A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3

by George Elliott Howard

IV. PUBLICITY SOUGHT THROUGH BANNS AND REGISTRATION

Without doubt the wrong and confusion arising in the ecclesiastical theory and definition of marriage were manifold,h3 and they were patent to every observer. At the Council of Trent it was asserted that some action to put a check upon clandestine marriages was demanded by all the temporal powers;[1150] and the provincial church councils, aided by state legislation, had done what they could by imposing; penalties to remedy the abuse.[1151] Nevertheless, strange as it may seem to one not acquainted with the devious logic of scholastic theology, many members of the Council of Trent, on dogmatic grounds, were stubbornly opposed to the only reform which experience showed could be effective. They affirmed that severer discipline would suffice. They apologized for clandestine marriages on the pretext that they are sometimes useful, even necessary; or they denied that to declare them null would prove an efficient remedy.[1152]

Hence we are better able to appreciate at its true value the significance for the Catholic world of the victory gained by the common-sense of the majority. It was a victory in favor of that publicity which the state demanded. Indeed, the church had already done something, in spite of dogma, to change marriage from a private to a public transaction. Her collision with the state, her anomalous position with respect to social order, was involuntary. She was caught, as it were, in the meshes of her own philosophy. Yet in the interest of morality she strove to secure publicity. The priest at the nuptials, declares Sohm, "appears first of all as a public person."[1153] In particular the church tried to gain publicity for marriage by the institution of banns. The custom of publishing banns seems first to have made its appearance in France, probably as early as the fifth century.[1154] It is enforced by the capitulary of 802, which gains its real significance from this fact, and not from the mention of the priestly benediction.[1155] From France it gradually made its way into other countries of Europe. Thus in the year 1200, as already noted, banns were enforced by Archbishop Walter; and they were first made a general requirement by Innocent III. at the fourth Lateran council in 1215.[1156] Later the English archbishops found it necessary from time to time to impose more stringent penalties for neglect of the proper publication of banns;[1157] and they were enforced, without making the publication essential to a valid marriage, by the Council of Trent. From the twelfth century onward the marriage rituals contain directions for the asking and publication of banns;[1158] while the punishment of persons guilty of violating the canons in this regard gave much employment to the spiritual courts during the Middle Ages.[1159]

The institution of banns has a special historical interest as being in some sense the mediæval substitute for the modern registration and official license to wed. The practice was to announce the marriage, usually on three successive Sundays preceding the nuptials, that any objection on the ground of relationship or other disability might be brought forward. But the decrees of the church were not carefully enforced. Dispensation from the obligation to publish banns was the right of the bishop, but his license was usually granted only in favor of the nobility and higher classes; and the right constituted an important source of revenue.[1160]

The year 1538 marks an important epoch in the administration of English matrimonial law. It was then, according to the researches of Burn, that parish registers of births, deaths, and marriages were first introduced; although before this time it had been customary in some places to inscribe such records in the missals and psalters of the church.[1161] The first article of the injunctions issued by Thomas Cromwell, vice-regent under Henry VIII., provided: "Item, That you and every parson, vicar, or curate within this Diocese, for every Church keep one Book or Register, wherein he shall write the day and year of every Wedding, Christening, and Burial, made within your parish for your time, and so every man succeeding you likewise, and also there insert every person's name, that shall be so wedded, christened, and buried. And for the safe keeping of the same Book the parish shall be bound to provide of their common charges one sure coffer, with two locks and keys, whereof the one to remain with you, and the other with the Wardens of every parish wherein the said Book shall be laid up, which Book ye shall every Sunday take forth, and in the presence of the said Wardens or one of them, write and record in the same, all the Weddings, Christenings, and Burials made the whole week afore, and that done, to lay up the Book in the said coffer as afore; and for every time that the same shall be omitted, the party that shall be in the fault thereof, shall forfeit to the said Church iij^s. iiij^d. to be employed on the reparation of the said Church."[1162]

