Pages in this blog

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

When did the English become indifferent to extended kin?

3 comments:

  1. Early mediaeval Anglo Saxon society its the 'hundred' that forms a sort of corporate membership at a peasant level, its not kin based another term is 'plebs'(the word parish has the same root). Its not kin based.

    Space and close proximity is the great dictator.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Its not confined to Anglo Saxon England, T.M. Edwards (one of the scary beasts of early med. social organization)raises the question of wither the nuclear family was the norm stretching way back.

    For A.E. he is or was keen to note that Lord simply means 'loaf giver' the head of a household. That regardless of rank this may have been the basic model in all households, extending across the social spectrum.

    ReplyDelete
  3. p.s books not incorrect. Terms for wider linage in Anglo Saxon society use the terminology of the nuclear family, elder father, second father, third father, six father etc.

    This is key evidence for some historians to suggest the centrality of the nuclear family.

    Lineage was disregarded/ often unknown by peasants

    Not sure how you get to that conclusion but later medieval not my thing not read the book, but the conclusions seem odd.

    ReplyDelete