"If a father and his son take a widow and her daughter in marriage, so that the son marries the mother and the father the daughter, say, please, what is the relationship between the sons they will bear?"
Alcuin (?), Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes ("Problems for sharpening the young"), c. 800I would say that the relationship between the sons will be... awkward. Medieval bragging rights if you figure it out; I'll post the answer tomorrow.
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| Carolingian genealogy Berlin Staatsbibliothek, MS lat. fol. 295, f. 80v (12th c.) |
I think the children are both nephews and uncles to each other.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of relationships in early Europe, in Latin records it's quite common to see "filius/filia ejus" or "uxor ejus", and, less commonly but still not unusual, "pater", "mater", "nepos", "soror", "frater". "maritus" is surprisingly uncommon, but I was thrilled to pieces the other day to come across "privignus" (stepson) and "patruus" (paternal uncle).
ReplyDeleteGood job, Warren! You have a bright future as a medieval canon lawyer. (Here's a medieval reader's answer: "Hence my son and the son of my father are uncle and nephew of one another.")
ReplyDeleteSara, let us know if you find a medieval Latin term for "uncle/nephew." :)
I thought they just all called each other "cousin."
ReplyDeleteI was gonna say "It wouldn't come up, because that's SOOO within prohibited degrees" but evidently things were different in the Carolingian period...
ReplyDeleteHowever it works out for the babies, the son will turn out to be his own grandpa.
ReplyDeleteClearly the widespread use of the word "nuncle" is evidence of the frequency with which this family relationship must have occurred.
ReplyDeleteAwkward. I just snorted.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw
ReplyDeleteWe call them West Virginians
ReplyDeleteSteve Goodman covered Homer and Jethro's "I am my own Grandpa" on this subject.
ReplyDeleteHomer and Jethro's version was itself a cover. The song was written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe. That, in turn, was inspired by a Mark Twain piece. Here's the Twain piece but I don't have the citation of where it was published: http://www.natemaas.com/2010/11/more-musical-genealogy.html
ReplyDeleteToo bad the resulting offspring aren't different sexes, then they can marry each other and your problem would be solved. One would be husband and the other would be wife.
ReplyDeleteMay as well take it down a step further...