History of marriage

Last updated

The history of marriage is a branch of social history that concerns the sociocultural evolution of socially or legally recognized unions between people called spouses, from prehistoric to modern times. Research on the history of marriage crosses disciplines and cultures, aiming to understand the structure and function of the family from many viewpoints. The study of history has shown that marriage, like other family systems, is flexible, culturally diverse and adaptive to ecological and economical conditions. [1]

Contents

The history of marriage is often considered under history of the family or legal history. [2]

Prehistory

Marriage likely originated among Stone Age humans as a way to organize childrearing and daily work. While the theory of a male provider — who hunted for and protected his wife and children — has largely been dismissed by modern anthropologists, there was a division of labor between early men and women. Nursing women were much less capable of hunting large game, and instead focused on gathering and processing plants and smaller game (contributing the vast majority of a clan's food). This specialization led to greater interdependence between males and females, and as techniques became more advanced, it took longer to teach them to children, incentivizing parents to stay together longer. [3] Still, the nuclear family was not the defining social institution — no individual family had enough resources to be independent, so larger clans were crucial for a family's survival. Likewise, unmarried women did not lack the support of their community. [4] People married outside of their immediate clan groups, and this allowed bands to forge relationships with one another. [5]

As societies began to develop larger surpluses, and began to settle into more agrarian, sedentary structures, marriage became more important. [6] Wealthier families became less interested in sharing resources, and instead began to use marriage as a tool to consolidate those resources within the family or between a few closely linked kin groups. [7] Studies of genetic material have shown that endogamy became increasingly common among wealthier families.

Ancient world

As wealthy families accumulated more and more resources, inheritance rights became of greater concern, and marriage came to play an important role in many ancient societies. Both men and women came under more pressure from families to choose the "correct" spouse for the family's interests, and the distinction between "legitimate" and "illegitimate" children grew sharper. The earliest written records show that by the time writing was invented, marriage became the way most wealth and land changed hands. In wealthy families, marriage became the site of political intrigue. Factions of ruling circles fought over who had the right to legitimize marriage and bloodlines -- arguments which often had serious historical ramifications. [3]

Because women had the unique ability to bear a child with an "impure" bloodline, generally their sexual behavior was more strictly supervised. [8] Some societies developed elaborate ideas about female sexual purity, especially in upper class society. [3]

The invention of the plow widened the division of labor between men and women. Plowing required greater physical strength and was less compatible with childcare, and therefore became associated with male labor. The belief, therefore, that men contributed more to a household's resources led to the proliferation of the dowry. The increase in warfare between emerging societies also raised men and lowered women in the social hierarchy — devaluing women and contributing to the idea that their presence in a family needed to be compensated in some way. Over time, in many societies, women became seen as the properties of their fathers or husbands. [3] Where women could no longer choose their own mates, men now needed to win over their fathers. [9]

Africa

Ancient Egypt

The primary purpose of marriage was to have more children and descendants of the family, and to legitimize inheritance rights. [10] Marriages were typically arranged by parents. [11]

Among commoners, marriages were typically informal affairs. A couple was considered married once they had established a household together, and marriage did not require any special license or state approval. Propertied families, however, typically drew up prenuptial contracts for their own benefit. [12]

Among the lower classes, husbands and wives worked together to manage businesses. Among the upper classes, women usually did not work outside the home, and instead supervised the servants of the household and her children's education. [13] Generally, women made more family decisions and controlled more of the home than usual. Women had control over most of their property and could serve as legal persons who brought cases to the court. [11] Even pharaohs frequently found themselves under control over their mothers. [10] Widows gained more legal freedom after their husbands' deaths -- notably, the ability to buy and sell land. [14]

Marriage for pharaohs was a more politically treacherous affair. In-laws frequently fought over inheritance rights. To curb this, early pharoahs sometimes married their sisters or half-sisters; the heir's legitimacy was then perceived as essentially doubled. [15] Other pharoahs proclaimed they were married to gods. In the eighth century BCE, one pharoah revived an older practice of the "Divine Wife" -- elevating a pharaoh's daughter to become a priestess committed to celibacy. [3]

Although it was possible to divorce, it was difficult. Men often divorced their wives if they were unable to reproduce. [16] After about 365 B.C, divorce laws strongly favored women. [11]

A first, marriages in ancient Egypt were usually exclusive, but it also was not uncommon for a man of high economic status to have more than one wife, especially if his first wife was unable to have children of her own. [11] After Alexander of Macedonia's empire broke apart late in the fourth century BCE, during the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties, polygamy became more widespread in an effort to help kings establish more alliances. [15]

Europe

Among ancient Germanic tribes, the bride and groom were roughly the same age and generally older than their Roman counterparts, at least according to Tacitus:

The youths partake late of the pleasures of love, and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted: nor are the virgins hurried into marriage; the same maturity, the same full growth is required: the sexes unite equally matched and robust, and the children inherit the vigor of their parents. [17]

