Bigamous Marriage in Early Modern England

Question 1

Have historians tended to focus on early modern marriage formation or dissolution?

Answer 1

Formation

Question 2

What two ways could a marriage informally end?

Answer 2

1. One partner deserted

2. In limbo with a man going to sea, war or to look for work and never coming back

Question 3

What is divorce a mensa el thoro?

Answer 3

A judicial separation through an ecclesiastical court where no party could remarry - cold be granted for adultery or extreme cruelty

Question 4

How long after one spouse deserted could the other remarry?

Answer 4

7 years after which they were legally assumed dead

Question 5

Were marriage laws respected?

Answer 5

No - Lawrence Stone has suggested there were hundreds of thousands of bigamous marriages in this period

Question 6

What did the social fluidity and anonymity of medieval urban environments allow spouses fleeing a failed marriage to do and give an example?

Answer 6

Cohabit with a new partner and pretending they were married - unlikely to be detected e.g. Robert Hawe and partner had 6 children before it was discovered they were never married

Question 7

Why did many bigamously marry instead of cohabiting?

Answer 7

Die to social pressure of prying neighbours and parish officers

Question 8

What was the ideal form of marriage?

Answer 8

Conducted pubically in a parish church, preceded by a license

Question 9

What other forms of marriage were recognised as valid?

Answer 9

Clandestine = not in public space or not conducted by a church official
Simple vow exchange = carries risk of future repudiation

Question 10

When did divorce followed by remarriage become possible?

Answer 10

Late 17th century - only for the elite by private act of Parliament

Question 11

What was bigamy considered to be in the 16th century?

Answer 11

A spiritual offence prosecuted in the church courts

Question 12

What was bigamy considered to be after 1604?

Answer 12

Felony (by act of parliament) - offenders faced the death penalty unless they had secured a ‘divorce’ beforehand (confusion as to whether this meant separation or annulment)

Question 13

What were the origins of the 1604 law making bigamy a felony?

Answer 13

Part of Elizabethan imposition of harsher sentences for moral offences e.g. bastard bearing
Backlash to reformers attempting to introduce divorce and remarriage as they had in continental Europe e.g. William Tyndale and Archbishop Cranmer

Question 14

Why was there a concern about the number of bigamous, incestous and other scandalous marriages taking place?

Answer 14

1. Laymen resorting to unauthorised remarriage by mistaking the aw or inspiration by reform opinion
2. Growing remarriage amongst the nobility e.g. parliament recognising the remarriage of William Part after he divorced his adulterous wife

Question 15

In a debate in the 1597 parliament what concerns were raised?

Answer 15

MP’s shared horror stories of bigamous marriages and blamed there rise on an abuse of marriage licenses

Question 16

How did Elizabeth I respond to the 1597 debates ?

Answer 16

Issued new canons resting traditional law and requiring those judicially separated to give bond not to remarry in the former spouses lifetime

Question 17

Give an example of one of the horror stories used in the 1597 debates?

Answer 17

A Worcestershire man married 2 wives and then murdered one

Question 18

Who was the tension over marital law between?

Answer 18

Ecclesiastical law - disapprove of remarriage
Puritans - approved of remarriage
Parts of the lay population

Question 19

Will we ever know the true scale of bigamy at this time?

Answer 19

No - as the soles set out to hide their tracks

Question 20

How did many bigamists hide their tracks?

Answer 20

Moving to a new location
Assuming a new identity
Hiding behind a plausible narrative
Obtaining forged documentation

Question 21

What was a common form of bigamy?

Answer 21

A disappeared spouse retiring after a considerable amount of time after their spouse had remarried e.g. ten husband of Alice Green (disappeared for 15 years) reappeared for half an hour 1620 and Alice was bound over to appear at assizes

Question 22

Wha was the background of many cases of bigamy?

Answer 22

Casual - e.g. Jenny Voss, a notorious thief who had 18 husbands, married simply consisted of exchanging words

Question 23

What category did the majority of bigamists come from?

Answer 23

People moving on from an old/failed relationship and hoping to make a permanent commitment to a new partner

Question 24

What were serial bigamists?

