Memoria y Civilización (Dec 2011)
Diverse youths: towards a study of the Youth in the Late Middle Ages
Abstract
This paper tackles the importance of the Youth study in order to achieve a better comprehension about Social History in the Late Middle Ages. It is underlined that it is a cross topic needing interdisciplinary analyses. It also poses some of the recurrent problems that come up during the research of this stage of life: fragmentary and dispersed sources, the need of a deep knowledge about the context to interpret the statements – sometimes circumstantial- or the general lack of interest in concrete age quotes. The work insists on the necessity of delimiting rigorously the topic of the study paying attention to the individual’s sex and social group because there are a lot of different youths coexisting in a same time and space. Finally it analyses the understanding of being a good son or daughter at that time.