Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Sometimes a great theory and its believers are like the parties to a marriage that fails after just a year or two. Maybe the two of them always looked great together, they seemed to be destined for a life together. But when they break up, the have to pick up the pieces and face their respective post-destiny lives. So it has been with one of my favorite theories of medieval history (yes, I have a top ten list in my mind of favorite theories of medieval history -- doesn't everybody? -- this one is my fourth). Associated with the Stanford University historian Lynn White, the theory posits that the invention of the stirrup, a neat way of maintaining the balance of the rider of a horse, was critical to the development of the feudal system. It was an adventurous speculation. The stirrup made possible shock combat (riders aiming lances at one another); the new form of combat required an infrastructure, armorers, pages, and so forth. The good lance bearers became knights, the low b...

The history of "illegitimacy" and its significance for royal or noble lines:  The stigmatization as ‘bastards’ of children born outside of wedlock is commonly thought to have emerged early in Medieval European history. Christian ideas about legitimate marriage, it is assumed, set the standard for legitimate birth. Children born to anything other than marriage had fewer rights or opportunities. They certainly could not become king or queen. As this volume demonstrates, however, well into the late twelfth century, ideas of what made a child a legitimate heir had little to do with the validity of his or her parents’ union according to the dictates of Christian marriage law. Instead a child’s prospects depended upon the social status, and above all the lineage, of both parents. To inherit a royal or noble title, being born to the right father mattered immensely, but also being born to the right kind of mother. Such parents could provide the most promising futures for their ch...