Polygyny and Monogamism in the Medieval West

The advent of monogamy and the disappearance of polygyny, progressive from late antiquity and complete by ca. AD1000, are generally viewed as one of the most salient features of European (and Western) history in a global perspective. In other words, for a present-day Westerner, polygyny is decidedly 'Them' not 'Us'. This article argues that what gained progressive importance was not monogamy (social practice) but monogamism (the idea and ideal). Medieval Western European societies, and not only those at the fringes of Christianity, tended towards resource polygyny, including but not focusing on 'marriage', for much longer than has been thought. Only towards the 13th century did lay elites hesitantly switch to preferential monogamy as a social practice.