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  3. Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in England, 1570–1640
  • Cited by 34
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
September 2009
Print publication year:
1988
Online ISBN:
9780511560590
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511560590
Subjects:
Social and Population History, British History after 1450, Regional and World History: General Interest, History
Series:
Past and Present Publications
Information

Book description

Adultery, fornication, breach of marriage contract, sexual slander - these, along with religious offences of various kinds, were typical of the cases dealt with by the ecclesiastical courts in Elizabethan and early Stuart England. What was it like to live in a society in which personal morality was regulated by law in this fashion? How far-reaching was such surveillance in actual practice? How did ordinary people view the courts - as useful institutions upholding accepted standards, or as an alien system purveying unwanted values? How effective were the church courts in influencing attitudes and behaviour? Previous assessments of ecclesiastical justice, coloured by contemporary puritan and common law criticisms, have mostly been unfavourable. This in-depth, richly documented study of the sex and marriage business dealt with under church law, based on the records of the courts in Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and West Sussex in the period 1570–1640, presents a more balanced and more positive view.

Reviews

' … a constantly challenging, constantly interesting monograph which makes a valuable contribution to early modern social, ecclesiastical and legal history.'

Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement

' … an outstanding work of institutional and social history.'

Source: English Historical Review

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