| Sumario: | During the ninth century and especially after Lothar II's divorce, the Carolingian reformers turned their attention to the definition of legitimate Christian marriage, promoting and spreading precise rules to discipline the marital strategies of aristocracies in the Carolingian world. Legislation against incestuous marriages became progressively more radical, extending the scope of incest not only to consanguinity, but also to affinity and spiritual kinship. This article examines the effects of the new prescriptions in late Carolingian Ravenna through an analysis of Pope John VIII's letters concerning the so-called causa Deusdedit, a controversial trial for incestuous marriage.
|
|---|