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BETROTHAL (A.S. treowth, " truth ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 831 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BETROTHAL (A.S. treowth, " truth ") , the giving " one's truth," or pledging one's faith to marry. Although See also:left optional by the See also:church and not necessary in See also:law, betrothal was anciently a formal ceremony which in most cases preceded the actual See also:marriage service, usually by a See also:period of some See also:weeks, but the marriage might for various reasons be delayed for years. The See also:canon law distinguished two types of betrothal:—(1) Sponsalia de praesenti, (2) Sponsalia de futuro. The first was a true though irregular marriage, and was abolished by the See also:council of See also:Trent as leading to clandestine unions and therefore being inimical to morality. The second, or betrothal properly so called, was a promise to marry at a future date, which promise without further ceremony became a valid marriage upon See also:con-summation. The church never precisely determined the See also:form of the ceremony, but demanded for its validity that it should have been entered into freely and at a legal See also:age; i.e. after the seventh birthday. The church further declared that See also:females between the ages of seven and twelve, and See also:males between seven and fourteen, could be betrothed, but not married, and that all such betrothals were to be public. The See also:ill-defined See also:laws as to betrothals tended to encourage abuses; and the See also:people, especially in the rural districts, inclined to hold betrothal sufficient See also:justification for cohabitation. Such pre-See also:contract is known to have existed in the See also:case of See also:Shakespeare (q.v.). See also:Francis See also:Douce (Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Antient See also:Manners, 1807) says that betrothal consisted of the "interchange of rings—the kiss—the joining of hands, to which is to be added the testimony of witnesses." In See also:France the presence of a See also:priest seems to have been considered essential, and though this was not so elsewhere it was customary for the couple to get their See also:parish priest to See also:witness their promise. In See also:England See also:solemn betrothal was almost universally practised. Among the peasantry the See also:place of rings was taken by a See also:coin which was broken between the pair, each taking a See also:part.

But almost any See also:

gift sufficed. A case in 1582is recorded where the See also:lover gave the girl a pair of gloves, two oranges, two handkerchiefs and a red See also:silk See also:girdle. Sometimes the See also:bride-elect received a See also:bent or crooked sixpence. At the conclusion of the ceremony, which by no means always took place in a church, it seems to have been usual for the couple to See also:pledge each other in a See also:cup of See also:wine, as do the See also:Jews and Russians to-See also:day. This drinking together was ever the universal See also:custom of parties in ratification of a bargain. See also:Joseph See also:Strutt (1749–1802) states that by the See also:civil law gifts given at betrothal could be recovered by the parties, if the marriage did not take place. But only conditionally, for if the See also:man " had had a See also:kiss for his See also:money, he should lose one See also:half of that which he gave. Yet with the woman it is otherwise, for, kissing or not kissing, whatever she gave, she may ask and have it again. However, this extends only to gloves, rings, bracelets and such-like small wares." Though the church abstained from prescribing the form of the ceremony, it jealously watched over the fulfilment of such. contracts and punished their violation. Betrothal, validly contracted, could be dissolved either by mutual consent, or by the supervening of some See also:radical See also:physical or social See also:change in the parties, or by the omission to fulfil one of the conditions of the contract. But here the church stepped in, and endeavoured to override such law as existed in the See also:matter by decreeing that whoever, after betrothal, refused to marry in facie ecclesiae, was liable to See also:excommunication till relieved by public See also:penance. In England the law was settled by an See also:act of 1753, which enacted that an aggrieved party could obtain redress only by an See also:action at See also:common law for See also:breach of promise of marriage (see MARRIAGE).

Formal betrothal is no longer customary in England, but on the See also:

European See also:continent it retains much of its former importance. There it is either solemn (publicly in church) or private (simply before witnesses). Such betrothals are legal contracts. They are only valid between persons of legal age, both of whom consent; and they are rendered void by See also:fraud, intimidation and See also:duress. In See also:Germany if the parties are under age the consent of the parents is needed; but if this be unreasonably withheld the couple may See also:appeal to a See also:magistrate, who can See also:sanction the betrothal. If the parents disagree, the See also:father's wish prevails. Public betrothal carries with it an See also:obligation to marry, and in case of refusal an action " lies " for the injured party. In Germany the betrothal is generally celebrated before the relatives, and the couple are called bride and bridegroom from that day until marriage. In See also:Russia, where it was once as binding as marriage, it is now a See also:mere formal part of the marriage ceremony. Among the See also:ancient Jews betrothal was formal and as binding as marriage. After the ceremony, which consisted of the handing of a See also:ring or some See also:object of value to the bride and formal words of contract, and the mutual pledging of the couple in consecrated wine, a period of twelve months elapsed before the marriage was completed by the formal See also:home-taking; unless the bride was a widow or the See also:groom a widower, when this See also:interval was reduced to See also:thirty days. Latterly the ceremony of betrothal has become a part of the marriage ceremony, and the engagement has become the informal affair it is in England.

For betrothal customs in See also:

China, the See also:East and elsewhere, consult L. J. Miln, Wooings and Weddings in Many Climes (See also:London, 19oo), and H. N. See also:Hutchinson, Marriage Customs in Many Lands (London, 1897). On See also:early See also:English law as to betrothals see See also:Sir F. See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, See also:History of English Law before the See also:time of See also:Edward I. (2nd ed., 1898). See also J. O. Llalliwell-Phillipps, Outlines of the See also:Life of Shakespeare (London, 1848, 1883).

End of Article: BETROTHAL (A.S. treowth, " truth ")

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