Matters of the Flesh: The Intimate Life of Medieval People in the Space of Judicial Debate

Olga Togoieva, a well-known Russian medieval historian, specializes in studying medieval France. She is a Doctor of Historical Sciences and works as a chief researcher at the Institute of Universal History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In her book, Togoieva reveals aspects of people’s lives in the Middle Ages and the early Modern period that are rarely reflected in historical sources. She studies personal experiences, family relationships, romantic and friendly connections—as well as resentments and ways of resolving family conflicts, whether on their own or with the help of official institutions. In the spotlight are ordinary people who are seldom mentioned in chronicles or literature, unless they were involved in crimes that attracted the attention of the court. Criminal case documents preserved from the times of the French kingdom allow us to peek into the secrets of private life, to learn what was discussed publicly and what was considered secret, and to understand their legal and cultural norms. The book is intended for historians, lawyers, philologists, cultural scholars, and everyone interested in the history of everyday life and personal life.