This ambitious study sets out to discover what marriage meant in the daily lives of the nobles of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. Through entertaining anecdotes, family dramas, and striking quotations, Duby succeeds in bringing his subjects to life, making us feel as if we understand the motives and conflicts of those who inhabited the distant past. "Duby has written an extraordinarily rich book--a panoramic view of medieval marriage and the relations between men and women, full of arresting insights and human detail. . . . It is the work of a master historian at the peak of his powers on a subject of central relevance, compulsive and essential reading."--P. Stafford, "British History" Georges Duby (1919-1996) was a member of the Acadé mie franç aise and for many years held the distinguished chair in medieval history at the Collè ge de France. His books include "The Three Orders; The Age of Cathedrals; The Knight, the Lady, and the Priest; Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages; " and "History Continues, " all published by the University of Chicago Press