Where Aristotle had set the prime of life at 37 years for men and 18 for women, the Visigothic Code of law in the 7th century placed the prime of life at 20 years for both men and women, after which both presumably married. Tacitus states that ancient Germanic brides were on average about 20 and were roughly the same age as their husbands. [18] Tacitus, however, had never visited the German-speaking lands and most of his information on Germania comes from secondary sources. In addition, Anglo-Saxon women, like those of other Germanic tribes, are marked as women from the age of 12 and older, based on archaeological finds, implying that the age of marriage coincided with puberty. [19]

Ancient Greece

In the early years of ancient Greece, family ties were the primary way in which social life was organized. Marriages, likewise, required no state intervention – only mutual agreement and the fact that the couple must regard each other as husband and wife accordingly. [20] As Athenian reformers pushed for more robust government to prevent families from gaining too much power (as they were in city-states outside of Athens), they began to enact laws governing everyday life -- including marriage. Legislation dictated that only children born of a state-sanctioned marriage could claim inheritance rights. Wills were invented to ensure property went to the preferred heir after death. Plato advocated for abolishing the family altogether to ensure people were truly loyal to the state. [3]

Athenian leaders curbed the power of extended families by cutting wives off not just from their parents, but the larger world. Women were expected to take care of the house and bear children. In wealthier families, this was taken to an extreme -- women were not allowed out of their homes and inner courtyards. This also became a sign of wealth, indicating that a family had enough money that their women did not need to lift a finger. [21] In other cases, aristocratic women were allowed out in the company of male relatives. [22] However, lower-class women often worked as laundresses, seamstresses, bakers, and innkeepers. [3]

Married Greek women had few rights in ancient Greek society and were effectively seen as property. Mothers were not considered the true parents of their own children, but vessels for their husband's seed. Under Athenian law, a man’s seduction of another’s wife was punishable by death, but the rape of another man’s wife merited only a monetary fine -- the rationale being that a lover posed more of a threat to the husband's property than a rapist, whom the wife was likely to despise. When Greek husbands eulogized their departed wives, they typically praised their "self-control" above any other personality traits. [3] Men were expected to maintain disciplinary control over their wives. [23] Husbands had unilateral right to divorce (though if the divorce was ruled unfair, he faced a monetary penalty). [24] A woman whose father died without male heirs could be forced to marry her nearest male relative – even if she had to divorce her husband first. [25]

Marriage was primarily an economic arrangement, and romance had little to do with mate choice. [3] One Greek orator in the fourth century BCE said, "We have [courtesans] for pleasure, concubines for the daily care of our body, but wives to bear us legitimate children and to be the trusted guardians of our household." [26] The truest form of love was believed to be between an adult man and a much younger boy.

Men usually married when they were in their 20s and women in their teens. [27] It has been suggested that these ages made sense for the Greeks because men were generally done with military service or financially established by their late 20s, and marrying a teenage girl ensured ample time for her to bear children.[ citation needed ]

Classical Rome

There were several types of marriages in ancient Roman society. The traditional ("conventional") form called conventio in manum required a ceremony with witnesses and was also dissolved with a ceremony. [28] In this type of marriage, a woman lost her family rights of inheritance of her old family and gained them with her new one. She now was subject to the authority of her husband. [29]

Marriages were economic affairs, with inheritance rights at the center of the institution. Romans were very concerned about their wives birthing illegitimate children who might lay claim to their wealth. [12] Public displays of affection, such as kissing, were generally considered boorish. It was considered disgraceful to kiss one's wife in front of others. [30]

Under the free marriage known as sine manu, the wife remained a member of her original family; she stayed under the authority of her father, kept her family rights of inheritance with her old family and did not gain any with the new family. [31] The minimum age of marriage for girls was 12. [32]

Post-Christian Europe

From the early Christian era (30 to 325 CE), marriage was thought of as primarily a private matter, with no uniform religious or other ceremony being required. [33] However, bishop Ignatius of Antioch, writing around 110, exhorts, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust." [34]

Far East

Ancient China

The mythological origin of Chinese marriage is a story about Nüwa and Fu Xi, whose marriage allowed them to create humanity. [35] [36]

Marriage in Ancient China was secondary to one's existing familial ties. Parents took a prominent role in arranging and overseeing marriages. Parents of men could force their sons to divorce for a variety of reasons (e.g., if they didn't like his wife's work ethic, if they felt their son's attachment to his wife was a threat to his attachment to his birth family). Likewise, the ancient Chinese word for "romantic love" had a negative connotation and was often used to describe an illicit, unapproved relationship. [3] Chinese writers discouraged women from confiding in her husband or even telling him about her day. A husband who showed open affection for his wife was seen as having weak character. [37]

Endogamy was relatively common among all classes. Generally, marrying one's maternal relatives was not thought of as incest. But people of the same surname were expected supposed to consult with their family trees prior to marriage to reduce the potential risk of unintentional incest through one's paternal line. This practice was enforced under the law. [38]

Confucius defined a wife as “someone who submits to another.” A wife, according to Confucian philosophy, had to follow “the rule of the three obediences: while at home she obeys her father, after marriage she obeys her husband, after he dies she obeys her son.” [37]

