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A collection of essays by Michael Sheehan, whose work and interpretation on medieval property, marriage, family, sexuality, and law has insprired scholars for ...
Marriages in England in the later Middle Ages, the book argues, were more often under the control of the parties to the marriage, whereas those in northern France and the southern Netherlands were more often under the control of the parties’ families and social superiors.
Dec 15, 1997 · A collection of essays by Michael Sheehan, whose work and interpretation on medieval property, marriage, family, sexuality, and law has insprired scholars for 40 years.
- Michael M. Sheehan
- December 15, 1997
- 2019
- Having Sex Created A Legally Binding Marriage
- Married Or Not Married?
- You Didn't Need Witnesses
- Divorce Was Not An Option
- There Was No ‘Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace’
There were various ways in which a medieval couple could use words or actions to create a marriage. Consent to marry could be given verbally by ‘words of present consent’ – no specific phrase or formula was required. A ‘present consent’ marriage did not have to be consummated in order to count. However, if the couple had agreed to get married at so...
It is clear that there were misunderstandings. It could be difficult to know if a couple was married and they might even not agree themselves. The statutes issued by the English church in 1217–19 include a warning that no man should “place a ring of reeds or another material, vile or precious, on a young woman's hands in jest, so that he might more...
As God was the ultimate witness, it was not necessary to have a marriage witnessed by other people – though it was highly recommended to avoid any uncertainty. There was also a church service available, but it was not mandatory and the evidence suggests that only a minority married in church. Many of those couples were already legally married by wo...
Divorce as we understand it today did not exist. The only way to end a marriage was to prove it had not legally existed in the first place. Christians could only be married to one person at a time and it was also bigamy if someone bound to the church by a religious vow got married. As well as being single and vow-free, you also had to be marrying a...
Reading the ‘banns’ was introduced as part of the 1215 changes to try to flush out any impediments before a marriage took place. Nevertheless, until the Reformation there was no ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’. In the Middle Ages problems discovered or revealed after the marriage could have an enormous impact. For example, Joan of Kent (who ...
- 3 min
We consider the valuation of women in terms of compensation for homicide, injuries, and insults; the regulation of marriage and of sexual crimes; and property, to which women and men had differential access.
Jun 27, 2017 · McCarthy provides an overview of marriage as practiced in medieval England from Anglo-Saxons through the 15th century. The main sources are secular and canonical legal texts and literature, which both incorporate and reveal the prevailing secular and ecclesiastical ideologies of marriage.
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Jun 30, 1994 · These are the key questions which this book addresses in this study of marriage in the medieval world. It draws on many disciplines — history, art, theology, and literature — in order to penetrate the special character of marriage.