Thus in this, the most ancient English registration act, the parson or incumbent appears as the original registrar; and that the importance of keeping such record was keenly appreciated is shown by the anxious, almost painful, minuteness with which his duties are defined. The order of Henry VIII. was enforced or supplemented under Edward VI., Elizabeth, William III., and other monarchs; but, save during the Commonwealth, no material change was made in the mode of registration until in 1836 the present system was introduced.[1163]

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CHAPTER IX
THE PROTESTANT CONCEPTION OF MARRIAGE

[Bibliographical Note IX.—The ideas of the German Reformation, and therefore ultimately of Protestantism, relative to the form and the nature of marriage were molded by the thought of Martin Luther. Among his numerous writings on the subject most important are the "Vom heiligen Ehestandt und Oeconomia oder Haushaltung," being the thirty-sixth chapter of the Tischreden (folio, Frankfort, 1571); and the following articles in his Bücher und Schriften (folio, Jena, 1555-80): "Sermon vom ehelichen Stande" (1519, in Vol. I); "Predigten über das erste Buch Mose" (1527, in Vol. IV); and especially the "Von Ehesachen" (1530, in Vol. V). The principal passages from all of Luther's writings on the subject of matrimony and divorce, classified in seven groups, with critical and historical notes and marginal explanation of archaic words, are conveniently given in von Strampff's Dr. Martin Luther: Ueber die Ehe (Berlin, 1857). This is an important Quellenbuch for the student. A very useful book also, containing twelve of his most important papers, is the second volume of the Kleinere Schriften Dr. Martin Luthers, entitled "Von Ehe- und Klostersachen" (Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1877). Older works which afford some assistance are Niess's Ehestands-Buch (Eisleben and Leipzig, 1858), comprising, with other matter, some of the utterances of Luther; and Froböse's Dr. Martin Luther's ernste, kräftige Worte über Ehe und eheliche Verhältnisse (Hanover, 1825).

The first philosophical treatise on marriage, anticipating in various ways the modern conception, is Erasmus's Christiani matrimonii institutio (Basel, 1526). The dedicatory epistle, dated July, 1526, is addressed to Queen Catherine of England. The edition cited in the text bears the general title De matrimonio christiano (Lugd. Bat., 1650); and to it is appended Vivus's Conjugii origine et utilitate discursus. Erasmus's treatise may also be found in Vol. V of his Opera omnia (Lugd. Bat., 1704). The work was prohibited mainly because of its critical tone regarding the excessive ardor of the primitive Christians for celibacy and perpetual virginity. Of first-rate importance for obtaining a general view of the doctrines of the German Reformation is Sarcerius, Vom heiligen Ehestande (1553); or the same work enlarged under title Corpus juris matrimonialis (Frankfort, 1569). It has been found convenient to relegate the description of many writings available as sources for this chapter to Bibliographical Note XI. See particularly the works of Brenz, Kling, Beust, Schneidewin, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Bullinger, Bucer, Monner, Bidembach, Mentzer, Brouwer, and Forster, there referred to. Besides Melanchthon's "De conjugio" (1551), in Opera, I (Erlangen, 1828), see also his "De arbore consanguinitatis et affinitatis" (1541), in Sarcerius, Vom heiligen Ehestande, lvs. xii-xxvii; or the "Corpus juris matrimonialis," lvs. xi-xxvii, where may also be found much additional matter from Luther, Kling, and others relating to forbidden degrees. In this connection may also be consulted Niemeier, De conjugiis prohibitis dissertationes (Helmstadt, 1705), comprising ten distinct essays, with a critical and bibliographical supplement, produced during the years 1699-1705.