Concubines and "backup wives" (a wife's sisters who would move in in case their services were needed) were common. Parents could force their son to take a concubine if his wife was not producing viable heirs. [3] Many imperial princesses, however, were exempt from these rules and their power thoroughly overshadowed their husbands. One Chinese princess was allowed a harem of over thirty male concubines. [38]

Women and men were married relatively young in Ancient China. For the women, it was soon after puberty and men were expected to marry around age twenty. [39]

During the Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) marriage included a number of mandatory steps. The most important of them was the presentation of betrothal gifts from the groom and his family to the bride and her family (though the money was expected to be used by the bride, and it was considered dishonorable for a family to spend their daughter's betrothal gift). The bride's family then countered with a dowry, which separated her from a common concubine. Once all the goods were exchanged, the bride was taken to the groom's ancestral home, where she was expected to obey her husband and live with his relatives. Women continued to belong to their husband's families even after their husbands died; if they had any children they stayed with his family. If the widow's birth family wanted her to marry again, they would often have to ransom her back from her deceased husband's family. [40]

Classical India

According to Hindu tradition, marrying was a holy act, and an unmarried person was considered impious. In some cases, unmarried people were ineligible to participate in religious ceremonies. [3]

It was thought that one's daughter is only temporary, and that she was meant to be her husband's. The main duty of a girl's parents was to arrange her marriage and provide a dowry (an insufficient dowry could be seen as an insult). After marriage, a woman became part of her husband's home, and was a guest in her birth family's home. Wives were expected to serve their husbands. [41]

Near & Middle East

The first recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting a man and a woman dates back to approximately 2350 BC, in ancient Mesopotamia. [42] Wedding ceremonies, as well as dowry and divorce, can be traced back to Mesopotamia and Babylonia. [43]

Historically there were many types of marriages, used for various purposes. A mut'ah (or temporary marriage) created a sexual outlet for men and women under certain circumstances (in particular, travel) without subjecting them to the otherwise harsh penalties for nonmarital sex. Babylonian Jews allowed some men entering a new town to request a "wife for a day". These temporary marriages did not themselves create any obligation between the spouses; however, if a child was born of the union, the child was considered legitimate and had inheritance rights. [3]

By the second millennium B.C., women were generally expected to be subordinate to their husbands. The practice of secluding women in special quarters to guard their chastity became widespread in the Middle East; it was also a way to signify that a family's wealth was great enough that their daughters and wives did not need to work. [3]

Mesopotamia

Hammurabi's Code codified rules about marriage and property inheritance. The code required that marriages be consummated and that wives remain loyal to their husbands. Infidelity was punishable by death. However, husbands were legally required to care for their wives economically, and women were legally protected if their husbands failed to do so. Women's dowries also belonged to them until they had sons to claim that inheritance. Men were allowed to see concubines and even take second wives under some circumstances, but their first wives were always held in higher authority than subsequent wives. [44]

The right of divorce rested with men; however, a woman's children were her own responsibility after divorce. Divorced women were free to marry whomever they liked, or return to their father's households. Widows were also permitted to remarry with permission from a judge. [44]

Assyrian Empire

Generally, there was no legal distinction between men and women in the Old Assyrian period and they had more or less the same rights in society. Both men and women could inherit property, participated in trade, bought, owned, and sold houses and slaves, made their own last wills, and were allowed to divorce their partners. Bridal dowries belonged to the brides, not the husband, and it was inherited by her children after her death. [45]

Despite their equal legal standing, women faced greater social expectations. Men generally worked as agricultural laborers or tradesmen, whereas wives were expected to provide their husbands with garments and food. [45]

Although marriages were typically monogamous, husbands were allowed to buy a female slave in order to produce an heir if his wife was infertile -- though wives had the right to choose the slave. Husbands who were away on long trading journeys were allowed to take a second wife in one of the trading colonies, although they were strictly expected to provide for their second wives. [45] [46]

Women's rights generally degraded during the Middle Assyrian period. [47] Women's premarital chastity and post-marital loyalty were strictly supervised. Married women were required to wear veils, and married women who committed adultery could be sentenced to death. [46] [48] Men were given the right to punish their wives virtually however they saw fit. A raped woman could be forced to marry her rapist. [49] However, it is not entirely clear how strictly these laws were enforced. [46]

Widows were guaranteed special privileges during the Middle Assyrian period. Widows who did not have any sons or relatives to support them were guaranteed support from the government. [46]

Hebrews

According to ancient Hebrew tradition, a wife was seen as being property of high value and was, therefore, usually, carefully looked after. [50] The Covenant Code orders "If he take him another; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish (or lessen)". The Talmud interprets this as a requirement for a man to provide food and clothing to, and have sex with, each of his wives. [51] [ clarification needed ] However, "duty of marriage" is also interpreted as whatever one does as a married couple, which is more than just sexual activity. And the term diminish, which means to lessen, shows the man must treat her as if he was not married to another.

