ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that emerged from Augustine's encounter with the Anglo-Saxons – cousin marriage, marriage to affines, adoption and concubinage. It begins with the history of prohibited unions, since this is one of the most politically visible features of the development of Christian marriage and one that became particularly prominent in England at the time of the Reformation. During the Reformation, the discussion centred upon what was and what was not God’s law, a matter of deep and continuing concern to Henry VIII as well as to the Protestants he reluctantly followed. The Biblical prohibitions on intercourse and marriage are listed at some length in Leviticus 18: 6ff, and repeated in Leviticus 20. In his reply to Augustine, Gregory relies on sacred law for his rejection of cousin marriage, which he claims was allowed by the Roman State.
