The Measure of Multitude Population in Medieval Thought [Paperback]

This innovative study challenges the view that medieval thought was fundamentally abstract. He describes what medieval people 'thought' about population, studying the texts which contained their thought, and examining the medieval realities which shaped it, such as birth, birth-control, sex-ratio, marriage ages, length of life, and the population of the Holy Land.

1. Introduction to medieval demographic thought
Part 1: The Church and generation
2. Marriage and the Church's texts
3. William of Auvergne
4. An equal or unequal number of men and women
5. The precept of marriage and sufficient multiplication
6. Avoidance of offspring (i): the general picture
7. Avoidance of offspring (ii): Canon law and Sentences commentaries
8. Avoidance of offspring (iii): the pastoral picture
Part 2: The Map of the World
9. Inhabitation of the world
Part 3: Aristotle and Multitude
10. Animals and the life-span
11. The Politics (i): reception
12. The Politics (ii): age at marriage
13. The Politics (iii): multitude
The Light of the Common Day
14. The Bulging circuit of Florence
Epigraph: The Climate of Thought
Biliography
Index of Manuscripts
General Index

A valuable and original contribution to a facet of medieval life and thought that has previously received scant attention from historians. --The Catholic Historical Review