Sex and Marriage

Question 1

Why was marriage so important in early modern england?

Answer 1

Family household = important unit of production/consumption and an institution of social order and political authority - therefore involved the couples family as well

Question 2

What did early modern philosophy teach about marriage?

Answer 2

Rule of the householder over his wife and children as analogous as a prince over his subjects

Question 3

What was adultery considered to be in social theory?

Answer 3

Hateful act against God

Threat to the wellbeing of the commonwealth and hence subject to a legal penalty

Question 4

What led to greater stress on the role of the family household in religion?

Answer 4

Governments concern for religious unity and hope of clerics to improve standards of religious belief, knowledge and practise - hope that the household is where good religion should be taught and therefore they should be stable

Question 5

What was the typical early modern family?

Answer 5

Nuclear - only about 10% contained wider family members

If in middle ranks - one servant or apprentice (regarded as part of family by law)

Question 6

What contact did more distant relatives have?

Answer 6

Upper classes - active relationship die to pride in ancestry
Lower to middle classes - contact only to close family

Question 7

What would marriage entail?

Answer 7

Leaving parents house for good and setting up your own
Transfer of property across the generations
Gained adulthood and therefore prestige - now had duties

Question 8

What was a key conflicting in society when it came to marriage?

Answer 8

Contemporary society believes marriage is so important it can’t be left to 2 people and therefore needs outside regulation
Religious principle state marriage is between the couple - divinely ordained to avoid fornication and to procreate

Question 9

When was the earliest someone could get married?

Answer 9

12 for girls
14 for boys
Little social relieve as most people married later

Question 10

What was the difference in marriage ages related to class?

Answer 10

Middling to upper classes regardless of gender got married earlier than poorer individuals

Question 11

Why did most people marry later?

Answer 11

Believe a person should be of ‘sufficient age and experience’
People given freedom in their young days from marriage and responsibilities of adulthood

Question 12

What was perhaps the most powerful inducement to postpone marriage?

Answer 12

The need to get the skills and resources to maintain a household e.g. economic competence

Question 13

Why did the issue of gaming on financial independence for marriage get more contentious in the early 17th century?

Answer 13

Harsh economic conditions - does that mean poor people can’t get married? (Goes giants Christian teachings)
Parish authorities tried to prevent poor marriages so they couldn’t claim benefit

Question 14

How could a union be formed in law?

Answer 14

The consent of two parties expressed in words of the present tense (no witnesses, presence in church were necessary)

Question 15

Why was it so easy to make a bond of marriage?

Answer 15

Protect individual freedom - but eventually led to confusion

Question 16

Did the law regarding making a marriage contract change?

Answer 16

Yes in continental Europe but reform resorted in england until 1753

Question 17

What did the church try it insist through court action?

Answer 17

That marriages should be formalised and sanctified by ecclesiastical solemnisation

Question 18

How did common lawyers help the church in attempting to formalise weddings?

Answer 18

Ensured property rights depended on proof of a church wedding

Question 19

What was the common practise when it came to marriage by Elizabethan times?

Answer 19

Marriages conducted in a public church with a delving rate of binding marriage contracts being made beforehand to help with spiritual preparation

Question 20

What were clandestine marriages and why were they of concern?

Answer 20

Marriages taking place outside of public view e.g. outside parish but still conducted by a minister and involving solemnisation (reflecting its importance e.g. even for eloping couples) - concerning as it avoided the formalities of banns and licences

Question 21

What was a key concern regarding irregular marriages?

Answer 21

Parental influence - traditional church law championed the consent of the couple in order to avoid families using children fir property accumulation or dynastic manovering

Question 22

How did the issues of families involvement in marriage gain prominence?

Answer 22

Early 16th century: clerical and lay commentators believed the law provided inadequate protection for family interests

Question 23

What legal changes occurred in 1604 regarding parental involvement in marriage?

Answer 23

Children under 21 couldn’t get married without parental consent
Marriage licences required proof of parental consent regardless of age
Balance between two extremes

Question 24

What was the aim in laws requiring parental consent?

