Discuss the place of the Church in the development of medieval ideas of sexuality and marriage

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European people were deeply accustomed to a secular and traditional running of questions such as marriage and sexuality. The Church proposed new values and ideas about these issues which were often very far removed from former codes of ethics. Medieval ideals of marriage and sexuality were the outcome of these two competing influences. What were exactly these two conflicting influences ? In what extent did the Church model manage to overcome the lay model ?

Extraits

[...] All this suggests that secular society valued male sexual prowess in a way quite foreign to future Christianized Europe. In addition to that, one can also notice that the lay model developed a relatively tolerant definition of what was judged to be deviant sexual behaviours. Homosexuality was not harshly punished, what come partly from the Roman tolerance about this question. Likewise, marriages between cousins were a common practise in those days. Incest and rape were however considered as sexual deviances and so as lawless behaviours. [...]

[...] As a conclusion, one can say that the place of the Church in the development of medieval ideas of marriage ad sexuality was very important. Although the Church did not manage to overcome the whole former values, it appears that the teachings of the Church led to rethink the common idea of marriage as well as popular sexual behaviours. However, one can notice that the influence of the Christian thought on these questions kept increasing with time. For instance, it is rather amazing to see that the current Western societies, although very secularized, follow in many instances the medieval instructions of the Church. [...]

[...] Against this lay pattern, the Church wished to impose its own set of ideas concerning marriage and sexuality. Firstly, the Church had to define precisely how to face these questions, which turned out to be difficult because of the vagueness surrounding these one in the biblical writings. Saint-Augustine A.D.) eventually succeeded in defining a widely agreed Christian ideal about these matters. The major feature of the Christian thought was the almost utter rejection of sexuality. Sexuality was actually considered as a source of sin and evil. [...]

[...] Notwithstanding these successes, the Church did not manage to make all the features of its ideas of marriage and sexuality assimilate. Firstly, it is essential to notice that some aspects of the lay model persisted in the Middle Ages pattern of marriage. Saint-Augustine and others had emphasized the question of choice and commitment within the couple. It seems nevertheless that most marriage remained in those days motivated by material considerations. The example of the numerous marriage strategies following by many Royal families shows how secondary the question of spouses' opinion rested. [...]

[...] Furthermore, the Church succeeded in increasing the value of marriage, thanks to a few mere reforms. For instance, the relentless examination of texts and their glosses allowed the Church to establish marriage as one of the seven sacraments. Marriage then became an essential step in the life of every Christian individual. With such a work of the Church to enhance the spiritualization of marriage, it is not surprising to see that European peoples assimilated most of the Christian ideas of marriage. [...]