Section 1 of 6
Ceremony
The rite itself, and who was entitled to perform it.
Entries in this section4 entries
- 1.1Read aloud three timesBanns: the intention read publicly on three separate occasions so that anyone with an objection had a chance to make it. A public-notice system that predates any central registry, and the reason so many marriages happened in one particular season.
- 1.2At the door, then insideFor centuries the binding part happened in the porch and the blessing followed indoors. The split tells you which part was legal and which was religious.
- 1.3Who could perform itPriest, magistrate, ship's master, nobody at all — entitlement varied enormously and changed the paperwork completely.
- 1.4The witnessesTwo people whose only job was to have been present, and whose names outlast them.
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