Download or read book Royal Bastards written by Sara McDougall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The stigmatisation as 'bastards' of children born outside of wedlock is commonly thought to have emerged early in medieval European history, but Sara McDougall demonstrates that until well into the late 12th-century a child's prospects depended more upon the social status and lineage of both parents than of the legitimacy of their marriage.