Latest post of the previous page:
Yes, I remember the Wife of Bath saying that she'd had five husbands at the church door.Nick wrote:In some ways, it is strange, as marriage was not such a major part of the church, in England at least, until Tudor times. After all, weren't marriages conducted at the church gate, rather than inside? I must see if I can find some references....
Ah, here's another one:
(From Marriage Customs of the World: From Henna to Honeymoons, by George Monger)[R]eligion has had a strong involvement in the wedding ceremony only since the twelfth century.
It was not until the reign of Edward VI (1547[--][/--]1553) in England, and later in Europe, that weddings were allowed to take place within the church. Before that time, the important part of the marriage ceremony took place at the church door or in the church porch (Charles I of England, 1600[--][/--]1649, married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France, by proxy at the door of Notre Dame Cathedral), with perhaps a nuptial mass inside the church afterwards. Between the seventh and the twelfth centuries, the church began to establish its authority in questions of matrimony. Although efforts were made in the twelfth century for marriage to be included in the seven sacraments of the church, it did not have the status of a sacrament until 1439, which allowed it to be included in the Book of Common Prayer. It was only in 1563, after the Reformation, that the Catholic Church required a priest to be present at the marriage ceremony. James (1933) noted that Christianity was dealing with an established institution and had to incorporate established custom and law that had been observed by many generations into its own sacraments in order for the Christian marriage rites to be accepted.
In the Middle Ages, there were two distinct ceremonies. The first part, the sponsalia, in which the couple consented to contract the marriage, and the subarrhatio, which involved the delivery of the ring by the bridegroom to the bride and the promise of the dowry before witnesses. The second part was the priestly blessing of the marriage (the matrimonium), providing the sacramental and spiritual element ...
Emma