The Making of Marriage in Mid-Tudor England: Evidence From the Records of Matrimonial Contract Litigation

Abstract

Analysis of a large sample of mid-Tudor suits to enforce matrimonial contracts suggests that during that period marriage plans in the middling ranks of society were usually initiated by the couples themselves, even though their even tual realisation often depended on the cooperation of parents and other "friends." Such freedom is not surprising: many of the litigants had left home or lost at least one parent, and some of them had already been widowed. Very few suits arose from attempts to escape arranged marriages. Both affection and economic considerations were important criteria in the choice of partners. Few plaintiffs were successful. Judges were still ready to uphold contracts, even in the face of opposition from parents and other kinsfolk; there is no sign that social pressures influenced their interpretation of the law. But the surviving testimony suggests that the practice of making enforceable contracts in advance of ec clesiastical solemnisation was on the wane. There is little evidence here of cohabitation before the church ceremony, and the latter seems generally to have been regarded as essential to complete the process of entry into marriage.