The most important collection of church regulations regarding marriage is Richter's Die evangelische Kirchordnungen des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts (Weimar, 1846). These have been partly analyzed by Meier, Jus, quod de forma matrimonii ineundi valet (Berlin, 1856); and thoroughly by Goeschen, Doctrina de matrimonio (Halle, 1848). The rejection of priestly celibacy by the Reformers has called forth numerous writings, among which the earliest are Luther, Bedenken und Unterricht von den Klöstern und allen geistlichen Gelübden (1522); idem, An die herrn deutschs Ordens (original edition in the author's possession, Wittenberg, 1523); Bugenhagen, De conjugio episcoporum et diaconorum (1525); the anonymous Underricht auss Göttlichen und Gaystlichen Rechten, Auch auss den flayschlichen Bepstlischen unrechten, ob ain Priester ain Eeweyb, oder Concubin ... haben möge (1526). See also the elaborate treatise of Calixtus, De conjugio clericorum (Frankfort, 1653); and the dissertation of Roldanus, De mente Pauli, volentis episcopum esse unius uxoris maritum (Lugd. Bat., 1710).

On the famous "double marriage" of Landgrave Philip of Hesse a source of unique interest is the Argumenta Buceri pro et contra, a manuscript by Bucer written in 1539 and first published at Cassel in 1878. The original documents in the case are appended to the exceedingly lively work of Arcuarius, Kurtze, Doch unpartheyisch- und Gewissenhaffte Betrachtung des ... Heiligen Ehestandes (1679), decidedly inclining to the side of Luther and his colleagues. Beza, Tractatio de polygamia (Geneva, 1568), replies to the defense of polygamy by Ochino, Dialogue (Zurich, 1563; Eng. trans., London, 1657). The most celebrated book produced in this controversy is Theophilus Alethaeus's (Johann Lyser's) Discursus politicus de polygamia (2d ed., Freiburg, 1676); or the same with the prefixed general title, Polygamia triumphatrix (Londini Scanorum, 1682), this edition containing the learned and very elaborate notes of "Athenasius Vincentius" who is none other than Lyser himself. The first edition, in German, is entitled Politischer Discurs zwischen Monogamo und Polygamo (Freiburg, 1675). Lyser is harshly answered by Johann Frischen, Unvorgreiffliche Erörterung der Frage: Was von der Polygamie oder Viel-Weiberey zu halten sey (Hamburg, 1677); and more coarsely by "Simplicius Christianus," Eilfertiges Antwort-Schreiben.... Darin eine Summarische Widerlegung des politischen Discurs von der Viel-Weiberey, so ein Atheistischer Huren-Teuffel J. L. Bosshafftiglich ausgestreuet, enthalten ist (Leipzig, 1677). In this connection see also Thomasius, De concubinatu (Halle, 1713); Baumgart, De concubinatu, a Christo et apostolis prohibito (Halle, 1713); N. N., De licito concubinatu opponenda (Freistadt, 1714); Michaelis, Paralipomena contra polygamiam (Göttingen, 1757); Swinderen, De polygamia (Groningae, 1795); Premontval, La monogamie (La Haye, 1751); or the translation by Windheim entitled Des Herrn Premontvals Monogamie (Nuremberg, 1753); Rantzow, Discussion si la polygamie est contre la loi nat. ou divine (St. Petersburg, 1774); and the works of Madan, Cookson, and others mentioned in the next chapter. An interesting monograph based on the correspondence of Bucer and the landgrave is Rady's Die Reformatoren in ihrer Beziehung zur Doppelehe des Landgrafen Philipp (Frankfort and Lucerne, 1890). Luther's alleged sensuality and coarseness of speech are examined by "Lutherophilus," Das sechste Gebot und Luthers Leben (Halle, 1893); with which may be read Altenrath, Zur Beurtheilung und Würdigung Martin Luthers (Frankfort, 1889).