Early nomadic communities in the Middle East practiced a form of marriage known as beena , in which a wife would own a tent of her own, within which she retains complete independence from her husband. [52]

As a polygynous society, the Israelites did not have any laws that imposed marital fidelity on men. [53] [54] Adulterous married women, adulterous betrothed women, and the men who slept with them, however, were subject to the death penalty by the biblical laws against adultery. The literary prophets indicate that adultery was a frequent occurrence, despite these legal strictness's. [53]

Middle Ages

East Asia

China

Chinese family loyalty continued to supersede marital ties. At some points, the law permitted a man's father raping his wife. [3]

During the Ming period (1368-1644), marriage was considered solemn and according to the law written in the Ming Code, all commoners' marriages must follow the rules written in Duke Wen's Family Rules. [55] Licensed marriage matchmakers played a key role in marriages. The rules stated that "in order to arrange a marriage, an agent must come and deliver messages between the two families." [56] Sometimes both families were influential and wealthy and the matchmaker bonded the two families into powerful households. Marriage was key in increasing the strength of clans. [57] Ming Dynasty emperors often married wives from the lower classes to curb prominent wives' families' ambitions and the problems those conflicting interests caused. created problems among the ruling classes when emperors' wives' families began to exercise too much influence.

Japan

As in China, marriage matches in Japan were expected to serve the ie, or the larger family, by perpetuating the family line, adding new adults to the family's labor force, forming alliances with other families, offloading female dependents. [58] Almost all people were expected to marry and produce children. [59] Marriage generally occurred between a small group of families of the same social class. When choosing spouses, families considered economic status and political views. Brides and grooms, and their families, were considered equals. [60]

Romance in marriage was discouraged, as it was thought to undermine filial piety. According to one proverb, "Those who come together in passion stay together in tears." Sexual gratification was more acceptable outside of one's marriage, through concubines, geishas, or "pleasure districts". [58] [61]

During the Heian period (794-1185), court life flourished and upward mobility was one of the primary goals of marriage among the upper classes. Marriage did not necessarily need to be a permanent agreement. [60] Aristocrats would exchange letters and poetry for a period of months or years before arranging to meet after dark. If a man saw the same woman for a period of three nights, they were considered married, and the wife's parents held a banquet for the couple. Typically, husbands arranged for their wives to move in with them in order to ensure legitimacy of their offspring. Some aristocratic wives, however, stayed in their fathers' homes. [62]

High-ranking men sometimes kept multiple wives or concubines, and their children with these concubines were considered just as legitimate. There was language to separate wives from concubines, and distinguish between their respective children, but children of concubines were just as entitled to inheritance as children of wives. [63]

Korea

The practice of matrilocality in Korea started in the Goguryeo period and ended in the early Joseon period. [64] [65] The Korean saying that when a man gets married, he is "entering jangga" (the house of his father-in-law), stems from the Goguryeo period. [66]

Islamic World

Both Muslim writers in the Islamic world were more approving of sexual passion between husband and wife than prominent thinkers in Europe; too much intimacy, however, could be an affront to God. Secular writers, meanwhile, believed love thrived best outside of a marriage. [67]

Sunni Muslims declared temporary mut'ah marriages unacceptable, though Shiite Muslims continued the practice. [3]

Medieval Europe

Marriage continued to be a primarily economic arrangement in Medieval Europe. It was generally agreed upon that romantic passion had no place in a marriage. Most men could not run their farms or businesses alone, and needed a business partner and someone to assist with domestic household tasks. [3] A wife's dowry was often the largest infusion of wealth a man would ever get. [68]

The average age at first marriage varied depending on local custom and economic concerns -- in better times, more people could afford to marry earlier and thus fertility rose; conversely, marriages were delayed or forgone when times were bad, thus restricting family size. [69] [70] [71] The average age of marriage for most of Northwestern Europe from 1500 to 1800 was around 25 years of age. [72] [73] Most brides were in their early twenties and most grooms two or three years older. [74] However, a substantial number of women married for the first time in their thirties and forties, particularly in urban areas, [3]

With few local exceptions, until 1545, Christian marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties. [75] The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required. [76] However, in practice, marriages were arranged by families and neighbors, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. [3]

The rise of the Catholic Church had a dramatic influence on marriage practices. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status; instead, these issues were adjudicated in ecclesiastical courts. [3] The Church began to get more invested in marriages. It began dictating age requirements and advocating for free partner choice. [77]

In 1563 the Council of Trent, twenty-fourth session, required that a valid marriage must be performed by a priest before two witnesses. [78]

Women began taking the surname of their husbands beginning around the 12th century. [77]

Infidelity was common and even romanticized, especially for men. Men in particular were rarely discreet about their extramarital affairs. [3]

Eastern Europe

Classical Celtic and Germanic cultures (which were not rigidly patriarchal) [70] [79] had a stronger influence in Eastern Europe and helped to offset the Judaeo-Roman patriarchal influence. [80] Here, almost everyone was expected to marry, and earlier than in other parts of Europe (often in early adolescence). [81]

Pre-colonial Americas

Marriage practices varied greatly among indigenous groups in the pre-colonial Americas. Many indigenous groups recognized same-sex marriage, wherein one partner typically took on the role of the opposite sex. [3]

Inuit families were known to have cospousal relationships, in which two sets of spouses freely had sexual relationships with each other's spouse. Expressing jealous about these sexual relationships was generally frowned upon. Children of cospouses saw one another as siblings. [82]

