This book uses literary texts to trace the development of medieval thinking about marriage in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, taking into account not only important developments in theological and legal thinking about marriage during this period, but conventions such as courtly love', which affect its portrayal in literary texts. The focus of this study is upon England, and specifically three groups of texts linked together by English manuscripts -- the AB'-Group, containing the Ancrene Wisse; The Owl and the Nightingale and its companion-pieces; and finally the Life of St Christina of...