THE PROPOSAL

Elizabethan Marriage Customs
“Judy, will you marry me?”
“Of course Joe.”
In modern times this is the way you would propose to the girl that you loved. But in Elizabethan time, this was not so. Well, how do they get married then you ask? Why, let me tell you about the engagement, marriage, and divorce in the Elizabethan times.In Elizabethan times, engagement was actually called bethoral. But the true fun of bethoral was actually getting to it. Usually the parents picked who you would marry, sometimes as early as age seven! (Marriage and Family) You had no say in it at all! Then, a dowry was promised to the husband and his family in goods, money, or property. It was to help certify the marriage. (Patricia 49) Then the husband’s family guarantees a jointure that guarantees her welfare should her husband die first. (Christensen 178) Now to finally get to the fun part, the actual wedding.The wedding itself is fairly simple. First though, the crying of banns must be done on three consecutive holy days. Basically, in the church of the husband and wife they announce their plans to get married. This gives people time to voice any objections and find any pre-contracts. Now, on wedding day the bride and groom usually just wear their best Sunday clothes. (Marriage and Family) That’s right, no fancy white dress that is four foot wide. Then, the wedding is pretty much like nowadays. The vows are said, the bride and groom get their rings, and they kiss. Usually, a bridal ale is held by the now married couple to raise money. The bride sells ale (a favorite drink of the time) at the highest price possible to her friends and family. (Patricia 49) Now the part the man likes, it’s time to go home and have a few kids, since that is the goal of marriage in these times. In fact, it was considered foolish to marry for love. That is yet again correct, no marrying just because you like someone. But what happens if you want to get away from the other person or if the other person dies. Well, that is the topic of our next paragraph.Now, luckily many provisions were put in the wedding contract for divorce and death. In this time, divorce was fairly simple if you were Catholic. You both consent to it and it is done. Also, one could withdraw unilaterally if the other is seriously disfigured, proves to be married to another person, or if a long separation has occurred between them. (Marriage and Family) Being Protestant was a little bit harder, since you can’t apply to the Pope. You have to get an Act of Parliament! So as you can see, Protestants didn’t get divorced much in this period. (Marriage and Family) But death is truly more important than divorce because of some strange contracts. Now, the man is just out if the woman dies, but if the man dies before the woman then the jointure comes into play. She gets that money, goods, etc. and is entitled to 1/3 of his estates after the bills are paid. So to tell you the truth, the wedding doesn’t really benefit the woman much, but the jointure sure does.So as this paper comes to a close, let’s review what we have seen about weddings in the Elizabethan period. We have seen everything from the engagement of the man and woman to divorce and death. Oh, and we can’t forget about the wedding itself. Now how about me telling you a little bit about how John and Judy are doing today. They are very successful and all I can say about them and this paper is,“I do!”Honey, hold on, not that kind of “I do”. Oh drats, now see what you made me do? Now I have to get married!