In the Nuxalk and the Kwakwaka'wakw societies of the Pacific Northwest, marriages were used entirely to establish connections between kin groups. Marriage contracts were sometimes drawn up to a person's dog or foot if no suitable human matches were available. [3]

In traditional Hopi marriages, a woman's family paid a dowry in cornmeal to the groom's family. [3]

In the northeast, individuals generally made their own marital decisions. Couples were freely allowed to part ways. [83]

People in the Innu society enjoyed a lot of sexual freedom. Legitimacy of children was not much of a concern, because most things belonged to the entire tribe. [84]

Pre-colonial Oceania

Among the Aborigines in Australia, marriage was strictly managed by elders. Girls were typically assigned a husband during their childhoods. [85]

Early Modern period

East Asia

Edo Japan (1600-1868)

By the Edo period, the expectations of filial loyalty during marriage had grown even stronger. The head of the household was responsible for arranging matches, and brides and grooms were expected not to even express a preference.

Even after an 1871 law abolished the legal caste system, class discrimination was alive and well in spouse selection. [58]

Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)

Public education became almost universal between 1872 and the early 1900s, and schools stressed the traditional concept of filial piety, first toward the nation, second toward the household, and last of all toward a person's own private interests. [58] Love was thought to be inessential to marriage. [86] Marriage under the Meiji Civil Code required the permission of the head of a household and of the parents for men under 30 and women under 25. [58]

In arranged marriages, most couples met beforehand at a formal introduction called an omiai (お見合い, lit. 'looking at one another'), although some would meet for the first time at the wedding ceremony. A visitor to Japan described the omiai as "a meeting at which the lovers (if persons unknown to each other may be so styled) are allowed to see, sometimes even to speak to each other, and thus estimate each others' merits." [87] However, their objections carried little weight. [58]

Courtship remained rare in Japan at this period. Boys and girls were separated in schools, in cinemas, and at social gatherings. Colleagues who began a romantic relationship could be dismissed. Parents sometimes staged an arranged marriage to legitimize a "love match," but many others resulted in separation and sometimes suicide. [58]

Marriage, like other social institutions of this period, emphasized the subordinate inferiority of women to men. Women learned that as a daughter they ought to obey their father, as a wife their husband, as a widow their sons. Chastity in marriage was expected for women, and a law not repealed until 1908 allowed a husband to kill his wife and her lover if he found them in an adulterous act. The prostitution of women survived the periodic intrusion of puritanical ideals on Japan's less restrictive sexuality. [58]

Divorce laws, however, became more equal over time. The laws of the early Meiji period established several grounds on which a man could divorce: sterility, adultery, disobedience to parents-in-law, loquacity, larceny, jealousy, and disease. A wife, accompanied by a close male relative, could appeal for divorce if she had been deserted or imprisoned by her husband, or if he was profligate or mentally ill. The 1898 Meiji Civil Code established the principle of mutual consent, although the consent of women was still likely to be forced until the early 20th century, as women gradually gained access to education and financial independence. [58]

Marriage between a Japanese and non-Japanese person was not officially permitted until 14 March 1873. A foreign national was required to surrender their citizenship and acquire Japanese citizenship. [88]

Europe

Marriage became an inflection point of the conflicting values of Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions.

As part of the Protestant Reformation, the role of recording marriages and setting the rules for marriage passed to the state, reflecting Martin Luther's view that marriage was a "worldly thing". [89] John Calvin and his Protestant colleagues reformulated Christian marriage by enacting the Marriage Ordinance of Geneva, which imposed "The dual requirements of state registration and church consecration to constitute marriage" [90] for recognition. By the 17th century, many of the Protestant European countries had a state involvement in marriage.

Conventional wisdom in Protestant communities was that, with effort, love would develop after a marriage. [91] Marrying primarily for love was still discouraged — one saying claimed that "he who marries for love has good nights and bad days". [3]

As part of the Counter-Reformation, in 1563 the Council of Trent decreed that a Roman Catholic marriage would be recognized only if the marriage ceremony was officiated by a priest with two witnesses. The council also authorized a Catechism, issued in 1566, which defined marriage as "The conjugal union of man and woman, contracted between two qualified persons, which obliges them to live together throughout life." [90]

England and Wales

In England and Wales, under the Anglican Church, marriage by consent and cohabitation was valid until the passage of Marriage Act 1753. The act required a marriage ceremony to be officiated by an Anglican priest in the Anglican Church with two witnesses and registration. The act did not apply to Jewish marriages or those of Quakers, whose marriages continued to be governed by their own customs. [92]

North America

Late Modern period

Europe

In the seventeenth century, a series of political, economic, and social changes rearranged marital priorities. [3]

England and Wales

Since 1837, civil marriages have been recognized as a legal alternative to church marriages under the Marriage Act 1836. In Germany, civil marriages were recognized in 1875. This law permitted a declaration of the marriage before an official clerk of the civil administration, when both spouses affirm their will to marry, to constitute a legally recognized valid and effective marriage, and allowed an optional private clerical marriage ceremony.

