0:00:11 > 0:00:14In April 1440, here at the village of Paston in Norfolk,
0:00:14 > 0:00:19two bashful 18-year-olds named John Paston and Margaret Mautby
0:00:19 > 0:00:21were introduced by their parents.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28John and Margaret's families had been talking about the two of them
0:00:28 > 0:00:32for months, testing out the ground about a possible marriage agreement.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Now, finally, after all the discussion about property and money,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40they were meeting for the first time.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43This was the moment
0:00:43 > 0:00:46when one medieval marriage was about to be made.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49All the practical arrangements were in place,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and the hope was that love might follow.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55If John and Margaret DID become husband and wife,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58they knew the all-important blessing of the Church would mean
0:00:58 > 0:01:01they could have sex without sin,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04without the fear of eternal damnation.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08They say, "The past is another country.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11"They do things differently there."
0:01:11 > 0:01:14But just how differently did the medieval world approach
0:01:14 > 0:01:20life's great rites of passage - birth, marriage and death?
0:01:20 > 0:01:22BABY CRIES
0:01:22 > 0:01:26The way we handle these fundamental moments of transition
0:01:26 > 0:01:30in our lives reveals a lot about how we think and what we believe in.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35For the people of the Middle Ages, this life mattered,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37but the next one mattered more.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Heaven and Hell were real places,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42and the teachings of the Catholic Church
0:01:42 > 0:01:46shaped thoughts and beliefs across the whole of Western Europe.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50But by the end of the Middle Ages, the Church would find itself
0:01:50 > 0:01:53in the grip of momentous change.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56And the rituals of birth, marriage and death
0:01:56 > 0:01:59would never be quite the same again.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15No-one knew for sure if John and Margaret would become man and wife,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19because while birth and death are inescapable facts of life,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23marriage is a rite of passage made by choice.
0:02:23 > 0:02:24And in the medieval world,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27it wasn't just a choice made by bride and groom.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32John and Margaret were the last pieces in a puzzle put together
0:02:32 > 0:02:35by their parents, with help from their family and friends,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38according to rules laid down by the Church.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43But how had the Church come to impose rules on the most
0:02:43 > 0:02:47unpredictable human emotions of love and lust?
0:02:48 > 0:02:51How were medieval marriages made?
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The reason we know about John and Margaret's meeting at all
0:03:06 > 0:03:09is that John was the son and heir of the Paston family.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14They came from Paston village, and by the mid-15th century,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17they had estates across north-eastern Norfolk,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20as well as a fine town-house in Norwich.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The Pastons were wealthy, and they lived in one of the richest
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and most cosmopolitan parts of the country.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Norwich was late-medieval England's second city.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36But they weren't aristocrats.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39They were as ordinary, or extraordinary, as any other
0:03:39 > 0:03:40well-to-do family.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45But what makes them unique, and why we know so much about them,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48is that we still have their letters.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55It's a remarkable stroke of luck that we have them,
0:03:55 > 0:03:59because almost no private letters survive from this period.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01Most of the Paston letters have ended up here,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05in the British Library, and they form the earliest great collection
0:04:05 > 0:04:09of private correspondence in the English language.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17More than 1,000 documents survive,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20spanning three generations of the family.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23We don't know what the Pastons looked like,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and most of the houses they lived in are long gone,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29but thanks to their letters, we can still hear their voices.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I've been studying these letters for 25 years,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36but because they've been in print for a long time,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I very rarely get to see the real thing,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41so this is thrilling
0:04:41 > 0:04:45because the Pastons feel like MY medieval family.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47And that's because these letter give us
0:04:47 > 0:04:52glimpses of a human experience that speaks across the centuries.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08The Paston family had risen rapidly
0:05:08 > 0:05:10through the ranks of Norfolk society.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13In just a single generation, they had gone from being
0:05:13 > 0:05:17peasants to gentry. Nouveau riche, we might call them.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21They had to battle to keep their place in the world,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24so finding a bride of good social standing to marry John,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26their eldest son and heir,
0:05:26 > 0:05:28was crucial to the Paston family's future.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36Unlike John, Margaret Mautby came from a well-established
0:05:36 > 0:05:37gentry family.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43And better still, she was the heir to her dead father's rich estates.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48So their potential marriage was an important arrangement
0:05:48 > 0:05:50that suited both families.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52But would it become a love match?
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Parents could bring the couple together,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03but they couldn't force them to marry.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Everything now depended on this meeting
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and what John and Margaret might think of each other.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12As it turned out, they liked what they saw.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15John's mother Agnes reported with relief to his father
0:06:15 > 0:06:17that the signs were good.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20"Blessed be God. I send you good tidings
0:06:20 > 0:06:23"of the coming and the bringing home of the gentlewoman that you know of."
0:06:23 > 0:06:25That's Margaret.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28"As for the first acquaintance between John Paston
0:06:28 > 0:06:32"and the said gentlewoman, she made him gentle cheer in gentle wise.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35"She was charming, with beautiful manners.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39"And so I hope there shall need no great treaty between them.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41"They wouldn't take much persuading."
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The plan was working
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and Agnes was keen to push forward with the match.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Later in the letter,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52she urges her husband to buy their son's new fiancee a gown.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56She suggests "a goodly blue, or else a bright sanguine, red."
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Why would she be buying a dress?
0:06:59 > 0:07:02It seems likely that this prospective mother-in-law
0:07:02 > 0:07:05was hoping for a wedding sooner rather than later,
0:07:05 > 0:07:06and within six months
0:07:06 > 0:07:09John and Margaret DID become husband and wife.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21So the Pastons' plan worked.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24John's marriage to Margaret had been constructed to secure
0:07:24 > 0:07:28the family's future and their place in Norfolk society.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30And that's exactly what it did.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Marriage, as an institution, built families.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39And families were the building blocks of society.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45But when it came to royal families, there was even more at stake -
0:07:45 > 0:07:50not just the building of a society, but the future of a whole country.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Royal marriages weren't about personal happiness
0:07:55 > 0:07:57or economic survival.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00They were about the future of a kingdom,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02so they were arranged by diplomats.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Husband and wife might be no more than pawns in the great game
0:08:07 > 0:08:09of international politics.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12And they were manipulated from the tenderest age.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Richard II was just ten years old
0:08:20 > 0:08:23when he became King of England in 1377.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28He was only a child, but his new crown made him
0:08:28 > 0:08:30the most eligible bachelor in Europe.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33And his councillors lost no time in starting the search
0:08:33 > 0:08:35for a politically useful royal wife.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Within months, the offers began to arrive.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44The daughters of the king of France, the king of Navarre
0:08:44 > 0:08:48and the king of Scotland were all suggested as potential brides.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Another possibility was the daughter of the duke of Milan,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and two envoys, one of them
0:08:53 > 0:08:58the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, were sent to Italy to negotiate.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Finally, the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Anne of Bohemia,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05emerged as the frontrunner to become Richard's queen.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13It took months of painstaking negotiations,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17but the marriage treaty was finally ratified in the autumn of 1381,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20five years after he came to the throne.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28After a lengthy journey from Prague,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Anne arrived in England that December.
0:09:31 > 0:09:32On 18th January,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36she was welcomed with elaborate ceremony into the City of London.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Two days after that, she was married in Westminster Abbey to Richard,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44the king she'd only just met.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50Bride and groom, partners in this new political alliance,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52were both 15 years old.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59As it turned out, Richard became a devoted husband, so much so
0:09:59 > 0:10:03that when Anne died at the palace of Sheen at the age of just 28,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05he was frantic with grief
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and ordered that the building in which she'd taken her last breath
0:10:08 > 0:10:10should be utterly destroyed.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14He commissioned this beautiful tomb here at Westminster Abbey,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18in which they would be laid to rest side by side.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20The effigies have been damaged over the centuries,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22but when they were first made,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Richard and his queen were holding hands.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Richard and Anne were lucky to find love within a marriage
0:10:34 > 0:10:37made entirely by politics.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40But people who didn't live in palaces didn't have to worry about
0:10:40 > 0:10:42international diplomacy.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47What they did have to worry about was how to support a new household
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and raise a new family.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52So they were just as interested in what
0:10:52 > 0:10:55each party could bring to the marriage.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Judith Bennett is an expert in medieval village life,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02like this one, Brigstock in Northamptonshire.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06And her research into manorial records gives us a rare glimpse
0:11:06 > 0:11:10into the relationships of its 14th century inhabitants.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16How did the nitty-gritty get sorted out?
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Are there individual examples from Brigstock that you know of?
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Brigstock has one terrific example.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26This particular agreement involved a man named Henry Cooke
0:11:26 > 0:11:28and a woman named Beatrix Helcock.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33However they came together as a couple, once a marriage
0:11:33 > 0:11:35was going to be agreed between them,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38what happened is that their parents clearly negotiated
0:11:38 > 0:11:43and agreed on what contributions each would make to the marriage.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46In Henry Cooke's case, his mother, who was a widow, gave him
0:11:46 > 0:11:51the tenement that she had held with her husband.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52That was a substantial tenement.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56About 12 to 15 acres, with a house and a farmyard,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58and rights to common pasture.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03In Beatrix's case, her father gave the new couple a cow,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07he gave them clothing worth 13s 4d,
0:12:07 > 0:12:08the cow was worth 10s.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11And he promised to pay for a wedding feast.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16What about the ritual that accompanied these formal arrangements?
0:12:16 > 0:12:19How did courtship happen, and what about the wedding?
0:12:19 > 0:12:21In terms of marriage itself,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24of course there's a lot of ritual there.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25There are two levels of ritual.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28There's one level that's strikingly informal,
0:12:28 > 0:12:33and then another level that I think would be more familiar to us today,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36that involves a priest and churches.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40The striking informal level is that a couple could simply
0:12:40 > 0:12:43marry each other by agreeing to marry each other.
0:12:43 > 0:12:44And there is ritual there.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47The people clasped the right hands together.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50So if I were marrying you, we would clasp our hands together.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53And then we would exchange vows.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56So, if I said, "I take you to be my husband,"
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and you said to me, "I take you to be my wife,"
0:12:59 > 0:13:02I'll cast you as the man, that would make us married.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05No witnesses needed, nothing needed at all.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07In fact, we know from the court cases
0:13:07 > 0:13:10that ensue from these sorts of marriages
0:13:10 > 0:13:15that vows are taken in pubs, out on the road,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17in hedgerows,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20under trees, sometimes in bed,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22that they happen all over the place.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35So, by the 14th century, wherever marriage vows took place,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38even if it was in a hedgerow, ritual sanctions by the Church
0:13:38 > 0:13:40ensured the union was valid.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44And that's because marriage wasn't only about how society
0:13:44 > 0:13:46organised itself.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was also about how society replicated itself.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Producing children involved sex,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58and the potential for sex to be sinful meant that the Church
0:13:58 > 0:14:01saw the need to impose rules on the relationships
0:14:01 > 0:14:02within which it happened.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06But the Church hadn't always had that control.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14Back in 1066, England had faced a terrifying political crisis.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17The king, Edward the Confessor, had died,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20and the man who claimed to be his heir, Harold,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23was challenged by an invader from northern France.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28And the name by which the people of England knew Harold's rival?
0:14:28 > 0:14:30William the Bastard.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39William's father, Robert the Magnificent, was Duke of Normandy.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43But his mother, Herleva, was a woman from the town of Falaise,
0:14:43 > 0:14:47possibly the daughter of a tanner, and what's certain
0:14:47 > 0:14:49is that the couple weren't married.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59What happened on a battlefield near Hastings in 1066,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04which is depicted in this copy of the famous Bayeux Tapestry in Reading Museum,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08means that we remember William as the Conqueror, not the Bastard.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16But the circumstances of his birth do shed light
0:15:16 > 0:15:19on the process by which the medieval Church eventually
0:15:19 > 0:15:23succeeded in imposing its own view of marriage on its congregations.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32When William of Normandy was born in the late 1020s,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35the fact that his parents weren't married didn't matter.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39What mattered was that his father recognised him as his son
0:15:39 > 0:15:42and that the Norman lords recognised him as heir to the duchy.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46So William was able to inherit Normandy,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50and go on to become king of England despite his illegitimate birth.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55But just 70 years after the dramatic events of 1066,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59when William the Conqueror's grandchild was about to inherit
0:15:59 > 0:16:03the English throne, something very significant had changed.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13William's son, King Henry I, had inherited his father's crown.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18But when he died in 1135, he had only one legitimate child,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20a daughter called Matilda.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24The idea of a woman inheriting the throne was unprecedented
0:16:24 > 0:16:26and deeply alarming.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29But even though Henry had
0:16:29 > 0:16:33over 20 illegitimate children, no-one suggested that one of his
0:16:33 > 0:16:37bastard sons should become king, as his father William had done.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42So, less than a century after William the Bastard
0:16:42 > 0:16:44had become king of England,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47the Church's rules about what made a legitimate marriage
0:16:47 > 0:16:52now determined who could, and couldn't, inherit the crown.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57This change had taken place because, in the 12th century,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00the Church was swept by a powerful movement of reform,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03which clarified its doctrines
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and tightened its grip on the moral order of Christian society.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11The behaviour of every Christian in this life would be
0:17:11 > 0:17:13judged in the next.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Marriage was a rite of passage that might influence
0:17:16 > 0:17:20whether your final destination was Heaven or Hell, so it was
0:17:20 > 0:17:23essential for the Church to define exactly how it worked.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31David D'Avray is an expert in the ecclesiastical marriage laws of medieval England.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36So, how was marriage caught up in the process of reform?
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Marriage came to be regarded as one of the sacraments
0:17:40 > 0:17:43at a moment in which people were just beginning to define
0:17:43 > 0:17:45what the sacraments were.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49It was the moment in which, out of a whole series of rituals,
0:17:49 > 0:17:51the Church was saying, "Which of these rituals
0:17:51 > 0:17:53"are really special?"
0:17:53 > 0:17:56They picked out seven, and marriage was one of the seven.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01As marriage began to be affected by the reforms of the 12th century,
0:18:01 > 0:18:07what did that mean in terms of the Church's teaching about what marriage was?
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Well, you have to think about where they're coming from.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14And where they're coming from is an idea which has deep, deep roots
0:18:14 > 0:18:16that the marriage of man and woman
0:18:16 > 0:18:18symbolises the marriage of Christ and the Church.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21And they thought that just as the marriage of Christ and the Church
0:18:21 > 0:18:25is unbreakable, so, too, should a marriage of man and woman.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27What made a marriage valid in the first place?
0:18:27 > 0:18:31The Church had an interest in defining what that was.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Yes, and the first part of the answer
0:18:34 > 0:18:37is that it's just the consent of the man and woman.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39And it has to be free consent.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Over the centuries, couples realised the power this gave them.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47They only had to get away for half an hour in front of a witness
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and they could get married. Think Romeo and Juliet.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55Romeo and Juliet is representing the medieval marriage law.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59And they didn't actually need a friar to marry them.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02To prove they were married afterwards,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05they would need a witness, but that's all they would need,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and to be validly married they didn't even need a witness.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12A valid marriage made simply by two individuals consenting to it
0:19:12 > 0:19:15would be very difficult to police.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Yes, and the Church hated this.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21If you got married to your first boyfriend in a pub with
0:19:21 > 0:19:24a couple of your friends there as witnesses,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27and then later on decided that he was a loser and that you wanted to
0:19:27 > 0:19:30marry somebody serious and much more interesting,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33and you got married in Canterbury Cathedral,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and then he took you to court and he could produce the friends
0:19:37 > 0:19:39who were with you in the pub when you got married,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42then your marriage in Canterbury Cathedral was deemed invalid.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And this was a situation really out of control.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54So, Church doctrine taught that the sacrament of marriage was made
0:19:54 > 0:19:58simply by the consent of a man and a woman making vows to one another.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03But if the presence of a priest wasn't necessary
0:20:03 > 0:20:06for this sacrament to take place, the Church would have to work hard
0:20:06 > 0:20:08to make sure people followed its rules.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16In the early 13th century, Church statutes were issued across England
0:20:16 > 0:20:19from the cathedral here at Salisbury that instructed priests
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and their parishioners on the "correct" way
0:20:22 > 0:20:24in which to exchange vows of consent.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28They said, for example, that...
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Marriages are to be celebrated with honour and reverence,
0:20:31 > 0:20:33not with laughter and ribaldry,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37not in taverns, with public drinking and eating together.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Nor should anyone bind women's hands with a noose made of reed
0:20:40 > 0:20:42or any other material
0:20:42 > 0:20:44so as to fornicate with them more freely.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50In other words, don't get married in the pub
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and don't get married just to get someone into bed.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58But instructions like this were as far as the Church could go
0:20:58 > 0:21:01to corral people into proper matrimonial behaviour
0:21:01 > 0:21:04without changing the fundamental theological principle
0:21:04 > 0:21:06that consent made marriage.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21So in the 12th century, the Church developed a set of rituals
0:21:21 > 0:21:24to encourage its parishioners to have their marriages
0:21:24 > 0:21:28solemnised by a priest, to make sure that the bride and groom
0:21:28 > 0:21:32would be properly and reverently married in the eyes of God.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Books known as missals that contained songs and services for
0:21:37 > 0:21:41all religious rituals were copied and distributed across Christendom,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45so that priests could learn the liturgy they should be using.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52This rather scruffy manuscript book was written in the 14th century.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56It's not a missal, but what's lovely about it is that
0:21:56 > 0:22:00it's the instructions for worship used by a working priest.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02You can imagine it being pulled out and thumbed through
0:22:02 > 0:22:04when he needed to check something.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Because it's working notes, it's not easy to read,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11but here's the section on the marriage service.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19The Ordo Ad Facienda Sponsalia, the order for making marriage.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23It goes over two pages and includes snatches of the music.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27This is an alleluia that the priest was required to sing.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31So what did a church wedding look like?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34It was a far cry from the informality of a couple
0:22:34 > 0:22:37simply exchanging vows in a tavern.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40And it would leave no-one in any doubt that the newly married couple,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44and their married life together, belonged to God.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50I've come to meet John Harper, a specialist in medieval liturgy,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52who's going to talk me through the ceremony.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56If I were planning my medieval wedding,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59could I pick any day of the year I wanted?
0:22:59 > 0:23:02No, there was about a third of the year and all the holy days
0:23:02 > 0:23:04when you couldn't get married.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09And what has to happen before we can get to the actual ceremony itself?
0:23:09 > 0:23:10Is there planning involved?
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Absolutely. Well, a bit like today, if you get married in church,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16you've got to have the banns called,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19and this has to be done on at least three holy days
0:23:19 > 0:23:20with a weekday in between,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24so normally it's on three successive Sundays, just as today.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26And the function of the banns?
0:23:26 > 0:23:28To make sure there are no secret marriages.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32And just in the same way, when you arrive here,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36as you would in a church wedding now, the priest standing in front of us
0:23:36 > 0:23:39would ask if there's any reason why we shouldn't get married
0:23:39 > 0:23:42or if anybody else knows why we shouldn't get married.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44And that might mean we were too closely related
0:23:44 > 0:23:47or that one of us was already married?
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Or perhaps somebody too young, I don't know.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52So, we've got to the church porch, it's the right time of the year,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55the banns have been called three times and no-one's objected,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57what happens now?
0:23:57 > 0:24:01The priest will meet us, and he proceeds to ask me
0:24:01 > 0:24:06whether I will take you to be my wife, and you'll be asked
0:24:06 > 0:24:08whether you will take me to be a husband.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Does this mean the marriage is taking place in the porch?
0:24:13 > 0:24:14That's right.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19Then I would put some gold or silver on his book, and the ring,
0:24:19 > 0:24:20and the ring would be blessed.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24And then I say, and this the priest would make me do in the Latin,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26"In the name of the Father and the Son."
0:24:26 > 0:24:30So, it's, "In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti."
0:24:30 > 0:24:34With "Amen," I place it on your fourth finger.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36And it is on your right hand.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Same finger we're used to but the other hand?
0:24:39 > 0:24:42The other hand, as many people on the Continent still do.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47- At this stage, we are man and wife? - That's right.- What happens now?
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Having been blessed by the priest, he's going to take us into church
0:24:51 > 0:24:53and he's going to recite this lovely psalm.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Two very relevant verses, "Thy wife like the vine
0:24:58 > 0:25:02"and thy children like the olive branches round about your table."
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Now we're going to be taken to the altar step,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07and prayers will be said over us.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10And when that's over, the priest will take us
0:25:10 > 0:25:11on the third part of the journey,
0:25:11 > 0:25:13which is actually into the most holy of holies.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Here we are, right close to the alter.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And as the canon starts, then we're told to kneel prostrate.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25At this point, we're covered with a veil.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Four people hold a veil over us.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32So we're hidden. It's a bit like a monk or a nun professes.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36And they lie flat before the altar and are covered,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and arise as a new person married to Christ.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42So, this is a sacramental moment?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45It's the end of our single lives
0:25:45 > 0:25:47and the beginning of our married life together.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51That's right. After the Lord's Prayer, he gives the peace.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55And then he would come and kiss me, as the bridegroom,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57and I would kiss you, as the bride.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01But it's not the end. He hasn't seen the last of us.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05We may go off to a party, but he's going to join us at the bedside.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07To the bedroom?
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Yes, because he's got to bless the bed and bless us in bed.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13There's the final stage of the consummation of the marriage.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24The blessing of the marital bed by a priest enabled the
0:26:24 > 0:26:29Church's teaching to reach into this most intimate part of married life.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And the Church believed that its presence in the bedroom
0:26:32 > 0:26:36was necessary because it was deeply troubled by sex.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden
0:26:39 > 0:26:41for tasting the forbidden fruit,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44sex had been tainted with the sin of lust.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48But the sin of lust could be contained within a godly marriage,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51a union made for the purpose of procreation.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54So, surprising though it might be to us,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58there was a clear dichotomy in the Church's attitude to sex.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Before marriage, it was forbidden.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04But after marriage, it was compulsory.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09The joining together of a man and a woman
0:27:09 > 0:27:13as the liturgy said into one flesh meant that husband and wife
0:27:13 > 0:27:17owed each other the marriage debt. In other words,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20both sides had an obligation to have sex
0:27:20 > 0:27:22whenever their spouse requested it.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25And to refuse was to fail to honour that debt.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35The Church believed that only a consummated marriage
0:27:35 > 0:27:38perfectly represented the marriage of Christ and the Church...
0:27:40 > 0:27:44..so the practice of putting a couple to bed after their wedding ceremony
0:27:44 > 0:27:46ensured that the union was complete
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and the marriage unquestionably valid.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57One of the "putting to bed" ceremonies of which
0:27:57 > 0:28:01most details survive took place on the wedding night
0:28:01 > 0:28:04of Catherine of Aragon and her first husband,
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Henry VIII's elder brother Arthur.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16In 1501, at the age of 15,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Catherine arrived in England from her homeland of Spain
0:28:18 > 0:28:21to marry Arthur, the heir to the English throne.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31The young couple seemed pleased with each other's company,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34even though they couldn't easily hold a conversation.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Catherine didn't speak English and Arthur didn't speak Spanish,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40but they had Latin in common,
0:28:40 > 0:28:44and through the interpretation of the bishops, it was reported,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48the speeches of both countries by means of Latin were understood.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Arthur and Catherine were married in a lavish ceremony
0:28:53 > 0:28:57at St Paul's Cathedral, and then, once the feasting was over,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00came the public ritual of putting them to bed.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06First Catherine was "reverently laid and disposed"
0:29:06 > 0:29:08in the great bed by her ladies.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Then Arthur was escorted into the room, and into the bed,
0:29:11 > 0:29:16by a cheering, rambunctious group of lords, gentlemen and clerics.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23A priest gave a prayer.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Bless, O Lord, this marriage bed and those in it.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31That they live in your love and multiply and grow old together.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36And then, at last, Catherine and Arthur were left alone.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46What happened next, or didn't happen, would become the subject
0:29:46 > 0:29:50of a dispute between Catherine and Arthur's brother Henry
0:29:50 > 0:29:55that would end in the Church of England splitting from the Church of Rome.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59But one witness testified, at least, how keen the teenage Arthur
0:29:59 > 0:30:03was to demonstrate how much of a man, a married man, he'd become.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07The next morning, he called one of his gentlemen to his side,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09and demanded a cup of ale.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11He was thirsty, he said,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16because, "I have been this night in the midst of Spain".
0:30:23 > 0:30:26The medieval Church made it clear that sex was only acceptable
0:30:26 > 0:30:28if it happened within marriage.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30But of course,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34real life didn't conform to the orderly principles of the Church.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38When it came to sex, people in medieval England
0:30:38 > 0:30:40were as complex as we are today.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44And in response, the Church had explicit teachings,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48and punishments, for those who sought sex outside marriage.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58The 13th-century statutes issued from Salisbury said,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01"The laity should often be inculcated through confessions and sermons
0:31:01 > 0:31:05"that all intercourse between a man and a woman,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09"if not excused through marriage, is a mortal sin."
0:31:14 > 0:31:19These were not empty words. Local records show that fornicators
0:31:19 > 0:31:22were tried and punished in the most public way
0:31:22 > 0:31:25right at the heart of England's communities.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30First the accused would appear in a Church court,
0:31:30 > 0:31:34and if convicted, then punishment would be dealt out.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36In 1300, for instance, "Roger le Gardiner
0:31:36 > 0:31:42"fornicated for the seventh time with Lucy de la Lynde.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47"They confessed and renounced their sin and were whipped in the usual way.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50"Henry le Coupere of Birmingham fornicated repeatedly
0:31:50 > 0:31:52"with Isabella, daughter of Richard le Potter.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57"They were ex-communicated and whipped in the usual way."
0:31:58 > 0:32:01The usual way meant being whipped publicly, often in
0:32:01 > 0:32:07a crowded marketplace, as a warning against this grave carnal sin.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22But despite all of the Church's efforts to control sex
0:32:22 > 0:32:23and relationships,
0:32:23 > 0:32:29its rules couldn't contain the messy reality of love and lust.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32And, thanks to the Paston Letters,
0:32:32 > 0:32:36we know all about one brave couple who used the Church's own teachings
0:32:36 > 0:32:40to defy family pressure and a bishop's disapproval.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49John and Margaret Paston were married for 26 years
0:32:49 > 0:32:52and they had five sons and two daughters.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56But their elder daughter Margery grew into a strong-willed
0:32:56 > 0:33:00young woman and, in the years after John's death, in 1466,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03she began to give Margaret cause for concern.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Margaret and John had done things the right way round. They'd married
0:33:13 > 0:33:18a suitable partner and found that love would grow afterwards.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23But as Margaret was about to find out, her daughter Margery had different ideas.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29By 1469, Margery was 20 and living with her widowed mother
0:33:29 > 0:33:32until a good match could be found for her.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Or so Margaret thought.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Also living in the Paston household was their bailiff,
0:33:41 > 0:33:43a man named Richard Calle.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46Richard was in his 30s
0:33:46 > 0:33:49and had known Margery since she was a child, but as she grew into
0:33:49 > 0:33:54a young woman, the two of them found themselves falling deeply in love.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Margery and Richard managed to keep their romance secret, even
0:34:05 > 0:34:09in the midst of a busy household, for the best part of two years.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12But in the spring of 1469, Margaret discovered what was
0:34:12 > 0:34:16going on and she was horrified.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20The problem wasn't the age gap and Richard was clearly a good man,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22but he was the son of a shopkeeper,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26and for the nouveau-riche Pastons, who were still desperately
0:34:26 > 0:34:30insecure about their own social standing, that was unacceptable.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Margery's brother wrote furiously,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36"He should never have my good will to make my sister sell
0:34:36 > 0:34:38"candles and mustard in Framlingham."
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Richard was banished to London
0:34:45 > 0:34:48and Margery kept under watch in her mother's house.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52But though the family could keep them apart, they couldn't
0:34:52 > 0:34:55undo what Richard and Margery had done themselves before they'd been
0:34:55 > 0:35:00separated - they had exchanged vows that made them husband and wife.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07One of Richard's letters has survived from this period of
0:35:07 > 0:35:09separation, and you can see straightaway
0:35:09 > 0:35:13how he and Margery now saw the commitment between them.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19"My own lady and mistress and, before God, very true wife."
0:35:21 > 0:35:23This was a letter written in secret, to be smuggled
0:35:23 > 0:35:25into the Paston household.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31"I pray you let no creature see this letter," he says.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35"As soon as you have read it, let it be burned."
0:35:37 > 0:35:39But it wasn't burned - the very fact that
0:35:39 > 0:35:43I can read it now shows that it was intercepted by Margery's
0:35:43 > 0:35:47family, because it's survived as part of the Paston archive.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It's spine-tingling to read, not just because it's
0:35:53 > 0:35:58so gracefully written, but because this is a man of complete integrity
0:35:58 > 0:36:00in an agonising situation.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07He's faced with the ruin of his career because of the family's opposition to this match,
0:36:07 > 0:36:13but the thing that he finds hardest to bear is separation from the woman he loves.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18"We that ought of very right to be most together are most asunder.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22"Me seemeth it is a thousand years ago since that I spoke with you."
0:36:24 > 0:36:27We don't have any of Margery's letters,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30but she made her feelings equally plain.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Her mother Margaret turned to the authority of the Church
0:36:33 > 0:36:37in a desperate attempt to contest Margery's secret marriage.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42She dragged her daughter in front of the Bishop of Norwich to be
0:36:42 > 0:36:46interrogated about exactly what she'd said to Richard and he to her.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54Had they really made binding vows to each other?
0:36:54 > 0:36:57It was an intimidating moment.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Now, Margery was being interrogated not just by her angry family,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06but by the bishop with all the authority of the Church.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10She didn't falter for an instant and in the letters,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13we have an account of exactly what happened.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15"She rehearsed what she'd said,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18"and said if those words made it not sure,"
0:37:18 > 0:37:20if she hadn't got the vows exactly right,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23"She said boldly she would make it sure
0:37:23 > 0:37:27"before she went thence, for she said she thought in her conscience
0:37:27 > 0:37:32"she was bound," bound in marriage, "Whatsoever the words were."
0:37:32 > 0:37:37It was clear that Margery would defend her marriage, no matter what.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45And what Margery knew was that, by the Church's own law,
0:37:45 > 0:37:49consent made a marriage, however much her appalled mother protested.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56Margaret had no choice.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00If Margery and Richard both insisted the vows had been made,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04there was nothing that she or the Bishop of Norwich could do.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Margaret never forgave her daughter for her disobedience
0:38:07 > 0:38:12and the damage she'd done to the family name, but for Margery,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16a drop in status was a small price to pay to be with the man she loved.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30So if a man and a woman had mutually consented to a marriage,
0:38:30 > 0:38:32the Church had to support them.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34But what happened
0:38:34 > 0:38:37if a couple changed their minds about the vows they had exchanged?
0:38:37 > 0:38:42The Church's position was clear. If the marriage between a man
0:38:42 > 0:38:45and a woman represented the sacred union of Christ
0:38:45 > 0:38:48and the Church, it had to be everlasting.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53So while it was easy for people to get into marriage,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57the Church made sure it was impossible to get out of.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01Marriage vows were taken, after all, "till death us depart".
0:39:07 > 0:39:10What might have been a simple principle for medieval
0:39:10 > 0:39:12theologians was no easy matter for the husbands
0:39:12 > 0:39:16and wives who were trapped in unhappy marriages.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19If death was the only release, then the answer for many
0:39:19 > 0:39:24lay in contesting whether they were actually married in the first place.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31There were two kinds of law in medieval England -
0:39:31 > 0:39:33the King's law, and the law of the Church.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38The King's courts dealt with crime and property,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42but the Church courts, which sat in every diocese in England,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45dealt with spiritual matters including marriage disputes.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57The highest Church court for the north of England sat at York
0:39:57 > 0:40:00and one of the richest archives of medieval Church court
0:40:00 > 0:40:04records can be found at the University's Borthwick Institute.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10'A huge proportion of this archive is concerned with marriage
0:40:10 > 0:40:15'litigation, and Bronach Kane has studied the cases in detail.'
0:40:15 > 0:40:19How many cases altogether survive in this archive here in York,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and how many of them are marriage cases?
0:40:23 > 0:40:25We're talking about a level of about a third
0:40:25 > 0:40:28of all cases that come before the ecclesiastical courts
0:40:28 > 0:40:31- referred to marriage. - A third of all the cases?
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Yeah, for the 14th and 15th century, yes.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38So, out of about 600, marriage cases make up just over 200.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40So quite a proportion.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44What kind of issues about the making of marriages
0:40:44 > 0:40:46were being brought to the courts?
0:40:46 > 0:40:50Well, sex and procreation were absolutely central.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53That was the purpose of marriage at this point
0:40:53 > 0:40:55and you see it coming up in lots of different types of cases,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59but primarily in suits that attempted to test
0:40:59 > 0:41:04whether or not the husband was able to perform in the bedroom,
0:41:04 > 0:41:06because under Canon Law,
0:41:06 > 0:41:10wives could bring suits to annul marriages
0:41:10 > 0:41:12if the husband was impotent.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14But did it ever get tested in court?
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Yes, one of the more common practices that you see coming up
0:41:18 > 0:41:20in the York courts
0:41:20 > 0:41:23is groups of sex workers, prostitutes,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26being empanelled and called by the courts
0:41:26 > 0:41:28to come and examine a husband,
0:41:28 > 0:41:33perhaps in an upper room in a tavern and physically test him,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36palpate his member, as they say.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39They are technical experts called in...
0:41:39 > 0:41:43Exactly, and that aspect of expertise was central to it.
0:41:43 > 0:41:49These were supposed to be women who were experts in conjugal matters.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53And they would then report back to the courts, give official testimony
0:41:53 > 0:41:56on whether he had indeed been able to perform?
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Exactly, and the testimony is very graphic.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05We see people using the courts in a variety of ways.
0:42:05 > 0:42:06Perhaps six or seven out of ten
0:42:06 > 0:42:11relate to whether a valid marriage actually occurred in the first place.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16This case is one of the most fascinating marriage suits
0:42:16 > 0:42:18for this period.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And it's also huge!
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Yeah, it runs at over 60 documents.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28It's one of the longest marriage cases that we have.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33Without even counting, you can see the size of the pile there.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37So this is the case of Agnes Huntington...
0:42:37 > 0:42:42It's a really interesting case cos we only really found out about Agnes'
0:42:42 > 0:42:45would-be first husband through this suit,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47that is effectively a dispute between Agnes
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and her, as she claims, second husband.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Agnes Huntington was a young woman who lived with her
0:43:00 > 0:43:04family in the Stonegate area of York in the 14th century.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Her father had died when she was young, leaving her with money
0:43:09 > 0:43:12and land in his will and soon after,
0:43:12 > 0:43:16Agnes' mother remarried a wealthy merchant.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Agnes had started a relationship with the son of one of her
0:43:25 > 0:43:29neighbours, a young man named John Bristol.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33The chaos that ensued shows the reality of what the Church
0:43:33 > 0:43:38was up against, thanks to its own law that consent made a marriage.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43By the beginning of 1339, the romance between Agnes
0:43:43 > 0:43:47and John had swept both of them off their feet.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50But Agnes' mother and stepfather didn't approve.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54The family lived in the shadow of York Minster
0:43:54 > 0:43:57the seat of the archbishop of northern England.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01And now, instead of helping to arrange a wedding, Agnes'
0:44:01 > 0:44:04parents called in the Church authorities to find
0:44:04 > 0:44:07out what the young couple had been up to.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Agnes and John were determined to be together, and they knew that
0:44:15 > 0:44:18if they could exchange the vows that would make them husband
0:44:18 > 0:44:21and wife in front of a witness, there would be
0:44:21 > 0:44:25nothing their families or the Church could do to separate them.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30The witness they had in mind was Margaret Foxholes,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33a servant in Agnes' mother's household.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36And the young lovers tried to trick her into being in the wrong
0:44:36 > 0:44:38place at the wrong time.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45Margaret, who clearly knew Agnes very well, was deeply alarmed.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48"Alas, alas, what are you doing here?", she said.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51And her suspicions were right.
0:44:51 > 0:44:56Agnes' plan was to make Margaret an unwilling witness to her marriage.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01She took John's right hand and said, "Here, I take you John as my husband
0:45:01 > 0:45:07"to have and to hold for better or worse for the rest of my life."
0:45:07 > 0:45:09Margaret didn't want to hear any more.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13And the evidence suggests that she didn't in fact hear John
0:45:13 > 0:45:15make his vows in return.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19So were John and Agnes truly married?
0:45:21 > 0:45:23The young couple certainly believed they were,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26and they tried desperately to persuade their parents
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and the court to recognise their marriage.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32But Agnes' mother was implacable.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36She said her daughter would find herself on the receiving end
0:45:36 > 0:45:41of a mother's curse if she carried on claiming she was married to John.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44And when a clerk of the court did a little too well at finding
0:45:44 > 0:45:46evidence in favour of the marriage,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Agnes' mother said she'd have his legs broken.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55Agnes was headstrong, but her mother was stronger.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57In the end, it was Agnes who backed down.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02And if she and John were no longer telling the same story
0:46:02 > 0:46:06about the vows they had taken, the marriage couldn't stand.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15But this wasn't the end of Agnes' story.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Whether she was browbeaten by her mother,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21or whether she simply had a change of heart,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24within a year, Agnes had married another neighbour.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29And this relationship brought her to court for a second time.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38So, this is the story of Agnes Huntington's marital career,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41but the man who seems to be mentioned here is Simon,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45son of Roger de Monckton. Who is he?
0:46:45 > 0:46:51Yes, Simon de Monckton is the second man that she, at least publicly,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55tries to marry and initially everything is going quite well
0:46:55 > 0:46:57for the two of them.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00They have a child, and then,
0:47:00 > 0:47:05at some point in 1345, 1344,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08he begins to behave quite violently towards her.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12He tries to get her to sell some family lands
0:47:12 > 0:47:14that she has inherited,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18she refuses and he beats her incredibly badly.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23One of her witnesses says that blood was running from her nose and ears,
0:47:23 > 0:47:28so you get a sense of how badly he must have treated her at that point.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30And it's interesting,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33because his witnesses don't deny that level of violence.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36They simply excuse it and downplay it saying, well,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39she may have been adulterous with another man or
0:47:39 > 0:47:42she was speaking to him in an insolent tone.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43And deserved that correction.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48Exactly, yes and correction and chastisement is the way it is
0:47:48 > 0:47:51couched in terms of how it's described.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56So, in trying to get away from Simon, she was claiming
0:47:56 > 0:48:00- she had always been married to John. - Exactly. And that's the second
0:48:00 > 0:48:01argument that she puts forward.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05The first one is that he is incredibly violent,
0:48:05 > 0:48:10abusive, but also my marriage to him in the first place is not valid,
0:48:10 > 0:48:15because some years beforehand, she married this other man,
0:48:15 > 0:48:16John de Bristol.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Although, at the time, she had agreed to give him up
0:48:19 > 0:48:22- under pressure from her family. - Exactly, exactly.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25- It's a very sad story. - It is indeed, yes.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29- Do we know what happened in the end? - Unfortunately, we don't.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32As with many other cases in the Church courts
0:48:32 > 0:48:35for this period, the sentence doesn't survive.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42So, were there any grounds on which a medieval marriage could be ended?
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Under Church law, it was only possible to get out of a marriage
0:48:46 > 0:48:48by disproving its validity.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51In that case, the Church court could grant an annulment,
0:48:51 > 0:48:55meaning that the marriage had never existed.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59But, unsurprisingly, the grounds on which the Church would do this
0:48:59 > 0:49:02were extremely limited.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06You had to prove that you were already married,
0:49:06 > 0:49:07you'd been forced into marriage,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10you were insane at the point of marriage,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12you were too closely related to your spouse,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15or that consummation hadn't happened.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23But what if there was no questioning the validity of your marriage?
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Was there really no way out?
0:49:26 > 0:49:28The court records show that the people of the Middle Ages,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32just like us, did their best to escape unhappy marriages,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35despite the limitations imposed by the Church.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48In 15th-century London,
0:49:48 > 0:49:49a woman named Alice Hobbes
0:49:49 > 0:49:52appealed to the Church court at Old St Paul's,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55which stood on the same site as the new cathedral,
0:49:55 > 0:49:59to be released from a marriage to her philandering husband, William.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06And this time, we do know the result.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Alice and William Hobbes were married for 20 years
0:50:12 > 0:50:15and they had five children together.
0:50:15 > 0:50:16But the only reason we know anything
0:50:16 > 0:50:18about this particular medieval marriage
0:50:18 > 0:50:22is that by 1476, when they came to the court
0:50:22 > 0:50:24that sat here at, St Paul's,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26their relationship had reached breaking point.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38William was a doctor of medicine and a surgeon,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41who had a highly respected place in society.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45He was principal surgeon to the king, Edward IV,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47so it perhaps comes as no surprise
0:50:47 > 0:50:49that the sordid nature of the allegations
0:50:49 > 0:50:52about his marriage attracted some attention.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00Alice was suing him for divorce on the grounds of adultery
0:51:00 > 0:51:03and there were plenty of witnesses to support her case.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Stews in the Middle Ages were brothels
0:51:13 > 0:51:15and there were lots of them
0:51:15 > 0:51:17on the other side of the river, in Southwark.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20It was a good place for a working girl to make a living,
0:51:20 > 0:51:24close to the city of London but outside its jurisdiction.
0:51:24 > 0:51:26So Stew Lane was probably the place
0:51:26 > 0:51:28to catch a boat over to the brothels
0:51:28 > 0:51:31and one of their customers was William Hobbes.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40How do we know that?
0:51:40 > 0:51:43Because one fellow surgeon at the Hobbes' divorce case
0:51:43 > 0:51:45testified that, when they'd been together
0:51:45 > 0:51:47on Edward IV's military campaign in France,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51he had seen William visiting prostitutes.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57And, clearly, he didn't keep his sexual activities to trips abroad.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Two more surgeons testified that they'd been called to a brothel
0:52:03 > 0:52:06in Southwark to treat someone who'd been injured in a fight.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11While they worked, they happened to glance through a hole in a wall
0:52:11 > 0:52:13and spotted their colleague William
0:52:13 > 0:52:17lying naked on a bed in the arms of a young prostitute.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Alice knew nothing of all this
0:52:21 > 0:52:25until, at Christmas 1475, her neighbours finally told her
0:52:25 > 0:52:26what he'd been up to.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36After hearing all the sordid details of William's infidelities,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38the court sided with Alice.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40However strict the Church was,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44it did recognise that some couples just couldn't live together
0:52:44 > 0:52:48in the state of mutual support that marriage was supposed to create.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52And if that was the case, then they could be allowed to separate
0:52:52 > 0:52:56"a mensa et thoro" - from bed and board.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58In other words, to live apart.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03So Alice got her divorce.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06But it wasn't a divorce in the sense that we would understand it.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10They had permission to live apart, but they were still married
0:53:10 > 0:53:12and neither of them could marry again.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18For 300 years, the Church had made sure
0:53:18 > 0:53:19that the ending of any marriage
0:53:19 > 0:53:22was a rare and difficult thing to achieve.
0:53:24 > 0:53:25But in the 16th century,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27the Church was about to meet its match.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Consumed by all of the human desires
0:53:36 > 0:53:38that the Church had been trying to contain,
0:53:38 > 0:53:41a king asked for an annulment.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50In fact, this particular matrimonial dispute proved to be
0:53:50 > 0:53:53so complex that it would change both Church and State
0:53:53 > 0:53:55in England for ever,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57because that king was Henry VIII.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Henry had been married for 17 years when he fell madly in love,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11or lust, with a bewitching young woman named Anne Boleyn.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18Other kings had taken women they'd fallen in love with as mistresses.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22But Anne refused to go to bed with her king unless they were married
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and Henry wasn't free to marry her.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28As far as the Church was concerned, that should have been the end of it.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31But Henry was in the grip of irresistible emotion
0:54:31 > 0:54:34and a monstrous ego, which told him that
0:54:34 > 0:54:36if the Church was standing in his way,
0:54:36 > 0:54:38then the Church must be wrong.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44Henry's argument rested on events
0:54:44 > 0:54:47that had taken place two decades earlier.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52After his brother Arthur died and Henry had become king,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55the Pope agreed to bend the rules of the Church to allow Henry
0:54:55 > 0:54:57to marry his brother's widow,
0:54:57 > 0:54:58Catherine of Aragon,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02despite the fact that, in theory, they were too closely related.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07Their marriage produced a daughter, Mary,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09but no longed-for male heir.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Henry now decided that this was proof
0:55:15 > 0:55:18of God's condemnation of his marriage.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22The Pope, he said, should never have allowed him to marry
0:55:22 > 0:55:26his brother's wife and the marriage should therefore be annulled.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Catherine wasn't prepared to go quietly.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34For all of Arthur's boasting
0:55:34 > 0:55:37about having been "in Spain" on their wedding night,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40she insisted their marriage hadn't been consummated
0:55:40 > 0:55:44and therefore she had never truly been his wife.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48When a papal envoy came to England to hold a hearing in 1529,
0:55:48 > 0:55:53Catherine appeared before the court, only to kneel at Henry's feet
0:55:53 > 0:55:56to give an impassioned defence of their marriage.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00"I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you
0:56:00 > 0:56:03"a true, humble and obedient wife
0:56:03 > 0:56:06"and when ye had me at first, I take God as my judge,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09"I was a true maid, without touch of man."
0:56:15 > 0:56:19The Church was used to bending the rules for kings.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22That's what it had done, after all, when Henry married Catherine.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27But, this time, Pope Clement VII was under the influence
0:56:27 > 0:56:30of a more powerful king than Henry -
0:56:30 > 0:56:32Charles V of Spain,
0:56:32 > 0:56:34who happened to be Catherine's nephew.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39Charles was furious that Henry wanted to cast his aunt aside
0:56:39 > 0:56:42and he put pressure on the Pope to refuse Henry's argument
0:56:42 > 0:56:45that his marriage to Catherine was invalid.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50So, if husband and wife couldn't agree on the grounds for annulment
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and the Pope wouldn't come to the conclusion Henry wanted,
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Henry decided that there was only one possible solution left -
0:56:57 > 0:57:00to get rid of the Pope as the supreme authority
0:57:00 > 0:57:02of the English Church.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04And that's exactly what Henry did.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11At the beginning of 1533, he went ahead without the Pope's permission
0:57:11 > 0:57:13and married Anne Boleyn.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18And just a year later, Parliament passed an Act of Supremacy,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22which declared that Henry was the only supreme head on Earth
0:57:22 > 0:57:23of the Church of England.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Because the Church of Rome had worked so hard
0:57:35 > 0:57:37to claim marriage for itself,
0:57:37 > 0:57:41the only way around its rules for a king in a fix
0:57:41 > 0:57:43was to reject its authority altogether.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47The ending of Henry's medieval marriage
0:57:47 > 0:57:50would end up changing the religion of his people for ever.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58Henry had broken from the Catholic Church of Rome,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01the Church that believed, and still believes,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04that the sacrament of marriage is made for ever.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07It would take centuries more for divorce to become possible
0:58:07 > 0:58:10for the ordinary people of England,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13but the door had at least been unlocked.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16And the Reformation had huge consequences
0:58:16 > 0:58:18for the last great rite of passage -
0:58:18 > 0:58:20death.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22So next time,
0:58:22 > 0:58:25between the hope of heaven and the fear of hell,
0:58:25 > 0:58:29how did death shape life for the people of the Middle Ages?
0:58:52 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd