Editing Handfasting (section)

== Medieval and Tudor England ==

The [[Fourth Lateran Council]] (1215) forbade clandestine marriage, and required marriages to be publicly announced in churches by priests. In the sixteenth century, the [[Council of Trent]] legislated more specific requirements, such as the presence of a priest and two witnesses, as well as promulgation of the marriage announcement thirty days prior to the ceremony. These laws did not extend to the regions affected by the Protestant [[Reformation]]. In England, clergy performed many clandestine marriages, such as so-called [[Fleet Marriage]], which were held legally valid;{{efn|In 1601 the poet [[John Donne]] married clandestinely in a private room where only he, his bride, his friend Christopher Brooke and Brooke's brother Samuel, a clergyman, were present. No banns were called and the bride's parents did not give consent; nevertheless, the bride's father did not later legally dispute the validity of the marriage.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=David |last=Colclough |title=Donne, John (1572–1631), poet and Church of England clergyman |entry=Donne, John (1572–1631) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press  |edition=online |date=May 2011 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7819 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7819 |access-date=23 April 2012 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>}} and in [[Scotland]], unsolemnised [[common-law marriage]] was still valid.

From about the 12th to the 17th century, "handfasting" in England was simply a term for "engagement to be married", or a ceremony held on the occasion of such a contract, usually about a month prior to a church wedding, at which the marrying couple formally declared that each accepted the other as spouse. Handfasting was legally binding: as soon as the couple made their vows to each other they were validly married. It was not a temporary arrangement. Just as with church weddings of the period, the union which handfasting created could only be dissolved by death. English legal authorities held that even if not followed by intercourse, handfasting was as binding as any vow taken in church before a priest.<ref name="Nicholl">{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Nicholl |title=The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street |location=London |publisher=Allen Lane |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-713-99890-0 |chapter=Chapter 27: A handfasting |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lodgershakespear0000nich/page/251 251-258] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lodgershakespear0000nich/page/251 }}</ref>

During handfasting, the man and woman, in turn, would take the other by the right hand and declare aloud that they there and then accepted each other as husband and wife. The words might vary but traditionally consisted of a simple formula such as "I (Name) take thee (Name) to my wedded husband/wife, till death us depart, and thereto I plight thee my troth".<ref name ="Nicholl"/> Because of this, handfasting was also known in England as "troth-plight".<ref name ="Nicholl"/> Gifts were often exchanged, especially rings:{{efn|The rings might be plain – one was made on the spot out of a rush lying on the floor – or elaborate.  They often had a posy engraved. One surviving example is a "[[gimmal ring|gimmal]]" ring, a double ring which twists apart to become two rings interlinked.  It is in the shape of two clasped hands and has the posy "As handes doe shut/so hart be knit."<ref>{{cite book |first=Catherine |last=Richardson |title=Shakespeare and Material Culture |date=2011 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=Oxford Shakespeare Topics |isbn=978-0-19-956228-2 |page=[{{google books|er-L6cizlRgC|page=2|text=as hands do shut|plainurl=yes}} 2] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Tarnya |last=Cooper |date=2006 |title=Searching for Shakespeare |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11611-3 |page=[{{google books|5AXwFsTm1Z8C|page=87|text=as handes doe shut so hart |plainurl=yes }} 87] }}</ref>}}{{efn|Some rings incorporated "memento mori" devices, to remind the wearer the marriage was till death.<ref>{{cite book |first=Diana |last=Scarisbrick |title=Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery |publisher=Tate Publishing |date=1995 |quote=[Thomas Gresham's] wedding-ring has a twin 'gimmal' hoop inscribed in Latin 'Let not man put asunder those whom God has joined together', and beneath the ruby and diamond bezel there are cavities enclosing an infant and a skeleton alluding to the vanity of riches. }}</ref>}} a gold coin broken in half between the couple was also common. Other tokens recorded include gloves, a crimson ribbon tied in a knot, and even a silver toothpick.<ref name ="Nicholl"/> Handfasting might take place anywhere, indoors or out.<ref name ="Nicholl"/> It was frequently in the home of the bride, but according to records handfastings also took place in taverns, in an orchard and even on horseback. The presence of a credible witness or witnesses was usual.<ref name ="Nicholl"/>