20th century

East Asia

China

The New Marriage Law of 1950 radically changed Chinese marriage traditions, enforcing monogamy, equality of men and women, and choice in marriage; arranged marriages were the most common type of marriage in China until then. Starting October 2003, it became legal to marry or divorce without authorization from the couple's work units. [93] [ clarification needed ]

Europe

By the 20th century, free choice of spouse was the norm in Western Europe. [3]

In contemporary English common law, a marriage is a voluntary contract by a man and a woman, in which by agreement they choose to become husband and wife. [94] Edvard Westermarck proposed that "the institution of marriage has probably developed out of a primeval habit". [95]

Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, and more couples choosing to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005. [96]

References

  1. ↑ van den Berghe 1979, p. 50.
  2. ↑ for the historiography see Frederik J. G. Pedersen, "Marriage" in Kelly Boyd, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing vol 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 766–68. ISBN   978-1-884964-33-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Coontz, Stephanie. (2005). Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Viking Press, Penguin Group Inc. pp. 125–29, ISBN   0-14-303667-X.
  4. ↑ Lee, Richard B. (December 1978). "Politics, sexual and non-sexual in an egalitarian society". Social Science Information. 17 (6): 871–895. doi:10.1177/053901847801700605. ISSN   0539-0184.
  5. ↑ Gould, Richard A.; Hayden, Brian (September 1994). "Archaeology: The Science of Once and Future Things". Man. 29 (3): 715. doi:10.2307/2804355. ISSN   0025-1496. JSTOR   2804355.
  6. ↑ Hallowell, A. Irving; Service, Elman R. (April 1964). "Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective". American Sociological Review. 29 (2): 314. doi:10.2307/2092162. ISSN   0003-1224. JSTOR   2092162.
  7. ↑ Price, T. Douglas; Feinman, Gary M. (1995), "Foundations of Prehistoric Social Inequality", Fundamental Issues in Archaeology, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 3–11, doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-1289-3_1, ISBN   978-1-4899-1291-6 , retrieved 2025-12-28
  8. ↑ MacEwen, Sally (May 2000). "Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide". Women's Studies International Forum. 23 (3): 378–379. doi:10.1016/s0277-5395(00)00095-9. ISSN   0277-5395.
  9. ↑ Sacks, Karen (August 1983). "Appendix Three Engels Revisited: Women, the Organization of Production, and Private Property". Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 3 (4): 385–401. doi:10.1177/027046768300300406. ISSN   0270-4676.
  10. 1 2 Tignor, Robert L. (2011). Egypt: a short history (Pbk. ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-15307-0.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Wojciechowska, Agnieszka (2016). From Amyrtaeus to Ptolemy: Egypt in the fourth century B.C. Philippika. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN   978-3-447-10655-9.
  12. 1 2 Moch, Leslie Page; Burguiere, Andre; Tenison, Sarah Hanbury; Morris, Rosemary; Wilson, Andrew (October 1998). "A History of the Family. Volume 1, Distant Worlds, Ancient Worlds". The American Historical Review. 103 (4): 1210. doi:10.2307/2651209. ISSN   0002-8762. JSTOR   2651209.
  13. ↑ Erwin Baber, R. (1935-03-01). "Marriage and Family Life in Ancient Egypt". Social Forces. 13 (3): 409–414. doi:10.2307/2570405. ISSN   0037-7732. JSTOR   2570405.
  14. ↑ Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. (2011). Gender in history: global perspectives (2nd ed.). Malden, Mass ; Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN   978-1-4051-8995-8.
  15. 1 2 Ogden, Daniel (2023-05-22). Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death. The Classical Press of Wales. doi:10.2307/jj.3919354. ISBN   978-1-914535-40-6.
  16. ↑ Jacq, Christian (1996). Les Egyptiennes: portraits de femmes de l'Egypte pharaonique. Paris: Perrin. ISBN   978-2-262-01075-1.
  17. ↑ Tacitus (by commentator Edward Brooks). 2013. The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus. Project Gutenberg. Footnotes 121–122.
  18. ↑ Herlihy, David. (1985). Medieval Households. Harvard University Press, pp. 73–5, ISBN   0-674-56376-X.
  19. ↑ Green, Dennis Howard and Siegmund, Frank. 2003. The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century. Boydell Press. p. 107
  20. ↑ Williamson, Malcolm (1998). The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. Psychology Press. ISBN   978-0-415-12663-2.
  21. ↑ Cantarella, Eva (1986). Pandora's Daughters. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0-8018-3193-5.
  22. ↑ Lefkowitz, Mary R.; Fant, Maureen B., eds. (1982). Women's life in Greece and Rome. London: Duckworth. ISBN   978-0-7156-1434-1.
  23. ↑ Thornton, Bruce S. (2018). Eros: the myth of Ancient Greek sexuality. New York London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   978-0-8133-3226-0.
  24. ↑ Stanley, Autumn (January 1981). "Daughters of isis, daughters of demeter: when women sowed and reaped". Women's Studies International Quarterly. 4 (3): 289–304. doi:10.1016/s0148-0685(81)96471-x. ISSN   0148-0685.
  25. ↑ "Marriage, a History." Psychology Today, 1 May 2005