Typical of an extensive literature in the sixteenth century, whose aim is the appreciation and elevation of marriage, is Adam Colbius von Buchen's Christliche Predigten über das Buch Tobie, darinnen, als in einem lustigen Ehespiegel ... vom heyligen Ehestandt ... erkläret wirdt (Frankfort, 1592). On the other hand, in contempt of womanhood and in mockery of wedlock was produced a mass of prose and verse coarse and unclean beyond description. Both kinds of writing—the evangelical Ehespiegel and the literature dedicated to "St. Grobian"—are treated in an instructive way by Kawerau, Die Reformation und die Ehe (Halle, 1892). To aid in obtaining a more complete conception of post-Reformation sentiment may also be consulted Agrippa, De nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus libellus (Coloniae, 1532, 1567); Saxse, Arcana annuli pronubi, Das ist: Geheimnis und bedeutung des Ehelichen Traw Ringes (Leipzig, 1594); Müller, Ungerathene Ehe, oder vornehmste Ursachen, so heute den Ehestand zum Wehestand machen (Frankfort, 1674); Lehman, Florilegium politicum auctum (Frankfort, 1662); and Feyerabend, De privilegiis mulierum (Jena, 1672). Two learned general treatises, untouched by the Reformation doctrines, are Johannis Nevizianus's Sylvae nuptialis libri sex (Lugduni, 1556), containing a vast amount of curious matter ostensibly designed to aid in solving the question, "An nubendum sit, vel non;" and Antonius Gubertus Costanus's De sponsalibus, matrimoniis et dotibus commentarius (Marpurgi, 1597), dealing in a clear and scholarly manner with the matrimonial institutions of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Christians under the canon law.

Several doctrines of Luther and the early Reformers have each produced a literature. Whether under various conditions parental consent is necessary to a legal or valid marriage is discussed by Lohen, De parentum ad nuptias a liberis contrahendas consensu (Regiomonti, 1685); Lauginger, De consensu parentum ad nuptias liberorum (Regiomonti, 1699); Schmalian, De ambitu connubiali: Vom Frey-Werben (Wittenberg, 1745); especially by the two great leaders of the "naturalistic" movement, Thomasius, De validitate conjugii invitis parentibus contracti et per benedictionem sacerdotis depositi consummati (Leipzig, 1689); (Halle and Leipzig, 1722), and J. H. Boehmer, De matrimonio coacto (Halle, 1735). With the last-named dissertation may be read G. L. Boehmer's De copulae sacerdotalis a deposito clerico furtim impetratae injusto favore (Göttingen, 1745); Delbrück's De matrimonio ad benedictionem sacerdotis incompetentis contracto (Halle, 1759); and in general on the doctrine of espousals, Greiff, De pactis futurorum sponsaliorum: von Ja-Wort (Halle, 1712); Schelhas, De clandestinis sponsalibus juratis: Vulgo von heimlichen Verlöbnüssen (Jena, 1716); Bendeleben, De diverso sponsalium et matrimonii jure (Halle, 1718); Sahme, De matrimonii legitimo absque benedictione sacerdotali (Halle, 1722); Berger, De praescriptione sponsaliorum (Wittenberg, 1724); Richardus, De conditionalibus sponsaliorum impossibilibus (Halle, 1741; presented, 1701); Wachsmuth, De exceptione sponsaliorum clandestinorum, ab ipso contrahente opposita (Jena, 1754). See further, on special questions, Mentzer, Num sponsis, ante solennem in ecclesiae copulationem et benedictionem, concubentibus, publica poenitentia juste imponatur? (6th reprint, Wittenberg, 1728); Willenberg, De matrimonio imparum (Halle, 1727); Bennemann, De natura matrimonii (Halle, 1708); Krull, De nuptiis (Wittenberg, 1632); Schnetter, De matrimonio cum damnato ad mortem contrahendo (Halle, 1727; presented, 1679).

