Love and marriage in medieval England

A medieval couple being married by a clergyman. Central miniature, folio 102v. Book IV by Henricus von Assia (13th century). Chapter Archive of Tarazona, Spain. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

Getting married in the medieval period was incredibly simple for Christians living in western Europe – all they had to do was say their “I do’s” to each other. But, as Sally Dixon-Smith reveals, proving that you were actually married and had not tripped up on the many potential ‘impediments’ to marriage might be another thing altogether

Medieval marriage practice continues to influence ceremonies today – from banns the reading three times of your intention to marry to declaring vows in the present tense. Indeed, the word ‘wedding’ itself even dates from the period.  However, some things were very different…


In the Middle Ages, getting married was easy for Christians living in western Europe. According to the church, which created and enforced marriage law, couples didn’t need the permission of their families or a priest to officiate. However, while tying the knot could take a matter of moments, proving that you were wed often proved difficult. 

Although the church controlled – or tried to control – marriage, couples did not need to marry in a church. Legal records show people getting married on the road, down the pub, round at friends’ houses or even in bed. All that was required for a valid, binding marriage was the consent of the two people involved. In England some people did marry near churches to give greater spiritual weight to proceedings, often at the church door (leading to some rather fabulous church porches being added to earlier buildings), but this still did not necessarily involve a priest.  

Marriage was the only acceptable place for sex and as a result Christians were allowed to marry from puberty onwards, generally seen at the time as age 12 for women and 14 for men. Parental consent was not required. When this law finally changed in England in the 18th century, the old rules still applied in Scotland, making towns just over the border, such as Gretna Green, a destination for English couples defying their families. 


Although the medieval church upheld freely given consent as the foundation of marriage, in practice families and social networks usually had a great deal of influence over the choice and approval of marriage partners. It was also normal at all levels of society to make some ‘pre-nup’ arrangements to provide for widow- and widowerhood and for any children. It was also expected that everyone would seek the permission of their lord, and kings consulted over their own and their children’s marriages. Marriage between people of different classes was particularly frowned on. 

The wedding of saints Joachim and Anne, considered to be the parents of Mary, the mother of God. Codex of Predis (1476). (Photo by Prisma/UIG/Getty Images)

There were various ways in which a medieval couple could use words or actions to create a marriage. Consent to marry could be given verbally by ‘words of present consent’ – no specific phrase or formula was required. A ‘present consent’ marriage did not have to be consummated in order to count. However, if the couple had agreed to get married at some point in the future and then had sex, this was seen as a physical expression of present consent. 

So, for engaged couples, having sex created a legally binding marriage. Consent could also be shown by giving and receiving an item referred to English as a ‘wed’. A ‘wed’ could be any gift understood by those involved to mean consent to marry but was often a ring.  A ‘wedding’ where a man gave a woman a ring and she accepted it created the marriage. 

It is clear that there were misunderstandings. It could be difficult to know if a couple was married and they might even not agree themselves. The statutes issued by the English church in 1217–19 include a warning that no man should “place a ring of reeds or another material, vile or precious, on a young woman's hands in jest, so that he might more easily fornicate with them, lest, while he thinks himself to be joking, he pledge himself to the burdens of matrimony”. The vast majority of marriage cases that came up before the courts were to enforce or prove that a marriage had taken place.

Marriage mix-ups bothered the clergy since, after much debate, theologians had decided in the 12th century that marriage was a holy sacrament. The union of a man and a woman in marriage and sex represented the union of Christ and the church, and this was hardly symbolism to be taken lightly. 

As God was the ultimate witness, it was not necessary to have a marriage witnessed by other people – though it was highly recommended to avoid any uncertainty. There was also a church service available, but it was not mandatory and the evidence suggests that only a minority married in church. Many of those couples were already legally married by word or deed before they took their vows in front of a priest.  


Divorce as we understand it today did not exist. The only way to end a marriage was to prove it had not legally existed in the first place. Christians could only be married to one person at a time and it was also bigamy if someone bound to the church by a religious vow got married. As well as being single and vow-free, you also had to be marrying a fellow Christian. Breaking these rules automatically invalidated the marriage.

