The Trials and Joys of Marriage

Edited by Eve Salisbury

Book cover: The Trials and Joys of Marriage

Extent: 288 pages

Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications

Subjects: Literary Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: TEAMS Middle English Texts Series

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(May 2002)

ISBN: 9781580440356

7.01 x 10 inches

Price: $24.95

In stock

PDF (Published)

(May 2002)

ISBN: 9781580444217

Price: $20.00

The disparate texts in this anthology, produced in England between the late thirteenth and the early sixteenth centuries, challenge, and in some cases parody and satirize, the institution of marriage. In so doing, according to the Introduction, they allow us to interrogate the traditional assumptions that shape the idea of the medieval household. The trials of marriage seem to outweigh its joys at times and, as some of these texts suggest, maintaining a sense of humor in the face of what must have been great difficulty could have been no easy task. The texts bridge generic categories. Some are obscure, written by anonymous authors; others are familiar, written by the likes of John Lydgate, John Wyclif, and William Dunbar. Taken together they suggest that, despite the fact that marriage had become a sacrament in the twelfth century and was increasingly recognized by ecclesiastical and secular authorities as a valuable social institution, it was not always a stabilizing and orderly social force.

Acknowledgments General Introduction Select Bibliography Satire and Fabliaux in Verse and Prose< Dame Sirith Select Bibliography and Notes to Dame Sirith Interludium de clerico et puella Select Bibliography and Notes to Interludium de clerico et puella The Wright's Chaste Wife Select Bibliography and Notes to The Wright's Chaste Wife Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband Select Bibliography and Notes to Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband A Talk of Ten Wives on Their Husbands' Ware Select Bibliography and Notes to A Talk of Ten Wives on Their Husbands' Ware John Lydgate (?),Prohemy of a Mariage Betwixt an Olde Man and a Yonge Wife, and the Counsail Select Bibliography and Notes to Prohemy of a Mariage Betwixt an Olde Man and a Yonge Wife, and the Counsail The Meaning of Marriage Select Bibliography and Notes to The Meaning of Marriage William Dunbar, The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo Select Bibliography and Notes to The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo Didactic Prose and Exempla< Emperator Felicianus (How a Wife Employed a Necromancer to Cause the Death of Her Husband, and How He Was Saved by a Clerk) Gesta Romanorum Godfridus a Wise Emperoure (Of the Magic Ring, Brooch, and Cloth, Which an Emperor Left to His Son: How He Lost Them, and How They Were Recovered) Gesta Romanorum The Punished of Adulterers or The Bawd and the Adulterers Gesta Romanorum Select Bibliography and Notes to Excerpts from the Gesta Romanorum John Wyclif (?), Of Weddid Men and Wifis and of Here Children Also Select Bibliography and Notes to Of Weddid Men and Wifis and of Here Children Also John Lydgate, Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage Select Bibliography and Notes to Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage How the Goode Wife Taught Hyr Doughter Select Bibliography and Notes to How the Goode Wife Taught Hyr Doughter How the Goode Man Taght Hys Sone Select Bibliography and Notes to How the Goode Man Taght Hys Sone Select Secular Lyrics of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries< In Praise of Women Abuse of Women The Trials of Marriage Against Hasty Marriage, I Against Hasty Marriage, II A Young and Henpecked Husband's Complaint A Henpecked Husband's Complaint Old Hogyn's Adventure I Have a Gentle Cock Select Bibliographies and Notes to Select Secular Lyrics Glossary, Acknowledgments
General Introduction
Select Bibliography

Satire and Fabliaux in Verse and Prose
Dame Sirith
Select Bibliography and Notes to Dame Sirith
Interludium de clerico et puella
Select Bibliography and Notes to Interludium de clerico et puella
The Wright's Chaste Wife
Select Bibliography and Notes to The Wright's Chaste Wife
Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband
Select Bibliography and Notes to Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband
A Talk of Ten Wives on Their Husbands' Ware
Select Bibliography and Notes to A Talk of Ten Wives on Their Husbands' Ware
John Lydgate (?), Prohemy of a Mariage Betwixt an Olde Man and a Yonge Wife, and the Counsail
Select Bibliography and Notes to Prohemy of a Mariage Betwixt an Olde Man and a Yonge Wife, and the Counsail
The Meaning of Marriage
Select Bibliography and Notes to The Meaning of Marriage
William Dunbar, The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo
Select Bibliography and Notes to The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo

Didactic Prose and Exempla
Emperator Felicianus (How a Wife Employed a Necromancer to Cause the Death of Her Husband, and How He Was Saved by a Clerk)
Gesta Romanorum
Godfridus a Wise Emperoure (Of the Magic Ring, Brooch, and Cloth, Which an Emperor Left to His Son: How He Lost Them, and How They Were Recovered)
Gesta Romanorum
The Punished of Adulterers or The Bawd and the Adulterers
Gesta Romanorum
Select Bibliography and Notes to Excerpts from the Gesta Romanorum
John Wyclif (?), Of Weddid Men and Wifis and of Here Children Also
Select Bibliography and Notes to Of Weddid Men and Wifis and of Here Children Also
John Lydgate, Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage
Select Bibliography and Notes to Payne and Sorowe of Evyll Maryage
How the Goode Wife Taught Hyr Doughter
Select Bibliography and Notes to How the Goode Wife Taught Hyr Doughter
How the Goode Man Taght Hys Sone
Select Bibliography and Notes to How the Goode Man Taght Hys Sone

Select Secular Lyrics of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
In Praise of Women
Abuse of Women
The Trials of Marriage
Against Hasty Marriage, I
Against Hasty Marriage, II
A Young and Henpecked Husband's Complaint
A Henpecked Husband's Complaint
Old Hogyn's Adventure
I Have a Gentle Cock
Select Bibliographies and Notes to Select Secular Lyrics

Glossary
  • Edited by Eve Salisbury