Drawing on the extensive and underused body of legal records on marriage that exist in Europe's ecclesiastical and secular archives, Marriage in Europe, 1400-1800 examines the institution not just as it was theorized by jurists and theologians, but as it was lived in reality.
A comparative history that examines England, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Low Countries, and Sweden, this volume features the extensive and meticulous research of twelve leading international experts in the field. Their essays make use of material from thirty-one European archives, as well as a range of canons and decretals, poems, letters, novels, and treatises, to offer a history of marriage, both Catholic and Protestant. Edited by Silvana Seidel Menchi, this collection is an essential resource for those interested in the history of marriage in Christian Europe.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Silvana Seidel Menchi
Introduction
Silvana Seidel Menchi
Section I: Continuity and Change
1. The Legal Background: European Marriage Law from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century
Charles Donahue Jr. (Harvard Law School)
2. Marriage in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century: Moral, Legal and Political Order
Heide Wunder (University of Kassel)
3. Marriage in Italy
Daniela Lombardi (University of Pisa)
4. The Legal Regulation of Marriage in England: From the Fifteenth Century to the 1640s
Richard H. Helmholz (University of Chicago Law School)
Section II: Licit and Illicit
5. Marriage Formation: Law and Custom in the Low Countries 1500-1700
Manon van der Heijden (University of Leiden)
6. Competing Logics of Public Order: Matrimony and the Fight against Illicit Sexuality in Germany and Switzerland from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century
Susanna Burghartz (University of Basel)
7. Marriage and Love in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Spain
JesÚs M. UsunÁriz (University of Navarra)
8. Marriage in Sweden 1400–1700: Formalism, Collectivism and Control
Mia Korpiola (University of Helsinski)
Section III: Uniformity and Singularity
9. Marriage in France from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century: Political and Juridical Aspects
Anne Lefebvre-Teillard (University of Paris Law School)
10. Mixed Marriages in Early Modern Europe
Cecilia Cristellon (University of Frankfurt)
11. Conjugal Experiments in Europe 1400–1800
Silvana Seidel Menchi (University of Pisa)
Conclusion
Silvana Seidel Menchi
Bibliography and Abbreviations
Subject Index
Index of Historical Names
About the Author :
Silvana Seidel Menchi is a professor emerita in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Pisa.
Review :
‘Excellent collection… Highly recommended.’
- M.E. Wiesner-Hanks (Choice Magazine vol 54:07:2017) "The diversity of the studies is one of the great strengths of the book. The mosaic-like portrayal of marriage and the variety of methods used by writers from eight different historiographical cultures and ten different schools offer inspiration for future research."
- Dalma Bódai, Eötvös Loránd University (The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol xlix, no 2, Summer 2018) "The single chapters in Marriage in Europe draw on a wide range of material and offer deep analysis of sources. The authors carefully balance prescriptive sources with documents of practice that shed light on the lived experience of pre-modern marriage…Marriage in Europe unequivocally establishes that marriage has a history and anyone interested in this history should refer first to this volume."
- Liise Lehtsalu, University of East Anglia (European History Quarterly, Vol. 48 no 4, 2018) "Collectively, the articles in this volume cover immense ground geographically, temporally, ideologically, and religiously. There is, however, a firm foundation, a consistency of approach, and thematic guidelines that provide a clear articulation of marriage during this period of tumultuous change."
- Jacqueline Murray, University of Guelph (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer '18) "Marriage in Europe is an important book about marriage as a ‘many-sided phenomenon’. Its wide geographic scope, broad chronological investigation, and detailed examination of marriage illuminate the manifold complex rhythms that accompanied the institutionalization of marriage and its social practices."
- Giovanna Benadusi, University of South Florida (Renaissance Quarterly, vol 72 no 2) "This volume offers a stimulating overview of marriage in Europe from the late Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. This book is certainly very rich and useful not only to scholars, thanks to its comparative approach, but also to students, thanks to the clarity of its writing, the fascinating individual cases, and its broad perspective."
- Raffaella Sarti, University of Urbino (Early Modern Women)
