Incest in Sweden, 1680-1940 : A History of Forbidden Relations

In early modern Sweden, if a man and his deceased wife ´s sister were found guilty of engaging in sexual intercourse they would be sentenced to death by beheading. Today the same relationship is not even illegal. Covering the period 1680-1940, this book analyses both incest crimes and applications for dispensation to marry, revealing the norms underpinning Swedish society's shifting attitudes to incestuous relations and comparing them with developments in other European countries. It demonstrates that, even though the debate on incest has been dominated by religious, moral, and - in due course - medical notions, the values that actually determined the outcome of incest cases were frequently of quite a different character.

Author: Bonnie Clementsson

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Publication Date: Aug 18, 2020

Number of Pages: 328 pages

Language: English

Binding: Hardcover

ISBN-10: 9198469908

ISBN-13: 9789198469905