In the modern scientific literature of the subject the first place belongs to the general treatise of Richter, Lehrbuch (8th ed., Leipzig, 1886); the Lehrbuch of Friedberg (3d ed., Leipzig, 1889); and Scheurl's Das gemeine deutsche Eherecht (Erlangen, 1882). An older work, very thorough and very careful in the citation of the literature, is Hofmann's Handbuch des teutschen Eherechts (Jena, 1789); while, besides the books of Göschl, Lobethan, Schott, and Stäudlin elsewhere described, Loy's Das protestantische Eherecht (Nuremberg and Altdorf, 1793) is of service. Much valuable biographical and bibliographical material may be found in the great work of Schulte, Die Geschichte der Quellen und Litteratur des canonischen Rechts (Stuttgart, 1875-80). Important monographs are Schubert's Die evangelische Trauung (Berlin, 1890); Scheurl's Die Entwicklung des kirchlichen Eheschliessungsrechts (Erlangen, 1877); Dieckhoff's Die kirchliche Trauung (Rostock, 1878); and there is an able article by Goeschen, "Ehe," in Herzog's Encyclopaedie, III (Stuttgart and Hamburg, 1855). For the present state of German matrimonial law consult Blumstengel, Die Trauung in evangelischem Deutschland nach Recht und Ritus (Weimar, 1879); Klein, Das heutige Eherecht im Herzogthum Sachsen-Altenburg (Strassburg, 1881); Stölzel, Deutsches Eheschliessungsrecht nach amtlichen Ermittelungen (3d ed., Berlin, 1876); and Hergenhahn's work elsewhere mentioned. Several early church ordinances, and a number of matrimonial decisions of rare interest from the consistory court of Wittenberg, commencing soon after its formation, are communicated by Schleusner, "Zu den Anfängen des protestantischen Eherechts," in ZKG., VI, XII, XIII (Gotha, 1884, 1891, 1892). The "Bedencken" or ordinance adopted at Dresden in 1556 by the three Saxon consistories, with other matter, is also published by Muther, "Drei Urkunden zur Reformationsgeschichte," in Niedner's Zeitschrift für historische Theologie, XXX (Gotha, 1860). These same documents and also the famous case of Caspar Beyer (1543-44) are discussed by Mejer, "Anfänge des Wittenberger Consistoriums," in ZKR., XIII (Tübingen, 1876). Mejer, "Zur Geschichte des ältesten protestantischen Eherechts," ibid., XVI (Freiburg and Tübingen, 1881), gives an excellent historical, biographical, and bibliographical account of the Wittenberg consistory; and the two preceding articles, with a discussion of the establishment of the consistory of Rostock, are reprinted in his Zum Kirchenrechte (Hanover, 1891). Original material is communicated by Fischer, "Die älteste evangelische Kirchenordnung ... in Hohenlohe," in ZKR., XV (Freiburg and Tübingen, 1880), and by Friedberg, Aus der protestantischen Eherechtspflege des 16. Jahrhunderts, reprinted from ZKR., IV (Tübingen, 1864), containing, in connection with the case of Zaschwitz, letters and other papers of Melanchthon regarding forbidden degrees. Another article of Friedberg, "Beiträge zur Geschichte des brandenburgisch-preussischen Eherechts," ibid., VI, VII (Tübingen, 1866-67), includes the very long petition of Dr. Stiel (1553) for enforcement of a betrothal, with other original documents relating to matrimonial doctrine and judicial practice. A history of "conditional marriages" is given by Phillips, "Das Ehehinderniss der beigefügten Bedingung," ibid., V, VI (Tübingen, 1865-66); and the rise of the Protestant doctrine regarding the impediment of relationship is discussed by Scheurl, "Zur Lehre von dem Ehehindernisse der Verwandtschaft," ibid., XVI (Freiburg and Tübingen, 1881). See also the monograph of Berg, Ueber die Verbindlichkeit der kanonischen Ehehindernisse in Betriff der Ehen der Evangelischen (Breslau, 1835).

