Medieval Marriage, Church Law, and Society

Vocabulary flashcards covering the social customs, Church doctrines, legal frameworks, and notable historical figures of medieval marriage.

Norwich

Late medieval England's second city where the wealthy Paston family maintained a fine townhouse.

Paston letters

A rare archive of more than 1000 surviving documents spanning three generations of a family that rose from peasantry to gentry in a single generation.

Margaret Mautby

An heiress from a well-established gentry family whose marriage to John Paston helped secure the Paston family's social standing and northeastern Norfolk estates.

Richard II

The King of England crowned in 1377 at age 10 who entered into a diplomatically arranged royal marriage with Anne of Bohemia and became a devoted husband.

Anne of Bohemia

The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor who married Richard II in Westminster Abbey in 1382 following the ratification of an autumn 1381 marriage treaty.

Brigstock agreement

A peasant marriage negotiation in which Henry Cooke's mother contributed a 12-to-15-acre tenement while Beatrix Halcock's father gave a cow, clothing worth 13 shillings 4 pence, and paid for the feast.

Informal courtship marriage

A medieval union formed without a priest or witnesses, established anywhere simply by a couple clasping right hands and speaking vows of consent.

William the Bastard

The Duke of Normandy and conqueror of England who successfully inherited his title despite his illegitimate birth because his father and lords acknowledged him before Church doctrine tightened.

Matilda

The only legitimate child of King Henry I whose succession alarmed society because Church reform had made legitimacy essential, excluding Henry's 20 illegitimate sons.

Free consent

The core theological principle that made a medieval marriage spiritually valid based entirely on mutual agreement between a man and a woman.

Missals

Liturgical books containing songs and services copied across Christendom so priests could correctly solemnize marriage rituals and other sacraments.

Calling of the banns

The mandatory public announcement of an intended marriage made in church on at least three holy days or successive Sundays to detect secret unions or kinship impediments.

Marriage debt

The theological obligation in medieval Christian marriage compelling both husband and wife to grant marital sex whenever requested by their spouse.

Putting to bed ceremony

The public ritual conducted by attendants, lords, and clerics—such as the one held for Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon—to guarantee the valid consummation of a marriage.

Church courts

Ecclesiastical tribunals responsible for spiritual matters, marriage litigation, and punishing convicted fornicators through public whippings in crowded marketplaces.

Margery Paston

A daughter of the Paston family whose clandestine marriage to her bailiff, Richard, was upheld by Church officials solely because shared consent existed.

Annulment

A Church court decree establishing that a marriage was void from the beginning due to specific impediments such as preexisting marriage, coercion, insanity, close consanguinity, or non-consummation.

Stews

Medieval brothels whose prostitutes were occasionally enlisted in Church court annulment proceedings to test the alleged impotence of a husband.

A mensa et thoro

A legal separation granted by the Church meaning 'from bed and board,' allowing spouses to reside apart while remaining legally married and unable to remarry.

Act of Supremacy

A statute passed by Parliament proclaiming King Henry VIII the only Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England following his break with Rome over his marriage.