The Church and Law (with Frances Eshleman)

When you think of the Middle Ages, you probably imagine a chaotic period without any kind of real form of law. Yet while medieval Europe may not have had the same kinds of legal systems that we live under today, it was still a period where dramatic transformations and evolutions took place in the practice of law. One form of this was a kind of church law that influenced every aspect of medieval life and yet is woefully underrepresented in popular discussions of the medieval past: canon law. In today's episode, Benjamin sits down with Frances Eshleman to learn a bit more about the history of medieval law. They discuss how church law evolved from its "fuzzy" origins, how radical innovations in the twelfth century helped to change the norms of the day, and how this helped to give birth to the legal profession. They take no responsibility for that last bit, don't shoot the historians.