ABSTRACT
In marriage the bodies of two individuals became one flesh and the couple, usually ripe for reproduction, took its place within the wider social body. It was an enticing yet daunting prospect for men and women in early modern Europe. Proverbially the choice of partner was the ‘weightiest action’, both for individuals and their families; indeed it was ‘resembled to war, in which it is said, you cannot err twice’. 1 This powerful image takes us straight to some of the key features of the institution of marriage and its pivotal role in the social and political structure of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe. The pattern is at the same time both simple and complex. While a few fundamental principles are recognizable everywhere, there were infinite variations in diverse parts of the continent, at different points in time, at varying social levels, and depending on the vagaries of inclination and behaviour from family to family, couple to couple, and individual to individual. Since a short survey cannot do justice to all these niceties, the following discussion establishes the broad framework, offering examples from Germany, Italy and elsewhere, but for detailed discussion of key issues gives rather more attention to two particularly well-researched areas, England and France. 2
