"Throughout the medieval period, there existed a tension between the sexual morality prescribed by religion, the sexual norms deemed appropriate by secular society, and the average person's sexual behavior. While theoretical values and belief's pertained to all people, irrespective of age, sex, or social rank, in fact, which behaviors were permitted, or tolerated, very much depended on whether one were male or female, rich or poor, or whether the behavior was being judged according to secular or religious criteria. While both value systems sought to regulate and control sexual activity outside of marriage, they did so for very different reasons. In the early Middle Ages, before the Church had succeeded in disseminating and enforcing its doctrines of marriage, it is more difficult to identify exactly which behaviors might have constituted sins, given that polygyny, serial monogamy, concubinage, and divorce were widely practiced by the upper ranks of society, and formal marriage was not accessible to slaves, serfs or the poorest members of society. Fundamentally, by the central Middle Ages, both secular and ecclesiastical values promoted the view that the only appropriate venue for female sexual activity was within marriage. Secular society was preoccupied with the need to ensure the legitimacy of children, in order to perpetuate lineages, secure advantageous marriage alliances, and maintain familial honor."