ABSTRACT
The view of marriage offered in this chapter, issued at the beginning of the reign of Henry I, is one that upholds the principle of freedom of choice in marriage, advocated by the Church, but also by some of the Anglo-Saxon laws quoted earlier. It also upholds the right of widows to remain unmarried, again something encouraged by the Church, which regarded chaste widowhood as preferable to remarriage. Local, customary law often overrules the common law in later medieval England. Prostitution was tolerated in many later medieval jurisdictions, and legal in some, albeit heavily regulated by local authorities. Various categories of women are not permitted in brothels: women of religion, married women, women wishing to work in secret, pregnant women, and women suffering from venereal diseases.