  26. ↑ Bridenthal, Renate; Stuard, Susan Mosher; Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., eds. (1998). Becoming visible: women in European history (3rd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN   978-0-395-79625-2.
  27. ↑ "Greek Women: Marriage and Divorce". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
  28. ↑ "Magnus Hirschfeld Archive of Sexology". Erwin J. Haeberle.
  29. ↑ Frier and McGinn, Casebook, p. 53.
  30. ↑ Pomeroy, Sarah B (1999-06-03), "Reflections on Plutarch, A Consolation to His Wife", Plutarch’s Advice to the Bride and Groom and A Consolation to His Wife, Oxford University PressNew York, NY, pp. 75–81, doi:10.1093/oso/9780195120233.003.0004, ISBN   978-0-19-512023-3 , retrieved 2025-12-29
  31. ↑ "Roman empire.net marriage". Roman-empire.net. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009.
  32. ↑ Treggiari, Susan (1993). Roman Marriage: Isusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Clarendon Press. p. 39. ISBN   978-0-19-814939-2.
  33. ↑ McSheffrey, Shannon (2006). Marriage, sex, and civic culture in late medieval London. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 21. ISBN   978-0-8122-3938-6.
  34. ↑ "St. Ignatius of Antioch to Polycarp (Roberts-Donaldson translation)". Earlychristianwritings.com. 2 February 2006.
  35. ↑ Ivanhoe, P. J.; Van Norden, Bryan W., eds. (2005). Readings in classical Chinese philosophy (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. ISBN   978-0-87220-781-3.
  36. ↑ Lianfe, Yang (September 1993). "Water in Traditional Chinese Culture". The Journal of Popular Culture. 27 (2): 51–56. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1993.00051.x. ISSN   0022-3840.
  37. 1 2 Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1993-12-01). The Inner Quarters. University of California Press. doi:10.1525/9780520913486. ISBN   978-0-520-91348-6.
  38. 1 2 Watson, Rubie S.; Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Joint Committee on Chinese Studies (U.S.), eds. (1991). Marriage and inequality in Chinese society. Studies on China. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-06930-5.
  39. ↑ Ebrey, Patricia (1990). "Women, marriage, and the family in Chinese history". In Ropp, Paul (ed.). Heritage of China: Contemporary perspectives on Chinese civilization. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 197–223. ISBN 978-0520064416.
  40. ↑ Wiesner, Merry E. (2011). Gender in history: global perspectives (2. ed., 1. publ ed.). Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN   978-1-4051-8995-8.
  41. ↑ Sharma, Indira; Pandit, Balram; Pathak, Abhishek; Sharma, Reet (2013). "Hinduism, marriage and mental illness". Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 55 (6): S243-9. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.105544 . ISSN   0019-5545. PMC   3705690 . PMID   23858262.
  42. ↑ "The origins of marriage". The Week . January 1, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  43. ↑ Naranjo, Robert. "Marriage in Ancient Mesopotamia and Babylonia". eHistory.osu.edu. Ohio State University . Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  44. 1 2 "The Code of Hammurabi | Online Library of Liberty". oll.libertyfund.org. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  45. 1 2 3 Michel, Cécile. "Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Old Assyrian Period". In Frahm (2017).
  46. 1 2 3 4 Jakob, Stefan (2017b). "Economy, Society, and Daily Life in the Middle Assyrian Period". In Frahm (2017).
  47. ↑ Silter, Katharina (2018-09-29), "Einleitung", Respekterleben bei Menschen mit und ohne Behinderung, Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, pp. 1–19, doi:10.1007/978-3-658-23648-9_1, ISBN   978-3-658-23647-2 , retrieved 2025-12-29
  48. ↑ MacEwen, Sally (May 2000). "Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide". Women's Studies International Forum. 23 (3): 378–379. doi:10.1016/s0277-5395(00)00095-9. ISSN   0277-5395.
  49. ↑ Bain, Robert (2017). "Women, Fundamentalism and Terror: Echoes of Ancient Assyria". Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  50. ↑ PD-icon.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Marriage". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  51. ↑ PD-icon.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Husband and Wife". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  52. ↑ William Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in early Arabia, (1885), 167
  53. 1 2 This article incorporates text from the 1903 Encyclopaedia Biblica  article "Jealousy, Ordeal of" , a publication now in the public domain .
  54. ↑ PD-icon.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Adultery". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  55. ↑ 大明律附录大明令. 沈阳: 辽沈书社. 1990.
  56. ↑ 大明集禮·士庶婚禮. 台北: 台灣商務印書館. 1986.
  57. ↑ Ed, Fei, C.K. (1998). "Chinese Family Rules and Clan Regulations". Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press.
  58. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hendry, Joy (2010-10-18). Marriage in Changing Japan. doi:10.4324/9780203841334. ISBN   978-1-136-89800-6.
  59. ↑ Hozumi (2014-06-03). Ancestor Worship & Japanese Law. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315030234. ISBN   978-1-136-89238-7.