For much of the relevant period, church courts dealt with marital matters. [[Ecclesiastical law]] recognised two forms of handfasting, ''sponsalia per verba de praesenti'' and ''sponsalia per verba de futuro''. In ''sponsalia de praesenti'', the most usual form, the couple declared they there and then accepted each other as man and wife. The ''[[sponsalia de futuro]]'' form was less binding, as the couple took hands only to declare their intention to marry each other at some future date. The latter was closer to a modern engagement and could, in theory, be ended with the consent of both parties – but only providing intercourse had not occurred. If intercourse did take place, then the ''sponsalia de futuro'' "was automatically converted into ''de iure'' marriage".<ref name ="Nicholl"/>

Despite the validity of handfasting, it was expected to be solemnised by a church wedding fairly soon afterwards.  Penalties might follow for those who did not comply.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Laurence |title=Women in England, 1500–1760: A Social History |location=London |publisher=Phoenix Press |date=1994 |quote=A public church marriage was necessary to ensure the inheritance of property.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2017}} Ideally the couple were also supposed to refrain from intercourse until then.<ref name ="Nicholl"/> Complaints by preachers suggest that they often did not wait,<ref name ="Nicholl"/> but at least until the early 1600s the common attitude to this kind of anticipatory behaviour seems to have been lenient.{{efn|In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s 1604 comedy ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' a young man sleeps with his betrothed wife before his church wedding. Judged technically guilty of fornication, under puritanical laws he is condemned to die. The plot is driven by the need to rescue him, and audience sympathy is clearly expected to be on his side.}}

Handfasting remained an acceptable way of marrying in England throughout the [[Middle Ages]] but declined in the early modern period.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Laurence |title=Women in England, 1500–1760: A Social History |location=London |publisher=Phoenix Press |date=1994 |quote=Between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-seventeenth century the number of spousal actions in the church courts declined markedly, partly because of the increasing belief that the only proper form of marriage was one solemnized in church. }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2017}} In some circumstances handfasting was open to abuse, with persons who had undergone "troth-plight" occasionally refusing to proceed to a church wedding, creating ambiguity about their former betrothed's marital status.<ref name ="Nicholl"/> [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] negotiated and witnessed a handfasting in 1604, and was called as a witness in the suit ''[[Bellott v Mountjoy]]'' about the dowry in 1612. Historians speculate that his own marriage to [[Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife)|Anne Hathaway]] was so conducted when he was a young man in 1582, as the practice still had credence in Warwickshire at the time.<ref name="Nicholl"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Shakespeare's Wife |url=https://archive.org/details/shakespeareswife00gree |url-access=registration |first=Germaine |last=Greer |publisher=Harper Perennial |date=2009 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/shakespeareswife00gree/page/108 108-110] |isbn=978-0747590194}}</ref>

After the beginning of the 17th century, gradual changes in English law meant the presence of an officiating priest or magistrate became necessary for a marriage to be legal.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Laurence |date=1994 |title=Women in England, 1500–1760: A Social History |location=London |publisher=Phoenix Press }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2017}} Finally the [[Marriage Act 1753|1753 Marriage Act]], aimed at suppressing clandestine marriages by introducing more stringent conditions for validity, effectively ended the handfasting custom in England.<ref>{{cite book |first=Anne |last=Laurence |title=Women in England, 1500–1760: A Social History |location=London |publisher=Phoenix Press |date=1994 |quote=From 1754...Pre-contracts (promises to marry someone in the future) and oral spousals ceased to have any force... }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2017}}