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

By Paula M. Rieder

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1403969698
• ISBN13: 9781403969699
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.3"