Answer 24

Individuals who deceived and abandoned their victims e.g. Rev William Smith who married a woman in Cornwall and then left, stealing a horse and £20

Question 25

What was the motivation behind many accusations of bigamy?

Answer 25

To ruin the reputation of a person

For fraud e.g. stealing someone, accusing the, of bigamy and threatening to report the, if they didn’t pay you

Question 26

Which gender were accused of bigamy more often?

Answer 26

Men - by a ratio of over 4:1 in Essex trails

Question 27

Why did men commit more bigamy?

Answer 27

Easier for them to find work in a new area
Easy for soldiers and sailors who travelled often and were all men
Women burdened by children and less likely to have cash to use to move
Single women suspicions to local officials

Question 28

What would a deserted wife often do when their husband disappears?

Answer 28

Look for him hoping he would return or provide her with maintenance - difficult to as she might easily be assaulted or arrested as a vagrant

Question 29

What was another reaction abandoned women had?

Answer 29

Poorer women often tracked down and confronted the new wife, hoping to shame or frighten them into ending the relationship

Question 30

Did the new spouses of bigamists know about previous wives/husbands?

Answer 30

Often times not - lack of documents and prospect of social enhancement made traps commonplace

Question 31

What were the church and state keen to do?

Answer 31

See marriage regularised as a public ceremony - largely succeeded in reducing marriage by verbal exchange by the early 17th century

Question 32

How were marriages by verbal exchange combatted?

Answer 32

Requirement banns of marriage to be read out

Question 33

In an era of poor communication how did bigamous marriages come to light?

Answer 33

In small rural communities inhabitants were suspicious of newcomers - due to moral concern and financial budren to parish of irregular families

Question 34

What happened when suspicion was aroused over a bigamous marriage in a small rural community?

Answer 34

Churchwardens would present them to local courts e.g. of there was no evidence of former partners being dead

Question 35

Who often brought bigamous lawsuits to court?

Answer 35

The families of the former or new spouse in order to protect their name, exact revenge or cover humiliation

Question 36

Where do most bigamous marriages go undetected?

Answer 36

London - only if they invited attention or were bad neighbours (reporting them a way to get rid of them)

Question 37

What made it more likely that bigamous marriages would be detected?

Answer 37

Expansion in internal migration and commercial links - former villagers living in London and remaining in contact with home

Question 38

Did many presentments for bigamy have evidence?

Answer 38

No - frequently the accused was able to dispel accusations against them
Cases with little evidence either dismissed or accusers ordered to find proof e.g. potentially bigamous couples ordered to live separately until facts established

Question 39

What would happen when evidence was sufficient?

Answer 39

Suspects would be indicted and stand trial - few admitted guilt

Question 40

Out of 30 cases in a assize court in Kent how many resulted in convictions?

Answer 40

7 - however in 3 the accused had remarried after a matter of weeks/months making it easy to find proof

Question 41

What evidence proves that it was difficult for courts to prove guilt in bigamy cases?

Answer 41

Those who confessed to bigamy in initial questioning then denied it under indictment and were often acquitted

Question 42

What was the nature of juries in bigamy cases?

Answer 42

Reluctant to send bigamists to the gallows die to conflicting stories and inconclusive evidence - generally took benefit of the doubt

Question 43

What were juries in the 17th century influenced by?

Answer 43

Lax moral climate of the time - cohabitation acceptable
Commonality of clandestine marriages
Therefore bigamous marriages weren’t shocking as they would be in modern times

Question 44

Why were bigamous marriages easy to do?

Answer 44

Many marriages conducted without banns or licences

Many officials willing to change names and date son documents to benefit a person

Question 45

What happened to those convicted of bigamy before 1604?

Answer 45

Made to perform public penance (admit sins to priest)

Some secular punishment e.g. being whipped

Question 46

What happened to those convicted of bigamy after 1604?

Answer 46

Generally allowed to claim benefit of clergy and were burned in the hand
If you had many spouses or committed multiple crimes you could be executed

Question 47

Were women who were convicted treated harsher than men?

Answer 47

Yes
More were executed when compared to men
Unable to claim benefit of clergy until 1691

Question 48

What effect did the civil war have?

Answer 48

Disrupted many marriages e.g. husbands though to be dead and as a result bigamy increased