268 fornication
CATEGORIES AND MOTIVATIONSMany medieval forgeries were deemed falsifications in the
Middle Ages. Many others have been uncovered by mod-
ern scholars. Forgeries can be said to fall into several cate-
gories based on the method, style, and content of the
document or on the intentions of the forger. Some were
seen as forgeries because of the false attributions of their
authors, whether intentional or unintentional. Some doc-
uments were questioned because their original purpose
was unclear or forgotten. Other legal documents, particu-
larly charters, may have been intended to replace genuine,
but lost documents, or to provide credible documentation
to prove rights that had indeed been granted but could
not be confirmed by the documentary evidence extant or
then newly required, in the form of the parchments them-
selves, or entries in a CARTULARY.
Narrative documents or histories were created to
reflect the desired or assumed past, to provide an under-
standing and explanation of the present, and to show the
desired or proper future. Hagiographical and devotional
texts were created to inspire the correct spiritual respect
and devotion of audiences. Many other forgeries were
simply done for deception or financial benefit of an indi-
vidual, community, or cause.
PUNITIVE RESPONSES AND
ATTEMPTS TO CONTROLForgeries for personal or institutional gain, if uncovered,
were punished harshly, even by sentences of death or the
loss of a hand. Others, intended to provide written docu-
mentation expected by traditions, might be dealt with
less severely. In the heyday of forgeries in the 11th and
12th centuries, medieval people had an understanding of
truth in these circumstances that was primarily tied to a
morality based on the intention of the perpetrator or per-
petrators of forgery. Although clearly false, some docu-
ments were excused or not questioned because they
represented something deemed morally true, either in the
eyes of the beholders, or in the views of those doing the
faking or creation of written documents. At the same
time, more sophisticated means of detecting forgeries and
guarding against forged letters, interpolations, and docu-
ments were developed, especially by the papacy. They
were accomplished by the checking of the authenticity of
seals, of properly written and special scripts, of complex
formulas of expression, of correct chancellery styles, and
even of the careful comparison of witness lists with those
in other documents known to be authentic. Further liter-
ary analysis, using revived and improved philological
tools, was applied to texts of written documents during
the revival of learning and increased interest in produc-
tion of authentic classical texts during the 15th century.
See alsoARCHIVES AND ARCHIVAL INSTITUTIONS; CODI-
COLOGY; PALEOGRAPHY;VALLA,LORENZO.
Further reading: Christopher N. L. Brooke,
“Approaches to Medieval Forgery,” Journal of the Society
of Archivists3, no. 8 (1968): 377–386; in Medieval Church
and Society: Collected Studies(London: Sidgewick and
Jackson, 1971), 100–120; Giles Constable, “Forgery and
Plagiarism in the Middle Ages,” Archiv für Diplomatik,
Schriftsgeschichte, Siegel- und Wappenkunde 29 (1983):
1–41; Anthony Grafton, Forgers and Critics: Creativity and
Duplicity in Western Scholarship(Princeton, N.J.: Prince-
ton University Press, 1990); Armando Petrucci, “The Illu-
sion of Authentic History: Documentary Evidence,” in
Writers and Readers in Medieval Italy: Studies in the History
of Written Culture,ed. and trans. Charles Radding (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 236–250.fornication Once referring to sexual relations with
prostitutes in the Middle Ages, the term fornication
designated any sexual union between two consenting
persons free of any ties of kinship or spousal relations. It
might be distinguished from adultery, rape, lust, and
debauchery. In Scholastic THEOLOGY, it was considered a
breach of natural LAW, since such sexual relations were
presumed not to be intended for the conception of a
child. This notion of the conformity to NATURE,so
important in medieval and Catholic moral thought, also
assigned greater gravity to some forms of fornication,
such as masturbation and sodomy.
See alsoSEXUALITY AND SEXUAL ATTITUDES; SIN.
Further reading:James A. Brundage, Law, Sex and
Christian Society in Medieval Europe(Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1987).Fortescue, Sir John(ca. 1387–1476/79)English politi-
cal and constitutional thinker
Among political thinkers of the Middle Ages, Fortescue,
deeply involved in the political struggles of his day, was
not an original thinker but rather very practical minded.
Born at Norris in Somerset between 1385 and 1390, he
joined Lincoln’s Inn and became a sergeant-at-law in
about 1429. He was a justice of the peace 35 times and
served on 70 special commissions. This legal training led
him to a political career in PARLIAMENTas a member for
several West Country boroughs in the 1420s and 1430s.
In 1441 he was promoted to the position of king’s
sergeant and in the following year became the chief jus-
tice of King’s Bench. An ardent Lancastrian partisan dur-
ing the WARS OF THEROSES, he was present at the great
defeat at Towton on March 29, 1461. He had to flee to
SCOTLANDwith the deposed HENRYVI.
While in exile later in FRANCEafter 1465, he wrote
four tracts upholding the Lancastrian succession and the
treatise “On the Nature of Natural Law.” In that he made
his famous distinctions among absolute monarchy,
republican government, and constitutional monarchy.
These ideas were developed in the most popular of his
works, “In Praise of the Laws of England.” He attributed
the origins of any absolute monarchy to a military