The marriage feast at Cana, early 14th century. Below, in an initial letter 'S', the throwing overboard and casting up of Jonah. From the Queen Mary Psalter, produced in England. Illustration from School of Illumination, reproductions from manuscripts in the British Museum, Part III, English 1300 to 1350, (British Museum, Longmans, Green and Co, London, 1921). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

There were also a number of other ‘impediments’ that should prevent a marriage going ahead, but might be waived in certain circumstances if the marriage had already taken place. Couples who were already related were not to marry. The definition of ‘family’ was very broad. Before 1215, anyone with a great-great-great-great-great-grandparent in common was too closely related to get married. As this rule was hard to enforce and subject to abuse – the sudden discovery of a long-lost relative might conveniently end a marriage – the definitions of incest were changed by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, reduced to having a great-great-grandparent in common. 

As well as blood kinship, other ties could also prohibit marriage. For instance, godparents and godchildren were not allowed to marry as they were spiritually related, and close ‘in-laws’ were also a ‘no-no’.

Reading the ‘banns’ was introduced as part of the 1215 changes to try to flush out any impediments before a marriage took place. Nevertheless, until the Reformation there was no ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’. 


It is difficult to know how many medieval people married for love or found love in their marriage. There was certainly a distinction between free consent to marry and having a completely free choice. What is clear is that the vast majority of medieval people did marry and usually remarried after they were widowed, suggesting that marriage was desirable, if only as the social norm.

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Hundreds of Japanese Samurai were secretly Christians in the 16th century

Feudal Japan introduced strict anti-Christian measures in the 16th century
But Samurai's still used sword guards with secret crucifixes and other symbols, the designs were uncovered in a study of ancient swords at a Japanese museum.

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Hundreds of Japanese Samurai may have been secret christians who expressed their faith with codes hidden in their sword hilts, researchers have found. The deadly warriors were banned from following religions after feudal Japan introduced strict anti-Christian measures in the 16th century.


But the devout swordsmen commissioned metalsmiths to produce sword guards with crucifixes and other symbols skillfully hidden in their sacred weapons.

Samurais were banned from following religions after feudal Japan introduced strict anti-Christian measures in the 16th century. But the devout swordsmen commissioned metalsmiths to produce sword guards with crucifixes and other symbols (pictured) hidden in their weapons photo: swins

The designs were uncovered in a review of ancient Samurai swords at the The Sawada Miki Kinenkan museum in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is extremely rare to find sword guards with hidden Christian symbols used after the adoption of anti-Christian policies,' a museum spokesman said.

'The findings indicate that they kept their deep faith despite persecution.'

Catholic missionaries originally brought the religion to the East around the mid-1500s. But after 40 years it was banned by military ruler Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who exiled the European missionaries and tortured and killed many Japanese Christians in 1596.

Historians suggest that this was a response to the gradual expansion of European power in eastern Asia. Those Catholics that weren't wiped out by the purge formed an underground religious network.
They disguised images of Jesus and Mary to look like Buddhas, and changed their prayers to sound like Buddhist chants. And the museum's swords indicate that around 50 Japanese Samurais also committed themselves to a life of covert religious beliefs.

The museum owns 367 swords but has been reviewing the artifacts since November last year.


Historians conducted painstaking tests to estimate when the weapons were created based on factors such as their designs, materials and techniques used to produce them.

Historians conducted painstaking tests to estimate when the weapons were created based on their designs, materials, and techniques used to produce them. They show crosses, crucifixes and religious symbols carefully concealed in the intricate designs (pictured) photo: swins

Yuhiko Nakanishi, chairman of nonprofit group Nihon Token Hozon Kai - a Japanese sword preservation association - said 48 sword hilts were identified as belonging to Christians.

The Japanese Christians forced to trample on Christ - BBC News

The weapons with hidden Christian symbols were dated to the Sengoku period (Warring States) period (1467-1568) and the 1600s after warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi rolled out his anti-Christian policies.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Wikipedia

They show crosses, crucifixes and religious symbols carefully concealed in the intricate designs. 

Nakanishi added: 'A characteristic of sword guards made after anti-Christian measures were taken is that Christians carefully hid crosses in their designs.


'We concluded the designs show the faith of hidden Christians.' 


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Top 10 - atrocities committed in the name of religion including Forced Conversion to Islam, Aztec sacrifices, Inquisition or Roman persecutions

Top 10 - atrocities committed in the name of religion, religion, jihad, inquisition, Mormon, Buddhist, burma, crusades, witch, sects photo: pinterest

Different people who have lived in periods distant from both a historically and geographically, people who worshiped different Gods and killed by violence and sadism peers, hiding in the protective shadow of religion that they have embraced it. A question should be: are religions globe foment violence or doctrines that are mere instruments through which people satisfy their pleasure to kill, with the excuse that they serve a noble purpose?

