Courtship and constraint: Rethinking the making of marriage in Tudor England

by Diana O'Hara, Peter Lake (Editor), Anthony Milton (Editor), Jason Peacey (Editor), Alexandra Gajda (Editor)

Overview

The first study of early modern English courtship as a subject in its own right. New historical and anthropological insights into the making of marriage, and an arresting and exciting contribution to the history of the family. Takes the interpretation of the English church court material to a new level of sophistication. Explores new or neglected subjects such as the use of gifts or tokens and the role of go-betweens in English courtship. The fresh and wholly original perspectives on English courtship offered here should redirect and revitalise the history of marriage in early modern England.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780719062513
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	08/08/2002
Series:	Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Diana O'Hara received a PhD in history from the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1995, and is a researcher with Victoria County History

Table of Contents

1. The structures of courtship and the role of family, kin and community.
2. The language of tokens and the making of marriage
3. 'Movers', 'sutors', 'speakers', and 'brokers' of marriage: the role of the go-betweens as a 'means' of courtship
4. Courtship horizons in the sixteenth century: distance and place as factors in marriage formation
5. The timing of marriage: constraints and expectations
6. Material girls?: dowries and property in courtship

Editorial Reviews

“...will change the way historians think about the origins of the European marriage pattern, about the popular acculturation of marriage law, about the dynamics of inheritance and most of all about the freedom which is conventionally understood to have underpinned the making of English marriage”—Journal of Continuity and Change

From the Publisher