Answer 24

Mutual consent of the various interest involved in the marriage
Not the dictation of parents e.g. many denounced arranged marriages that were not beneficial for the spouses or for the purposes of commercial/dynastic gain

Question 25

What criteria for a proposed marriage did moralists champion?

Answer 25

Shield be a good liking or love between the spouses Urged attention to interior as opposed to outward beauty Should be similar in age, religious values etc.

Question 26

According to Lawrence Stone what was the typical family form in the early 16th century?

Answer 26

Open lineage - extensive kin ties, disregard for individual autonomy and privacy and a low level of emotional attachment between family members Marriages largely arranged for commercial profits

Question 27

What type of family began to emerge in the early 17th century?

Answer 27

Restricted patriarchal nuclear family - less open to outside influences with warmer domestic relationships, influence of Puritan emphasis on love in marriage meant children had a small role in picking spouses

Question 28

What does Stone emphasise?

Answer 28

In lower levels of society there was greater freedom of choice since financial gain from marriage was unlikely - but love still didn’t play a huge role ( more about finding a spouse that could work)

Question 29

What are common criticisms of Stone’s analysis?

Answer 29

Exaggerates strength of parental influence Underestimates role of romantic love Gives inadequate attention to middling groups

Question 30

What evidence is there that Stone underestimated the role of romantic love?

Answer 30

Only happened in the highest aristocratic circles | In most gentry circles children did have some initiative (especially males)

Question 31

What is another reason parental influence in marriage want strong in poorer fans of society?

Answer 31

Due to low expectation of life and high marriage ages many children had lost one or both parents by the time they reached marriage age

Question 32

What was the case of parental involvement in marriage in the middling ranks?

Answer 32

Children had initiative in finding a spouse but parents expected to be consulted

Question 33

What happened in middling ranks if parents disapproved of the potential marriage?

Answer 33

Would employ financial pressure (couple wouldn’t have the resources to set up a household)

Question 34

What other people had an influence in marriage?

Answer 34

Wider kin - if they intended to bequeath property Siblings - of the marriage would effect their condition Masters, neighbours and local minister also played role as surrogate parents

Question 35

How common was similarity between partners in marriage?

Answer 35

Age gaps not uncommon

Question 36

Did people often marry outside their social class?

Answer 36

No - therefore marriage served to reinforce socio-economic distinctions

Question 37

What sources testify to the importance of romantic love?

Answer 37

Diaries and incidental references in court records - used terms such as ‘fancy’ and ‘delight’ Widely accepted that an ideal marriage required some magnetism

Question 38

What can we conclude overall about marriage formation?

Answer 38

Attitudes to marriage formation were complex No clear cut pattern of arranged and free marriages Love, community values and parental involvement all played a role

Question 39

Were everyday relationship between man and wife and their children of concern to church courts?

Answer 39

No - not unless they involved sexual immorality

Question 40

What did discuss and put great emphasis on family relationships?

Answer 40

Sermons and conduct books by moralists who regarded the ‘right ordering’ of families as essential to the commonwealth

Question 41

What did Lawrence Stone argue about family relations?

Answer 41

The notion of ‘love’ didn’t lead to caring relationship but to wives and children being subjected to patriarchal authority and being subjected to harsh discipline/abuse

Question 42

What is a key criticism of Stone’s argument regarding family relations?

Answer 42

He conflates legal attitudes with actual practise within the home Legal = wives had no propertied rights independent of their husbands and allowed husband to beat wife Reality = homily’s stressed that good marriages involved a loving relationship and many people denounced wife beating as shameful

Question 43

Despite arguments against Stones thesis, were all marriages peaceful?

Answer 43

No - court records demonstrate there was child neglect and domestic abuse

Question 44

Was is possible to get a divorce?

Answer 44

No due to the sanctity of the married state and the indissolubility of the conjugal bond

Question 45

What was one route to end a marriage?

Answer 45

Get an annulment on the grounds of impotence, incest, a previous marriage existing or one souse being under age

Question 46

What resulted from an annulment?

Answer 46

Remarriage possible Woman barred from her dower rights - share of husbands estate after death Children born from the union bastardised

Question 47

Who and for what reasons were annulments laws attacked?

