In this beautifully written book, George's Duby, one of France's greatest medieval historians, returns to one of the central themes of his work - the relationship between art and society.

In this volume, Georges Duby addresses the theme of love and marriage in the Middle Ages. By examining the poetry and practice of courtly love and the mores of aristocratic marriages, Duby shows the Middle Ages to be male-dominated. Women were regarded as symbols, as figures of temptation who paradoxically had no desires of their own. Duby argues that the structure of sexual relationships took its cue from the family and from feudalism - both bastions of masculinity. In the second part of the book, Duby reflects on general issues in the writing of cultural history, on the history of pain and...

This volume is concerned with the relationship between women and the Church, examining the ways in which women were viewed from a Christian point of view. By the 12th century, the Church had begun to take the role and expectations of women seriously, and the clerical writings discussed in this work address the particular issues that emerged from this development.