Authors: Priscilla Royal
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #General, #Women Sleuths, #Historical
When Hob says that he and his unnamed companion are husband and wife in God’s eyes, he is referring to a common medieval marriage practice. Many marriages were performed in secret, with or without witnesses. These were quite valid under both ecclesiastical and secular law. Even if there were no witnesses, a man and a woman could exchange vows “in the present tense” and become as bound in marriage as those are today who get a license and go before a justice of the peace or religious authority. Vows spoken “in the future tense”, on the other hand, were the equivalent of an intent to wed and were closer to our current concept of an engagement. Needless to say, such marriages were often hard to prove or disprove. Barring strong evidence to the contrary, the ecclesiastical courts often found that a wedding had occurred. The practice eventually lost favor with both Church and State.
And, finally, a bit of information new to me but one of those delightful discoveries that brings pleasure, even if belated, and is common enough knowledge to others. According to Janet Backhouse in her beautiful book,
Medieval Birds in the Sherborne Missal,
the term
mew
was used in England for
seagull
until the 17th century. My cats have told me that they will never look at those birds quite the same again…
The following are a few books I found helpful, educational, and just plain fascinating while writing this story. Hopefully, I have not misinterpreted the concepts or information. If such proves to be the case, I apologize deeply. The authors are hardly to blame for my ineptitude. That said, I cannot thank them enough for the pleasant hours spent reading them all.
Treatises and Pastoral Prayer (Rule of Life for a Recluse)
by Aelred of Rievaulx, Cistercian Publications, 1971.
A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c.1295-1344
by Judith M. Bennett, McGraw-Hill College, 1999.
Life in a Medieval Village
by Frances and Joseph Gies, Harper Perennial, 1990.
Common Women: Prostitution and Sexuality in Medieval England
by Ruth Mazo Karras, Oxford University Press, 1996.
Lives of the Desert Fathers
, translated by Norman Russell, Cistercian Publications, 1980.
The Life of Christina of Markyate: A Twelfth Century Recluse
, edited and translated by C.H. Talbot, University of Toronto Press, 1997.
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