Council Legislation on Marriage
ENGLISH & LATERAN COUNCIL LEGISLATION
a. COUNCIL OF WESTMINSTER, 1076.
Further it was laid down that no man should give his
daughter or female relative to anyone without priestly
blessing. If he does otherwise, it should not be adjudged a
proper (legitimum) marriage but like the union of
fornicators. We forbid in every way substitutes for
churches.
b. COUNCIL OF WESTMINSTER, 1173 (?).
Matrimony is not to be secret but open, in the face of
the church.
c. COUNCIL OF LONDON, 1200, c. 11.
What sort of people ought to contract marriage? Let not
a man contract marriage with any blood relation oif his
former wife, similarly a woman with the blood relative of
her former husband. And let a child taken from the font in
baptism not contract with the daughter of the baptizer or of
the one who took him up, whether she be born before or
after. And let not any marriage be contracted unless there
is a threefold proclamation in the church, nor if the
persons are not known. And let persons not be joined in
matrimony unless publicly in the face of the church with a
priest present. If it is done otherwise, let them not be
admitted anywhere in church without special permission of
the bishop. Let it be allowed to neither party to a marriage
to undertake a journey involving travel to distant places
unless they [first] make public the mutual consent [of
both]. Saving in all things [the honor and privilege of the
holy Roman church].
[Tr. from Councils & Synods, I (1981) based on C. Donahue]
Translation by Paul Hyams of Cornell University. See his Course Page?. He indicated that the translations are available for educational use. He intends to expand the number of translations, so keep a note of his home page.
This text is listed as part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Paul Halsall Jan 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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