Incest is a frequent motif in medieval literature. It was more broadly defined in the Middle Ages than today; definitions in lawcodes varied from century to century, but at its broadest incest meant sexual relations with any relative, however distant, including in-laws (consanguinity and affinity), and also with ‘spiritual relatives’ such as godparents, godchildren, and priests. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the ways in which the incest motif was used during the Middle Ages, and especially from the 12th to the 15th centuries, when imaginative literature in vernacular langua ... More

Incest is a frequent motif in medieval literature. It was more broadly defined in the Middle Ages than today; definitions in lawcodes varied from century to century, but at its broadest incest meant sexual relations with any relative, however distant, including in-laws (consanguinity and affinity), and also with ‘spiritual relatives’ such as godparents, godchildren, and priests. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the ways in which the incest motif was used during the Middle Ages, and especially from the 12th to the 15th centuries, when imaginative literature in vernacular languages as well as Latin was increasingly preserved in written form. The discussion covers narratives in a range of languages, principally Latin, French, German, and English, grouped by relationship (mother-son, father-daughter); it traces some of the ways in which particular types of incest plot were used and adapted by religious and secular writers in saints' lives, exemplary tales, romances, and chronicles. Recurring motifs include exposure of babies as foundlings, recognition scenes, violence (parricide, matricide, filicide, rape), confession, and penance. Women can initiate incestuous relationships, as well as men; the over-devoted mother is a popular theme in exempla. Literary analysis is framed by consideration of the social, historical, and theological contexts, medieval and earlier, such as the development of incest laws in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian societies, the legacy of classical culture, and the exceptional trope of the Virgin Mary as mother, daughter, sister, and bride of Christ.