  60. 1 2 "Marriage in Japan". Japan Reference. 2013-03-04. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
  61. ↑ Sargent, Howard R.; Fukutake, Tadashi; Dore, R. P. (June 1968). "Japanese Rural Society". Man. 3 (2): 343. doi:10.2307/2798562. ISSN   0025-1496. JSTOR   2798562.
  62. ↑ Kurihara, Hiromu (1999). Heian-jidai no Rikon no Kenkyu. Tokyo: Kobundo.
  63. ↑ Akira Hayami, “Illegitimacy in Japan,” in Peter Laslett, Karla Oosterveen and Richard Smith, eds., Bastardy and its Comparative History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980), p. 397.
  64. ↑ Molony, Barbara (2016). Gender in Modern East Asia. Routledge. p. 22.
  65. ↑ 김선주. "연애와 혼인 사이". National Institute of Korean History (in Korean).
  66. ↑ Lee, Bae-yong (2008). Women in Korean History. Ewha Womans University Press. p. 19.
  67. ↑ Crapo, Richley H. (2002). Cultural anthropology: understanding ourselves and others (5th ed.). Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill. ISBN   978-0-07-238152-8.
  68. ↑ Hunt, Margaret R. (2023-11-10). The Middling Sort. University of California Press. doi:10.2307/jj.8441779. ISBN   978-0-520-91694-4.
  69. ↑ Hanawalt, pp. 98–100
  70. 1 2 33. Young, Bruce W. 2008. Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare. Greenwood Press. pp. 21, 24, 28
  71. ↑ Kertzer, David I and Marzio Barbagli. (2001). The history of the European family. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. xxii, ISBN   0-300-09090-0.
  72. ↑ Stone, Linda. (2010). Kinship and Gender. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 231–36, ISBN   0-8133-4402-6.
  73. ↑ Schofield, Phillipp R. (2003). Peasant and community in Medieval England, 1200–1500. Medieval culture and society. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan. p. 98, ISBN   0-333-64710-6.
  74. ↑ Laslett, Peter. (1965). The World We Have Lost. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 82, ISBN   0-415-31527-1.
  75. ↑ Excerpt from Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London Archived 23 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine "the sacramental bond of marriage could be made only through the freely given consent of both parties."
  76. ↑ "Marriage Records". Exploregenealogy.co.uk. 29 October 2007.
  77. 1 2 Pernoud, Régine (2000). Those terrible Middle Ages: debunking the myths . San Francisco: Ignatius Press. p.  102. ISBN   978-0-89870-781-6.
  78. ↑ Esparza Zabalegi, Jose Mari (March 2010). "Matrimonios a lo Navarro". Nabarralde Kazeta (7): 45.
  79. ↑ John T. Koch, Antone Minard. 2012. The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 495
  80. ↑ Greif, Avner (2005). "Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origin and Implications of Western Corporatism" (PDF). Standord Univeristy. pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  81. ↑ Levin, Eve. 1995. Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900–1700. Cornell University Press. pp 96–98
  82. ↑ Jankowiak, William R., ed. (1995). Romantic passion: a universal experience?. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-09687-4.
  83. ↑ Ackerman, Lillian A.; Klein, Laura F. (March 15, 2000). Women and Power in Native North America. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN   978-0806132419.
  84. ↑ Greene, Rayna; Etienne, Mona; Leacock, Eleanor (1982). "Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives". American Indian Quarterly. 6 (3/4): 387. doi:10.2307/1183653. ISSN   0095-182X. JSTOR   1183653.
  85. ↑ Fox, Robin; Meggitt, M. J. (June 1967). "Desert People: A Study of the Walbiri Aborigines of Central Australia". Man. 2 (2): 329. doi:10.2307/2799547. ISSN   0025-1496. JSTOR   2799547.
  86. ↑ West, Mark D. (2011-03-03). Lovesick Japan. Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/cornell/9780801449475.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-8014-4947-5.
  87. ↑ Chamberlain, Basil Hall (2022). "From Things Japanese (1904) " Theatre "". Meiji Kabuki: 331–336. doi:10.5040/9781666996715.ch-34. ISBN   978-1-6669-9671-5.
  88. ↑ Cortazzi, Hugh (2012). Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. IV. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN   978-1-136-64140-4.
  89. ↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "History of Marriage"  . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  90. 1 2 Witte, John Jr. (1997). From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press. pp.  39–40. ISBN   978-0-664-25543-5.
  91. ↑ Swatos, William H.; Ozment, Steven (1984). "When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe". Sociological Analysis. 45 (4): 397. doi:10.2307/3711306. ISSN   0038-0210. JSTOR   3711306.
  92. ↑ West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd Edition. Thomson Gale, 2005. ISBN   0-7876-6367-0
  93. ↑ "Danwei" . Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  94. ↑ "Marriage|LII / Legal Information Institute". Topics.law.cornell.edu. 19 August 2010. Archived from the original on 25 March 2011.
  95. ↑ Westermarck, Edward Alexander (1999) [1st Pub. 1903]. The History of Human Marriage (reprint ed.). Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London. ISBN   978-1-4021-8548-9.
  96. ↑ Vucheva, Elitsa. (30 July 2013) / Social Affairs / Europeans marry older, less often. Euobserver.com. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.