BOOK: Bonnie CLEMENTSSON, Incest in Sweden, 1680–1940 A History of Forbidden Relations (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020). ISBN 978-9-1984-6992-9, 25.00 GBP

(Source: Manchester University Press)

Manchester University Press is publishing a book on the legal history of incest in Sweden.

ABOUT THE BOOK

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bonnie Clementsson is a researcher at Lund University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Background and context

2 Incest: a religious crime, 1680-1750

3 Incest: a moral crime, 1750-1840

4 Incest: a crime of violence, 1840-1940

The phenomenon of incest in Sweden over 250 years: a summary discussion

Index

More info here