Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Cultural Topics/Divorce

BN: This could be merged with marriage.

Divorce in Stuart England was extremely rare and just about impossible to obtain, as it required a special act of Parliament. Escape from marriage in seventeenth century English ecclesiastical law could only be achieved by annulments or by separations. Those who were rich and determined had little difficulty in proving justification for an unhappy marriage, citing the possible private nature of spouses. This provided ample opportunity for an dishonest rich man to argue that he was already contracted by spousals de presenti to somebody else or that he had had intercourse with some other woman to whom he was betrothed. Judicial separation was available through the church courts on such grounds as adultery, violence, or desertion, but this did not permit the couple to remarry. The practice of ecclesiastical courts was so scandalous that they were known as ‘Bawdy Courts’. However, these loopholes were open only to a small minority, except on the most blatant grounds, so marriage was typically considered “till death do us part”.

Widowhood was fairly common, given mortality rates, so those who lived to an old age were likely to have more than one spouse during their lifetime. Many families included stepsiblings. Widowhood could be an advantageous position, because it was the one situation in which she could hold property in her own right. For women who lacked property, widowhood could mean economic vulnerability, because of her relatively limited earning potential; thus, remarriage was often a matter of survival.

See also: Widows