Guest post by Anna Boeles Rowland and Chanelle Delameillieure, 14 February 2020
“More things are necessary for a household than four naked thighs.”[1] In the middle ages the household was headed by a husband and his wife and was the centre of family life and economic productivity. So, in 1486 when John Wellis of London used the above retort upon hearing that his alleged betrothed Alice Billingham had publicly declared that they were married, he was chastising Alice for suggesting that they could legitimise their romantic relationship without the necessary social status and financial stability. Alice, however, had witnesses to the fact that John had asked her to be his wife on the feast of Saint Valentine that same year, asking for her hand so that she could be his “Valentyne for ever.”[2] Like today, the medieval feast day of the Roman martyr St Valentine was a celebration…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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