On the controversy regarding "mixed marriages" and marriages of diverse religion, consult Gregorovius, De mat. person. diversae relig. (Regiomonti, 1712); Carpzovius, Circa nuptias person. diversae relig. (Wittenberg, 1735); Breitenbach, De mat. allophilorum (Giessen, 1740); Zum-Bach, Ueber die Ehen zwischen Katholiken und Protestanten (Cologne, 1820); Ueber die gemischten Ehen (Stuttgart, 1827); Wittmann, Katholische Grundsätze über die Ehen welche zwischen Katholiken und Protestanten geschlossen werden (Stadtamhof, 1831); Kutschker, Die gemischten Ehen von dem katholisch-kirchlichen Standpuncte (Vienna, 1838); Nationaler und historischer Standpunkt (Cologne and Vienna, 1838); Sack, Die katholische Kirche innerhalb des Protestantismus (Cologne, 1838); Bessel, Die gemischten Ehen (Frankfort, 1839); Mack, Die Einsegnung der gemischten Ehen (Tübingen, 1840); Perronne, Ueber die gemischten Ehen (Augsburg, 1840); Eintracht gibt Macht oder ... Nothwendigkeit zu einem gleichmässigen Verfahren in Hinsicht auf die gemischten Ehen (Düsseldorf, 1844); Die gemischten Ehen in der Erzdiöcese Freiburg (Regensburg, 1846); Binterim, An matrimonio mixto (Düsseldorf, 1846); idem, Dissertatio altera (Düsseldorf, 1847); Der Streit über gemischte Ehen ... in Baden (Karlsruhe, 1847); Beleuchtung [of the foregoing] Karlsruher Schrift (Schaffhausen, 1847); Hilse, Civil- und Misch-Ehe (Berlin, 1869); and Hübler, Eheschliessung und gemischte Ehen in Preussen (Berlin, 1883).

For England the principal source is the Works of the Fathers and Early Writers of the Reformed English Church, published by the Parker Society (Cambridge, 1841-55). Among the large number of books comprised in this series, those of Latimer, Cranmer, Tyndale, Jewell, Hooper, Bullinger, Parker, Coverdale, and particularly Whitgift's Defence of the Answer (containing also Cartwright's Reply to the Answer) have been of most service. Three important treatises of the English Reformation period bearing on marriage and the family are Coverdale's translation of The Christen State of Matrimonye (1541); Whitforde's A Werke for housholders (1530, 1537); and Vives's (Vivus's) A very frvteful and pleasant booke called the Instruction of a Christen Woman ... tourned out of latyne into Englische by Rycharde Hyrde (London, 1557). The original may be found in Vol. II, 650-755, of Vives's Opera (Basel, 1555); and Rudolph Heine has a German translation in Vol. XVI of Richter's Pädagogische Bibliothek (Leipzig, n. d.). Much valuable material may also be found in Gee and Hardy's Documents (London, 1896); Prothero's Select Statutes and Other Constitutional Documents (Oxford, 1894); while the Statutes at Large (Raithby, London, 1811) are of course in constant requisition. The more important acts relating to marriage are contained in Vol. I of Evans's convenient Collection of Statutes (London, 1823). Swinburne's fascinating Treatise of Spousals (London, 1686), written in the last days of Elizabeth's reign, but published a century later, is indispensable for understanding the law and theory of the matrimonial contract during the Tudor period. Some assistance has also been gained from the collections of Hale, Johnson, and Wilkins mentioned in preceding notes.

The exhaustive treatment of the Protestant conception of marriage for Germany contained in Friedberg's great work on Eheschliessung (Leipzig, 1865), supplemented by his suggestive monograph Geschichte der Civilehe (Berlin, 1877), leaves little for others to do. Sohm's Eheschliessung is also important. For England Makower has a brief but excellent discussion; and much illustrative material may be found in Burn's Parish Registers (London, 1862); Wood's Wedding Day (New York, 1869); Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare (London, 1807); Brand's Popular Antiquities (new ed., London, 1873-77); Burnet's gossipy History of the Reformation (London, 1850); and Jeaffreson's Brides and Bridals (London, 1872). Nichols, Progresses ... of King James the First (London, 1828), gives an interesting example of the former practice of public betrothals; and the same may also be found in Leland's Collectanea, V (2d ed., London, 1770). Queen Mary's Articles (1553) regarding married priests and some other important papers are given in Cardwell's Documentary Annals (Oxford, 1839, 1844). Palmer's Origines liturgicae (3d ed., Oxford, 1839; 4th ed., London, 1845) has also been of service; while new light is thrown on social conditions in Elizabeth's reign by the unique collection of documents edited for the Early English Text Society by Furnivall, Child-Marriages, Divorces, and Ratifications (London, 1897).]