ABSTRACT
The history of godparenthood in the medieval period can be seen as a process by which sponsors at baptism and confirmation became increasingly distinct from natural parents. As a result of this transformation, they evolved into a spiritual analogue of natural kin. Thus, they acquired the terminology of kinship and the legal restrictions on marriage that such a relationship implied. They also became an integral part of the fabric of social life in medieval England, as members of an institution that was buttressed by the church courts and reflected in the language used to describe social relationships. However, these developments were reversed by the Reformation, which came to challenge, not only the spiritual kinship associated with sponsorship, but the very existence of separate baptismal sponsors. This chapter attempts to set out the origins of the idea of spiritual kinship; its role in late medieval society, and the attitudes towards it of differing strands of religious thought from the sixteenth century. It also utilizes linguistic evidence to investigate the effects of these differing strands of religious thought upon this unique social institution.
