of ordinary estates; investigates the role it played in major political events; and considers how being, or having, a bastard affected the lives of elite women,and the careers of people in ecclesiastical life.
Scotland's earliest surviving legal treatise, Regiam Majestatem, denied inheritance rights to offspring legitimated by the intermarriage of their parents, while the law of the Church regarded such children as legitimate and, by implication, capable of inheritance. The volume scrutinises the tension between these two positions, alongside contemporary evidence which provides new insights into legal theory and practice concerning inheritance and birth status. By contextualising illegitimacy within its socio-political as well as legal settings, it challenges existing assumptions about the meaning and significance of bastardy in the Scottish middle ages.
EOFY 2025 Book Frenzy
104.54
RRP: $122.99
15% off RRP


This product is unable to be ordered online. Please check in-store availability.
Instore Price: $122.99
Enter your Postcode or Suburb to view availability and delivery times.

You might also like


RRP refers to the Recommended Retail Price as set out by the original publisher at time of release.
The RRP set by overseas publishers may vary to those set by local publishers due to exchange rates and shipping costs.
Due to our competitive pricing, we may have not sold all products at their original RRP.