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Celtic fosterage: Adoptive kinship and clientage in northwest Europe

Parkes, Peter S. C. (2006) Celtic fosterage: Adoptive kinship and clientage in northwest Europe. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 48 (2). pp. 359-395. ISSN 0010-4175. (doi:10.1017/S0010417506000144) (KAR id:10293)

Abstract

Historians of Europe may be generally aware of the former significance of Celtic child-fostering, so prominently documented in the law books and legends of medieval Ireland. Yet there is no comprehensive survey of such fosterage from a comparative historical perspective, nor has its archival documentation been collated for analysis. The present essay aims to redress this neglect: it reviews extant evidence of Celtic fosterage in the British Isles, examined with reference to comparable institutions of adoptive kinship documented throughout western Eurasia, which comprised some of its scarcely recognized “elementary structures” of familial clientage and feudatory state formation.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0010417506000144
Additional information: ISI Document Delivery No.: 023WX Times Cited: 1 Cited Reference Count: 186
Uncontrolled keywords: MEDIEVAL EUROPE CHILDREN AVUNCULATE MILK
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: C.G.W.G. van-de-Benderskum
Date Deposited: 08 Sep 2008 12:07 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:49 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/10293 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Parkes, Peter S. C..

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