Medieval Marriage Laws

Jane Austen provides her readers with insight into marriage and English society within the 1800’s. In Emma, the story establishes the idea that society could not function without marriage and how the institution of marriage defined one’s social status.

This emphasised the ideas of a patrilineal society because these families were coming directly from England and brought the same customs with them. These ideals also lead to marriages that were usually arranged by the betrotheds parents, and the woman's family would have to supply a

Usually, falling in love is what leads a person to marriage, but in this era that was not the case. Most weddings were regulated by the parents so that both families would benefit (“Elizabethan Marriages and Weddings” 1). In other words, a daughter of a landowner would most likely marry a man

Marriage was a self-contradicted idea in Regency England. It secured a woman’s financial security and social importance, but at the same time, her legal and financial rights went straight from her father to her husband (Ray 131). A highly sought after marriage was one that had both equal finances and social class (Lathan). The real question is: How did people in Regency England get married, and what all went into the process? The four main steps to getting married in Regency England are coming out, courting, engagement, and getting married.

Women had great social pressure on them to marry. Young girls were often married by the age of 13 or 14 . It was socially unacceptable if women were not married by the age of 25 . Marriage was mostly for economic benefits, not romantic situations. A wedding, rather than a religious ceremony, was a civil contract that set the responsibilities and duties of husband and wife . Once married, they legally became one with their husbands. Married women had no control of their earnings, inheritance, property, and also could not appear in court as a witness nor vote . Their husbands, therefore, were responsible for all aspects of their wife including discipline .

Incest prohibitions in the Middle Ages were at their most draconian between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Not coincidentally, this period also saw a flourishing in Northern Europe of the founding of women’s convents. Gandersheim, one of the most prominent foundations, was renowned for the self-governance and educational opportunities it provided women. Regardless of the opportunities Gandersheim afforded noble women from the Ottonian court, it had something of a double-identity with respect to its protection of women from incest: a haven for women while also providing the Ottonian court with a strategy for nuptial control to consolidate its dynastic ambitions. The control the Ottonian court exercised over which marriages could be legally

Where marriage was concerned, Anglo-Saxon women had the possibility of marrying anyone they chose. Sometimes marriages were arranged to keep peace between two clans, but the women still had the right to refuse the proposal. Since women could own land in this early culture, morgengifu (morning gifs) like land were given to a prospective the wife to persuade

In the Tudor era (when Shakespeare was writing), the upper class married for political agendas, family advancement, and to secure the family status, if it could not be furthered. Most women did not have a choice in the matter of who they married, and by their mid-twenties, they were indeed married off to a suitable husband. Another quotation to show the importance of, and the view of marriage in the sixteenth-century (not long before Shakespeare wrote) comes from Alison Sim in The Tudor Housewife:

The meaning of a marriage was for power, like a battle that could only be won by who own more land than the other.“ In the Early Modern period, marriage was an engagement which could be undertaken in a bewildering variety ways, and the mere definition of it is fraught with difficulties” (Stone 30). There were quite a few difficulties of being in a marriage of this time such as it just being a like contract or forcing someone into it from birth: “The result was many bastards and many half-siblings, who acted as a reserve for inheritance if the officials male heir failed” (Stone 30). Today it is unacceptable to marry a brother. If we want power, we can go to school, and learn how to change the world ourselves instead of marrying to keep or get power. The rich marriage was a little

Before the eighteenth century, marriage was far less complicated. Verbal consent and consumation constituted legal marriage: "once the knot was tied by such verbal exchanges it could not be

Elizabethan marriages were a very large ordeal involving not only the town but the families of both parties. The large ordeal was not only unnecessary but also very time consuming and stressful. Marriages, birth, and deaths were all the three cycles of life that were dealt with in the church (Evans 6-7). Marriages that were done by law and not church were not registered as there were no witnesses to the betrothal. Church marriages were common and proper as they would be recorded by the pastor (Harrison 1640). Fathers could get rid of their daughters by marrying them off or if he didn’t, when the daughter came of age, the parents would arrange a marriage for the young teenaged girl to a much older man (Evans 6-7). At fourteen, a child had been responsible for all their actions long ago and was now ripe with puberty and at thirty, a man could be financially stable enough to provide for a bride and any children she might bring. All the girl’s possessions would go to the man so wealthy women never remained single for long. If problems in the marriage arose, nothing could be done because the rules of the church stated that marriage lasted until the death of each party. Not only were marriages done without the age of both parties in mind, but marriages were not for love. Families married to carry on the family surname and increase possessions and

The preparations taken for an Elizabethan wedding were set in stone almost, because these steps were crucial in making sure everything was ready for the couple. Before a marriage was arranged or not people had to take into account the age of consent, which was twenty-one (William Shakespeare info). However, with parental permission girls could marry at twelve and boys at fourteen, however this wasn’t extremely common (William Shakespeare info). After a couple was engaged, the next step was the betrothal. A betrothal was where a couple would join hands and the man would give his fiancé a ring to be worn on the right hand. At the wedding the ring would be switched to the left ring finger. After all this, the couple would seal their betrothal with a kiss, and then sign their wedding contract (Maggi Ros). A wedding contract was much like a marriage license that we have today. Sometimes a couple would have to “get married hastily” and would just sign

The church got involved in regulating marriage much later on, as its influence began to increase in Western Europe. It wasn’t until 1215 that the Church formally put a claim on marriage and hashed out rules about what made children legitimate.

-English common law, and early American law, before the 1820's treated marriages like business mergers. The fathers paid dowries and often arranged marriages for their daughters. In the early 1800's fathers could contract their daughters to marriage as early as age 12 and there was no consent on her part. Boys had to be 14 before they could enter into a marriage contract.

Sub-Point: Arranged marriage was so popular an option as history moved on, that many royals took part in the option such as: Louis XVI and Marie Antionette, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon