HANDFASTING AN HISTORY

The frst marriages were probably made by capture. The groom (and his friends)
would steal into another tribes camp and simply kidnap the woman of his choice,
likely holding her with his left hand since his right hand held his weapon. Later,
women might be gien, or gift themseles, in e!change for land, commodities, co"
operation in war, or protection.
The #elts are known to hae had $% o&cially recogni'ed degrees of marriage that
e&ciently sered the disposition of uni(ue circumstances. )*rehon marriages+ were
like temporary trial marriages, while marriage under more comple! stipulations was
called a )Teltown marriage,, the purpose of which was to unite two people for a
specifed time and upon epiration! eit"er dissol#e t"e marria$e or enter
into more formal marria$e contract. -n either form, women who had been
preiously married and produced children by that marriage were highly coeted
because their fertility was proen. ( .arriage, /eparation and 0iorce -n 1ncient
2aelic #ulture by Alix Morgan MacAnTsaoir)
1t an 1nglo"/a!on beweddung ,as the future husband gae sureties or stakes (weds)
initially to the family as bride"price, but later , as negotiated with the families, to the
wife as morning"gift or dower (land and3or monies she might lie on if widowed)
The parties spoke their consent and the pledge was sealed, like any other, by a
hand"clasp, or hand shake, one ariant meaning of handfstnung.%%
*ritain gradually conerted to #hristianity after 4ome pulled out in 5$% 10. 6ne of
the frst things it took on was the wedding. 7hile 4oman upper classes had long been
married by priests with nuptial sacrifces to the gods, the common people had not.
The 8arly #hurch is known to hae obsered the following rites9 &oinin$ of t"e ri$"t
"ands of t"e couple, spreading a eil oer the couple, untying the womans hair,
crowning the couple with crowns or garlands after a benediction was spoken, and
carrying the bride to her new home (:rlin, 8thel L. 1 /hort ;istory of .arriage,
.arriage 4ites, #ustoms and <olklore in .any #ountries and 1ll 1ges. 0etroit9 /inging
Tree =, $>?>:rlin 5>).
-sadore of /eille, writing in the #@th, reported that the bride went eiled and
escorted by married women and that t"e couple was 'ound to$et"er '( a cord%
-sadores account also mentions the man giing the woman a rin$! (/earle, .ark,
and Aenneth 7. /teenson. 0ocuments of the .arriage Liturgy. #ollegeille, .inn.9
Liturgical =, $>>B.
*ut were these ceremonial unions really marriage as we understand it C
#>th <rankish law recogni'ed two distinct forms of marriage, Muntehe : formal,
permanent and inoling transfer of property from one family to another, and
Friedelehe, o&cially marriage but often temporary and not re(uiring the transfer of
property. 6Dspring of a Friedelehe were legitimate and were recogni'ed as heirs if
there were no heirs from a .untehe. -t was widely held that +The girl had been
loaned rather than gien, but her relations had made the loan ceremonially, by
contract, freely and in peace,(0uby, 2eorges. The Anight, the Lady and the =riest9
the .aking of .odern .arriage in .edieal <rance. $st 1merican ed. Eew Fork9
=antheon *ooks, c$>GH.).
HANDFASTING AN HISTORY
-n the 8ast, *y'antine 8mperor Leo (d. >$$) insisted that only a formal marriage had
legal statusI yet in the 7estern 8mpire, concubinage was still recogni'ed een by the
#hristian 8mperors.
1s late as the mid #$$th, 4oman #ouncils ($%JB K $%?H), those who had both a wife
and a )mantle wife, were forbidden communion, nothing moreI whilst )left"handed+
or +morganatic+ marriages were allowed by /alic law between (2erman) nobles and
women of lower rank, and some states of /pain also recogni'ed the rights of
oDspring of women who entered into )marria$e for a season*% The 0anish code
of Laldemar --. (enforced $BG% "$?GH), stated that a concubine kept openly for H
years was understood to thereafter become a legal wife M another interpretation of
handvesten or +handfasting+ I whilst Eorwegian law stated that such natural
children, notably sons, had rights and e!pectations. -n /cotland, the laws of 7illiam
the Lion (d. $B$5) speak of concubinage as a recogni'ed institutionI and, in the same
century, the great 8nglish legist *racton treats the +concubina legitima+ as entitled to
certain rights.
Fet as the power and inNuence of the 4oman #atholic #hurch spread throughout
7estern 8urope (#hristendom) it became more ocal and actie in its opposition to
any form of marriage and3or union which was not binding for life or permitted more
than one recogni'ed partner. 1fter much internal and e!ternal debate, it ruled that
marriage could be made in B ways only 9
$. 8!changing consents in the present tense (- take you to be my husband, etc.)
B. 8!changing consents in the future tense (- will take you to be my husband, etc.)
followed (after days, years) by se!ual intercourse on the strength of that promise,
and the issue of children to seal it .
++onsent made marria$e+ obtained from the beginning of the #$Hth. -t was ruled
on by 4oman #atholic canon lawyers and promulgated by the =opes, although it went
against earlier common ideas about marriage O ideas such as parental permission.
<or the marriage to be alid it did not matter if there were any witnesses (though
they made it easier to proe)I nor did it matter if a priest was present or the marriage
blessed. 1 couple e!changing consents in the present tense out in the wild wood with
a s(uirrel for sole witness were as legally and bindingly married by the law of #hurch
and state as a pair with the blessings of both sets of parents, married and blessed at
the altar by the ery =ope himself,.
;oweer, in the #$5th, a distinction began to be made between +regular+ marriage 9
marriage by words in the present made +in the face of the church+ (in /cotland
usually at the front porch, not the altar, and followed by nuptial .ass) and )irregular,
or )clandestine, marriage9 marriage by any other recogni'ed form. -n /cotland, there
was a third sort, termed )marrria$e '( "a'it and repute,! established when a
couple lied together as if married and presented themseles to society as married O
but any credible admission by the couple that they were not actually married could
preent its being acknowledged. *y the late .iddle 1ges, a regular marriage usually
consisted of9 $. *etrothal or
Trothplight9 a formal and legally binding ceremony in which the couple (occasionally
by pro!y) e!changed future consents, and marriage contracts were agreed
B. =roclamation of *anns9 public announcements of the forthcoming union in the
HANDFASTING AN HISTORY
face of the #hurch H. #onsents in present tense (wedding) before
witnesses and followed by a clerical blessing3mass
5. #onsummation of the union (often also formally witnessed).
J. #ohabitation, and the bringing forth of children.
1ll the aboe, notably numbers $ and H, and3or 5 and J, could be separated by some
length of time. 1nd life e!pectancies and circumstances meant that many of those
betrothed in infancy did not lie long enough to marry. Eor was it unusual for a
person to outlie two or three or four spouses.
Fet marriage was meant to be for life. ( -n cases of legal separation, neither partner
could legally marry again.) The only way out was to proe that they were neer
legally married in the frst place O ie hae the union +annulled+. <or this they had to
proe that they were, one or both, too young, too closely related, insane or impotent
(male) at the time of marriage, or already married (or betrothed) to someone else.
8en if they were too young, if they didnPt stop liing together as man and wife when
they came of age ($B for women, $5 for men), they were considered legally married
from then on.
*esides their being easier for the unscrupulous to deny, irregular or clandestine
marriages caused problems when it came to inheritance and particularly in
establishing the legitimacy of (een royal) oDspring, so while both canon and ciil law
recogni'ed them as legal and binding, the #hurch began to encourage them to be
regarded as sinful, encouraging couples to marry again with formal blessing.
1fter t the 4eformation, some =rotestant countries changed their marriage laws,
re(uiring a priest or minister and the proper form for alid marriage, whilst others did
not. Eor did they agree on the terms under which a diorce might be granted, as
opposed to a separation or annulmentI and sometimes ciil law and (=rotestant)
church law had diDerent rules for what constituted alid marriage.
Then, in $J?H, came the #ounter"4eformation, and the #ouncil of Trent, which
changed 4oman #atholic canon law " a priest and the proper form were now re(uired
for a alid marriage. *ut in /cotland, ciil law and the =rotestant Airk, nominally
unifed and not wishing to be seen to emulate the #atholics, kept essentially to pre"
4eformation terms 9 consent in present tense or consent in future tense followed any
time later by se!ual intercourse O the only changes being to permit diorce and
remarriage and to reduce the forbidden degrees of consanguity.
6er time, ciil and (=rotestant) church laws on marriage in /cotland dierged. The
#$Gth Airk, troubled greatly by the commonality of fornication , elected to no longer
recogni'e marriage by future tense consents followed by se!ual intercourse " een
though the ciil authorities did, until $>5% at least, when the $>H> act reforming
marriage law took eDect.
1 /cottish protocol (book a notary public used to keep a record of the documents he
wrote). narrates that on B5 Quly $JJ?, the Licar of 1berdour 'ministrat & execut the
ofce anent the handfasting betwix Robert awder !ounger of the "ass & #ane
$e%burn docter to &atric' (rrl "otwell in thir )ordis following: *+ Robert awder ta'
thow #ane $e%burne to m! s%ousit w!f as the law of the $al! ,ir' schawis & thereto +
%l!cht thow m! trewht & s!'l!' + the said #ane $e%burne ta'is !ou Robert awder to
m! s%ousit husband as the law of the $al! ,ir' schaws & therto + %l!cht to thow m!
trewth,* and execut the residew of the said maner of handfasting conforme to the
consuetud usit and wont in s!' casis' ie 'the curate with the consent of both %arties
with their hands -oined betrothed the said .a)id & #onet who too' oath as is the
custom of the /hurch'0
HANDFASTING AN HISTORY

6thers, howeer, still considered the handfasting alone to be su&cient (as indeed it
was, legally) 9 Man! within this toun ar handfast, as thai call it, and maid %romeis of
mariage a lang s%ace b!gane,00, and as !it )ill nocht mar! and coim%leit that
honorable band,00, but l!is and continewis in manifest fornicatioun 1etc02 ($J?B
1berdeen 8cclesiastical 4ecords . -- )9
-n response, perhaps, to this Airk"led censure, handfastings appear to hae declined
in number een as the number of weddings increased, the erb +handfast+
and noun +handfasting+ being e!tended in use to coer +entered into an
engagement of serice+ and +the Roining of hands in engaging an employee+.
Fet the custom does not seem to hae faded altogether, fnding almost mythical
e!pression in folk history writing of the #$Gth"#$>th. <or e!ample, a section of The
6ld /tatistical 1ccount of /cotland ($@>$">>), . $B, pp. ?$5"J) dealing with 8skdale
in 0umfries, reads9 ) +n mentioning remar'able things in this %arish, it would be
wrong to %ass o)er in silence, that %iece of ground at the meeting of the "lac' and
3hite (s's, which was remar'able in former times for an annual fair that had been
held there time out of mind, but which is now entirel! laid aside0 At that fair, it was
the custom for the unmarried %ersons of both sexes to choose a companion,
according to their liking, with whom they were to live till that time next
year. This was called hand-fasting, or hand in fst. If they were pleased with
each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they
separated, and were free to make another choice as at the frst0 The fruit of
their connexion 4if there were an!) was alwa!s attached to the disa5ected %erson0 +n
later times, when this %art of the countr! belonged to the Abbac! of Melrose, a
%riest, to whom the! ga)e the name "oo' i' bosom 4either because he carried in his
bosom a bible, or %erha%s, a register of the marriages), came from time to time to
con6rm the marriages07
7. <. /kene, in The $ighlanders of 8cotland ($GH@) stated that 9000 if during the %eriod
of trial 'the lad! became a mother, or %ro)ed to be with child, the marriage became
good in law, e)en although no %riest had %erformed the marriage ceremon! in due
form'0 ;e adds that 'the $ighlanders themsel)es draw a )er! strong distinction
between bastard sons and the sons of their handfast unions, whom the! considered
legitimate'0
1nd in $GB%, /ir 7alter /cott, in The .onastery had 1enel declare9 '3e
"ordermen 000 ta'e our wi)es, li'e our horses, u%on trial0 3hen we are handfasted, as
we term it, we are man and wife for a !ear and a da!: that s%ace gone b!, each ma!
choose another mate, or at their %leasure, ma! call the %riest to marr! them for life:
and this we call handfasting0'
/ome scholars dispute the continuity and een alidity, of this tradition, which, like
much reialist material now informs Eeo"pagan practice. Fet it might be of interest
to note that as recently s $>H% the term for unlegali'ed unions, found in all parts of
7ales, was %riodas coes !sgubell, (broom"stick wedding), for the broomstick the
couple were re(uired, hand in hand, to Rump oer.
T 2wynn Qones, (7elsh <olklore, .ethuen and #o.$>H%)