2025/01/23 by Charlotte H Crouch · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis #Medieval Literature and History #Medieval and Early Modern Justice
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/fh/crae042
openalex publication_date 2025/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Abstract The twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw a number of aristocratic women inheriting important lands in France. Their marriages carried the highest political importance. King Philippe Auguste (1180–1223) is often credited as the first king to use these heiresses and their marriages to control the aristocracy and extend the Capetian realm, with the families exercising no agency. This article questions the extent of this control by focusing on one family, the comital family of Nevers, who experienced almost a century of female inheritance. Charters and letters show each member of the comital family reacting to local circumstances through its marital strategies. At a tumultuous time in the family’s history, it was able to manipulate the secular and ecclesiastical rules concerning marriage to navigate an intra-familial inheritance dispute. The family’s marital strategy reveals multiple layers of control: marriage played an essential role in the comital family’s strategies, with important roles for all members.