This is a study of marriage litigation in the courts of York, Ely, Paris, Cambrai, and Brussels in the late medieval period. Donahue brings to light patterns of late medieval men and women manipulating each other and the courts to produce extraordinarily varied results. List of Tables viii Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Notes About This Book xv Introduction 1 1 The Background Rules and Institutions 14 Formation of Marriage 16 Impediments 18 Divorce 33 Procedure in Marriage Cases 33 Secular Consequences of Marriage 41 Conclusion 43 2 Lying Witnesses and Social Reality: Four English Marriage Cases in the High Middle Ages 46 Dolling c Smith 46 Merton c Midelton 49 Ingoly c Midelton, Esyngwald and Wright 52 Tiryngton c Moryz 57 3 Statistics: The Court of York, 1300-1500 63 York Cause Papers over Two Centuries: The Business of the Court and Claims and Defenses in Marriage Cases 64 Results in the Fourteenth Century 73 Results in the Fifteenth Century 80 4 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fourteenth Century 90 Two-Party de presenti Enforcement Actions 91 De futuro and Abjuration Cases 112 Three- and Four-Party Enforcement Actions 123 Divorce from the Bond 138 Other Types of Actions 146 Conclusion 151 5 Story-Patterns in the Court of York in the Fifteenth Century 152 Different Reactions to Old Story-Patterns 152 New Story-Patterns 169 More Arranged Marriages 185 Rural Versus Urban Cases 201 Conclusion 215 6 Ely 218 The Business of the Court of Ely 218 Counting Marriage Cases in the Court of Ely 225 Cases Involving Male Plaintiffs 235 Cases Involving Female Plaintiffs 260 The Office Cases 278 Conclusion 296 7 Paris 302 The Business of the Court of Paris 302 The Marriage Cases 307 Sponsalia de futuro re Integra 311 Sponsalia de futuro carnali copula secuta 345 Sponsalia de presenti and Ambiguous sponsalia; Miscellaneous Types of Spousals Litigation 362 Divorce from the Bond 371 Conclusion 376 8 Cambrai and Brussels: The Courts and the Numbers 383 Introduction 383 The Business of the Ecclesiastical Courts of Cambrai and Brussels 390 Marriage Litigation at Cambrai and Brussels A Look at the Numbers 395 Rural Versus Urban 417 9 Cambrai and Brussels: The Content of the Sentences 424 Two-Party Spousals Cases Not Alleging copula 424 Three-Party Spousals Cases Not Alleging copula 454 Two-Party Spousals Cases Alleging copula 464 Three-Party Spousals Cases Alleging copula 481 Divorce from the Bond 505 Miscellaneous Cases 506 Conclusion 518 10 Divorce a mensa et tboro and salvo lure thori (Separation) 521 The Court of York 521 Separation at Paris, Cambrai, and Brussels 534 Conclusion 557 11 Social Practice, Formal Rule, and the Medieval Canon Law of Incest 562 The Rules and Their Application 562 Richard de Clyve and the Canon Law of Incest 566 Incest Cases at York, Ely, and Paris 570 Incest Cases at Cambrai and Brussels 577 Conclusion 596 12 Broader Comparisons 598 The Difference Between English and Franco-Belgian Medieval Marriage Cases 598 Where Do We Go from Here? 622 Epilogue and Conclusion 633 Bibliography and Abbreviations 641 Primary Sources 641 Works of Reference 645 Secondary Literature 646 Subject Index 655