10. Buddhists in Burma

Photo: wikipedia.org

In 1850, Burmese Buddhists monks still performing it through the ritual in which human sacrifices. Once moved the capital to Mandalay, 56 people thought to be "blameless" were killed and buried beneath the city walls to become patrons of the new settlements. 

Buddhists Sacrifice photo: Britannica

Soon, two of the graves were found empty, which made him the royal astrologers to give a verdict radical: 500 people have killed and buried under the walls, otherwise the capital will be evacuated. Until the intervention of British Governors that ended the sacrifices, had been killed 100 people already.

9. Mountain Meadows Massacre

Mountain Meadows monument at burial site for some victims (near site of siege)  photo: law2

With the war in Utah, the Mormons from all over gathered in a short time, to fight the US military, who suspect that aims to eradicate Mormon population. Amid these tensions, there were rumors in Fancher-Baker train, carrying emigrants from Arkansas to California, were enemies who participated in the persecution of several Mormons. 

KnoWhys - Book of Mormon Central

The episode, remained in history as "mountain Meadows Massacre", was completed execution of a large number of immigrants on September 11, 1857. Mormons attacked the train with the help of Paiute Indians of the tribe. Two of those who had important roles in local military organization, Isaac C. Haight and John D. Lee orchestrated the attack, disguising and people seem so an attack by Native Americans. After the siege, the Mormons managed to convince immigrants to surrender. 

Mormons and Indians photo: Native American Netroots

Unwilling to let witnesses of their involvement in the attack, 120 people, men, women and children were executed. Of the latter, only 17 were spared. Only 20 years later, on March 23, 1877, one of the two leaders, John D.Lee, he would be convicted and executed on the site of the massacre.

8. Witch Hunt in Massachusetts

Salem Witch Trials photo: wikipedia.org

With their arrival in Massachusetts, around 1600, the Puritans created a religious police who prosecuted and punished any doctrinal deviance. "Sinners" were whipped, put in the pillory, hanged, they were cutting ears or holes are languages with a hot iron. On the other side were adept at Quaker religious faction, some of the biggest enemies of the Puritans, whose religion was considered a blasphemy. 

What can we learn from the Salem Witch Trials? photo: The Art Newspaper

Quaker caught practitioners were hanged. In 1690, fear of magic and its effects i made the Puritans to condemn to death 20 witches and throwing in jail other 150 people suspected of witchcraft. In the entire period of persecutions, which lasted from 1484 until 1750 thousands of people were burned alive or hanged. According to official statistics, 80% of victims were women.

7. Sect killings Thuggee

photo: npr..rg

To appease goddess Kali brutal blood, Thugee sect practitioners in India have developed since 1500 a religious practice where people were jertifi on its altar. Most victims were killed by strangulation during rituals. 

Thuggees – the Cult Assassins of India photo: Ancient Origins

It approximates that 2 million people have fallen victim over time. Only in 1800 were about 20 000 lives cut short, until the intervention of the British authorities put an end to these practices. The number of victims has diminished, although in 1840 a member Thugee trial for the murder of 931 people. Currently, some Hindu priests still practice this ritual, but people place on the altar of sacrifice was taken by goats.

6. Roman persecutions

Roman Persecution of Christians photo: pinterest

One of the first persecution against Christians was spent in the year 64 d. Cr., By order of

 Emperor Nero. It is the same year that Rome was engulfed in one of the largest fires in history. Because many rumors indict himself Nero of the disaster, he ordered all Christians to be arrested and killed on suspicion of being sparked a devastating fire. 

Many have been torn by beasts during the bloody spectacles novels or were burned alive. In the coming years, actions directed against Christians continued, reaching its peak during what was called the "great persecution". It began with a series of four edicts banning Christian religious practices and went to mass execution of practitioners. The persecution ceased with the enthronement of Emperor Constantine I in 306, who was to legalize Christianity seven years later, in 313.

5. Crusades

Defined as military conflicts with a religious character, medieval Crusades were fought against enemies both external and those internal. Not only Muslims or pagan Slavs were targeted, and Greek Orthodox Christians, Cathars, Hussites or anyone Interest "status" enemy of the Popes. The initial purpose of the Crusades was the recovery of the Holy Land from the Muslims and preventing Turkish expansion. 

