Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation
Birth, Marriage, and Death$
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content.
Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England

David Cressy

Print publication date: 1997

Print ISBN-13: 9780198201687

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201687.001.0001

Espousals, Betrothals, and Contracts

Chapter:
(p. 267 ) 11 Espousals, Betrothals, and Contracts
Source:
Birth, Marriage, and Death
Author(s):

David Cressy

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201687.003.0012

This chapter examines the tradition of espousals, betrothals, and contracts in Elizabethan and Stuart England. It investigates the processes involved in the prospective partners' agreement to marry, the degree of formality involved, and the publicity of ceremonial pledges. It analyses the transformation of the goodwill of two parties into a solemn matrimonial bond and examines religious argument alongside social practices by considering the sexual behaviour of the newly contracted couples.

Keywords:   espousals, betrothal, matrimonial bond, ceremonial pledges, sexual behaviour, Elizabethan England, Stuart England

Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.

Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.

To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .