Download or read book The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe written by Jack Goody and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1983-07-07 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An original theory asserts that this distinctive form of kinship system developed in the northern Mediterranean around the fourth century A.D., and that its subsequent growth can be attributed to the efforts of the early Christian Church to acquire property formerly held by domestic groups.