The Crusades were fought against the pagans, heretics or those who were excommunicated for religious, economic or political. Soon, however, they began to serve and other purposes, mainly political. Organize a crusade meant the huge mobilization of military forces and struggles assumed an extraordinary violence, resulting in a large number of casualties. The idea of ​​a religious war that serves a noble cause fevered minds of the laity, so it makes the late eleventh century, some of the people engaged in these battles, becoming after swearing "church soldiers ." It seems that by 1291, the death toll had reached 20 million, but this is only an approximate figure, in the absence of accurate records. It is likely that the figure may have been much higher, augmented by numerous crusades occurred over a long period of time.

4. Islamic Jihad

Forced Conversion to Islam photo: Frontpage Mag

The meaning "holy war" were born over time a lot of controversy. Some Muslims understand jihad by using all resources to follow Islamic doctrine and to it please Allah. It is an ongoing process through which they learn to control their own desires and fight evil thoughts. For them, jihad is inside the being and materialized by bringing justice and remove the evil from society. These precepts were known shortly an extension, which was materialized against infidels.

But a certain passage from the Koran, Sura 25, verse 52 bore many debates in the Islamic world. Many have used in the past and currently use it as an excuse to commit crimes hidden behind a religious doctrine, "Do not give up against unbelievers, but fight vigorously against them."

Holy war, mentioned in the Qur'an, made many victims for 12 centuries. It seems that in history, the number of victims killed in the name of Islam has approximately 200 million. In the early years, Muslim armies spread rapidly: in eastern India to western Morocco. Soon, various religious factions have brought their mutual accusations, declaring jihad against each other: Kharijis fought with Sunni Azariqis declared dead all sinners and their families. In 1850 a Sudanese mystic, al-Hajj Umar, has initiated a jihad in order to convert pagan African tribes.

3. Aztec sacrifices

photo: pinterest

The Aztecs theocracy began developing in the 1300s, marking the golden era of human sacrificed. About 20 000 people were sacrificed to the gods, especially the sun god, who should ensure daily ration of blood. In rituals, the heart was removed victims and their bodies were eaten. Other victims were drowned, beheaded, burned or thrown from above. In a ritual dedicated to the rain god, who used to cry often children were killed as their tears slowly bring rain. To please a goddess of corn, a virgin had to dance for 24 hours, then was murdered and his skin was abraded. A scrap mentions that the coronation of King Ahuitzotl, 80 000 prisoners were slaughtered in order to satisfy the gods.

2. Inquisition

photo: wikipedia.org

The first inquisition movements were caused by the attitude of the masses to Christianity, particularly of the Cathars and valdensienilor. The torture began to be used after the year 1252. At that authorized the use of torture was Pope Innocent IV, by a papal edict known as Ad exstirpanda. But decree forbade bloodshed, mutilation or death. 

One method often used was "strappado", which involved tying the hands of the accused at the back and suspend it in the air, arms up in a fracture. Method known "improvements" in some cases add weight to the legs, which led implicitly to their dislocation. But things did not stop there. In 1568 the Spanish Inquisition Tribunal ordered extermination of 3 million people in the present territory of the Netherlands, the Spanish field, on charges of rebellion. Another example of religious fervor is the famous Spanish inquisitor Torquemada, who was on his conscience at least 10 220 souls.

1. Hindus massacre

photo: Daily Mail

The Mohammedan conquest of India was described by W. Durant history as the bloodiest episode in history. In some parts of Europe and Asia, conquered nations opted instead for converting to Islam who expect certain death. In India things were not as conquerors and wished Muslims because Hindu religion who took his place in life and culture of the people more than 4,000 years ago. 

Faced with an unusual resistant, Muslim conquerors did not hesitate to burn entire cities and massacring the entire population of them. Each such campaign increased the number of victims with thousands of souls and all the many were thrown into the clutches of slavery. Each invader they literally could build a hill of skulls Hindu followers. 

The horrendous details of the brutality of the massacre of Hindus by the Muslim Rohingya Armed Group photo: NewsBharati

The conquest of Afghanistan in the year 1000 resulted anihiliarea Hindu entire population of this territory. Bahmani sultans of central India had made a rule of Hindus to kill 100 000 per year. In 1399, Teimur killed 100 000 people in one day than most other occasions. Koenraad Elst teacher calculations, the number of Hindu population has declined since 1000 to 80 million in 1525.




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