Answer 47

Protests reformers accused them of being to complex/extensive e.g. incest laws banned marriage between third cousins (not workable) - church accused of making money form confusion by selling dispensations

Question 48

What was another method to end a marriage?

Answer 48

Judicial separation (from bed and board) - granted on proof of adultery or extreme cruelty (didn’t effect wife’s dower rights or children’s status but remarriage not permitted)

Question 49

Why did Protestant reformers criticise judicial separation?

Answer 49

Argued that adultery dissolved the marriage bond and the innocent party should have the right to remarry

Question 50

What was the effect of Protestant sectaries advocating for divorce?

Answer 50

1604 canon laws strongly reaffirmed ban on remarriage in backlash

Question 51

Was there a demand outside theological circles for divorce reform?

Answer 51

Difficult to tell - commonplace that this involved in marital breakdown would separate without consulting the court

Question 52

What were common reasons for broken marriages amongst the poor?

Answer 52

Feckless husbands who abandoned their wives | Immense poverty

Question 53

What were the results of the bigamy act of 1604?

Answer 53

Made it a felony to marry again whilst the first spouse was alive - gave jurisdiction over bigamy cases from spiritual to secular courts

Question 54

After the bigamy law of 1604 what jurisdiction did the church court still have?

Answer 54

Petitions for annulment or separation | Prosecution of those who separated without a judicial order

Question 55

What was the common fate of reforming attempts regarding marriage and divorce?

Answer 55

Traditional position had been reaffirmed with only minor modifications

Question 56

Who was in charge of punishment for sexual immorality?

Answer 56

Overwhelmingly the church courts | Limited secular punishment e.g. justices of the peace driving people out of town

Question 57

Why did the issue of church authority over punishment become an issue in the 16th century?

Answer 57

Growing demand for harsher punishments for sexual offences E.g. puritans advocated for the death penalty Church courts couldn’t accommodate this and therefore reformers pinned their hopes of secular lawmaking

Question 58

What was the only significant secular parliament legislation that dealt with punishment for sexual immorality?

Answer 58

Measures to ensure maintenance of poor bastard children and punishment for guilty parents e.g. mothers ent to house of corrections for a year

Question 59

Why was their a growth in concern over sexual immorality in this period?

Answer 59

Growing trend of taking biblical words seriously Many believed social morals were becoming lax and beloved there was a double standard in punishing women and not men Financial concern e.g. bastards

Question 60

How did some people attempt to stop sexual dalliance?

Answer 60

Puritans attacked festivals and attempted to regulate inns and ale houses Moralists urged personal responsibility

Question 61

Did couples have sex before their weddings but after contracting a marriage contract?

Answer 61

It was common - Philip hair in a study of 77 parishes found that bridal pregnancy was common (around a fifth)

Question 62

Where do we get are information about the rates of bastard births?

Answer 62

Parish registers of baptisms specified if the baby was illegitimate - national rate of around 3% -probably higher as not all bastards baptised

Question 63

What is another reason why the bastardy rate was low?

Answer 63

Abortion - abortive qualities of herb ‘savin’ were known as well as references to other potions Given poor hygiene many illicit pregnancies likely ended in miscarriage

Question 64

Were the church rulings on sexual morality relevant to poor people?

Answer 64

No because for them sex wasn’t a moral issue

Question 65

What does Wrightson suggest about unmarried mothers (bastard bearers)?

Answer 65

Many the same age as women having children within marriage - simply unlucky as many were in the process of planning marriage but an outside event e,g, death or economic hardship stopped it

Question 66

What popular customs were unused to punish those accused of illicit sexual conduct?

Answer 66

Mobs would play rough music (bang pots and pans) | Write derisive poems targeted at individuals e,g, Micheal Robbins “That he may have time, thy wife for a fuck”

Question 67

What does the prevalence of popular customs of humiliation tell us ?

Answer 67

Environment in which accusations of sexual immorality were gossiped about Suggest a popular intolerance of blatant immorality Indicate the importance of sexual reputation - sexual credit an important sign of respectability