The English marriage
Subtitle: tales of love, money and adultery
By: by Maureen Waller
Publisher: John Murray
Published: 2010
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 419
ISBN-13: 9781848544017; 9780719522628
Subjects: Marriage; History; Marriage law; Married women; Social conditions
Description: Long after the rest of Europe had reformed their marriage laws, England clung to the chaotic and contradictory laws of the medieval Church. Featuring a cast of hundreds, acclaimed historian Maureen Waller draws on intimate letters, diaries, court documents and advice books to trace the evolution of the English marriage.
Notes: Originally published: 2009.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 395-405) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: pt. One; title: 1465-1645 -- -- 1.; title: `Marry thy daughters in time lest they marry themselves' -- -- 2.; title: `Upon Friday is Saint Valentine's Day and every bird chooses a mate' --; title: Interlude: The Form of Solemnisation of Matrimony, Book of Common Prayer -- -- 3.; title: `My Lord hath complained that he hath not lain with me' --; title: Interlude: William Gouge, Of Domesticall Duties -- -- 4.; title: `Teach her to live under obedience' --; title: Interlude: Henry Oxinden of Barham in love -- -- pt. Two; title: 1642-1734 -- -- 5.; title: `Good men with good fortunes are very hard to be gotten' -- -- 6.; title: `Women must love silently' --; title: Interlude: Hannah Woolley, The Gentlewoman's Companion or, a Guide to the Female Sex -- -- 7.; title: `Lay long in bed, talking and pleasing myself with my wife' --; title: Interlude: Henri Misson on English marriage customs -- -- 8.; title: `The bargain was struck' -- -- 9.; title: `My circumstances were not proper at all for matrimony' -- -- 10.; title: `Nothing but adultery can dissolve a marriage' --; title: Interlude: Lord Halifax, The Lady's New Year's Gift: or Advice to a Daughter -- -- pt. Three; title: 1706-1780 -- -- 11.; title: `For ten guineas he should procure a man (who was already marry'd) that should marry her in another name' --; title: Interlude: The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives -- -- 12.; title: `The causes must be grave and weighty' -- -- 13.; title: `What can equal the value of a virtuous wife?' -- -- 14.; title: `He has often beat and kicked her when she has been big with child' -- -- 15.; title: `The foul crime of adultery' -- -- pt. Four; title: 1760-1827 -- -- 16.; title: `That part of the United Kingdom called Scotland' -- -- 17.; title: `A match of her own making' -- -- 18.; title: `A cruel, savage and abandoned disposition, as well as loose, wicked and lustful' -- -- 19.; title: `A man may be the friend of another man, a woman alone can be his companion' --; title: Interlude: Jane Austen, Fanny Knight and Clarissa Trant -- -- 20.; title: `Threatened with being sent to a lunatic asylum, only for asking for food' --; title: Interlude: Wife-sale -- -- pt. Five; title: 1820-1885 -- -- 21.; title: `I do not ask for my rights. I have no rights; I have only wrongs' --; title: Interlude: Bigamy sentence -- -- 22.; title: `To soothe and not to vex or irritate her husband' --; title: Interlude: Charles Darwin's `Marry' or `Not Marry' -- -- 23.; title: `There's no harm in it -- everyone does it' --; title: Interlude: Mrs Henderson, The Young Wife's Own Book, Her Domestic Duties and Social Habits -- -- 24.; title: `Wife-Torture in England' -- -- pt. Six; title: 1880-1969 -- -- 25.; title: `A woman plotting the death of her husband . . . to follow her own degrading vices' --; title: Interlude: Wedding customs -- -- 26.; title: `Coverture is dead and buried' -- -- 27.; title: `The whole thing is so mysterious to me -- how you could ever have found pleasure in what you knew I hated' --; title: Interlude: Job Flower, A Golden Guide to Matrimony -- -- 28.; title: `I shall be a better happier man and more useful soldier for being your husband' -- -- 29.; title: `An avalanche of broken marriages'.