On the Purification of Women: Churching in Northern France, 1100-1500

This book is a social history of the ritual and custom of churching, a liturgical rite of purification after childbirth performed on a woman's first visit to church after giving birth. The book describes the development of the rite from its original meaning as a response to blood pollution to its redefinition as a rite that honoured marriage.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 06/16/2011
ISBN: 9781403969699
Pages: 257
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.00w x 0.82d