A (Rough) Bibliography of Medieval and Renaissance Marriage Practices (with some Celtic stuff thrown in for good measure) by Kirsti S. Thomas ****************************************************************************** This bibliography focuses on marriage customs in Western Europe, dealing primarily with England, France, Germany and Italy. I have not included works on the topic of costume (with one exception), since an extensive FAQ on historical costuming is frequently posted to rec.org.sca. The FAQ is also available via FTP at rtfm.mit.edu: /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/historical-costuming /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part1 /pub/usenet/news.answers/crafts/textiles/books/part2 Several of the works are in languages other than English. Since my comprehension of Italian and French is minimal at best, I cannot guarantee the usefulness of works in those languages. I am also in the process of reviewing the works cited here and will be revising this bibliography as time allows. ****************************************************************************** Hand, Vanessa. Medieval Wedding Guide. (available through Chivalry Sports: http://renstore.com/Cooking.shtml#wedguide) (This is a handbook for planning a modern medieval-theme wedding) Sharon Naylor will be releasing a medieval-theme wedding planner on CD-ROM some time this year (1998). Two essays on the CD-ROM were written by me. ******************************************************************************* Adams, Jeremy duQuesnay. Patterns of Medieval Society. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969. Altieri, Marco Antonio. Li nuptiali. 1873. Rome: Roma nel Rinascimento, 1995. (If you can read Italian, this seems to be one of the best primary sources on Italian Renaissance wedding rituals. Originally written around 1509, it was reprinted in 1873. The 1873 printing was reprinted in 1995.) Bingham, Joel Foote. The Christian Marriage Ceremony: Its History, Significance and Curiosities: Ritual, Practical and Archaeological Notes; and the Text of the English, Roman, Greek and Jewish Ceremonies. New York: A. D. F. Randolph & Company, 1871. Bolton, Brenda, et al., eds. Women in Medieval Society. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1976. Brooke, Christopher Nugent Lawrence. The Medieval Idea of Marriage. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989. (Historical study of how marriage was viewed, legally, ecclesiastically and socially, and how it evolved) Brundage, James A. Sex, Law and Marriage in the Middle Ages. Aldershot, England: Variorum, 1993. Brucker, Gene A. Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986. Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo. Il Matrimonio Nella Societa Altomedievale: 22-28 aprile 1976. Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo 24. Spoleto : Presso la sede del Centro, 1977. Charsley, Simon R. Wedding Cakes and Cultural History. London: Routledge, 1992. Cunnington, Phillis Emily, and Catherine Lucas. Costume for Births, Marriages & Deaths. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1972. (Brief discussions of clothing and customs from roughly the 11th to the late 19th centuries, focusing primarily on England. Contains many direct quotes from period sources) Duby, Georges. Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages. Trans. Jane Dunnett. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1994. Duby, Georges. Medieval Marriage: Two Models from Twelfth-century France. Trans. Elborg Forster. Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History 11. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978. Duby, Georges. The Knight, the Lady, and the Priest: the Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France. Trans. Barbara Bray. 1st American ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983. Ennen, Edith. The Medieval Woman. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989. Famiglietti R. C. Tales of the Marriage Bed from Medieval France (1300-1500). 1st ed. Providence, RI: Picardy P, 1992. Fischer, Andreas. Engagement, Wedding and Marriage in Old English. Anglistische Forschungen 176. Heidelberg: Winter, 1986. Gaudemet, Jean, Le Mariage en Occident: les Moeurs et le Droit . Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1987. Gerstfeldt, Olga von. Hochzeitsfeste der Renaissance in Italien. Esslingen: P. Neff, 1906. Gies, Frances, and Joseph Gies. Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Goldberg, P. J. P. Women, Work, and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy: Women in York and Yorkshire c. 1300-1520. Oxford: Clarendon P; New York: Oxford UP, 1992. Greilsammer, Myriam. L'envers du Tableau: Mariage & Maternite en Flandre Medievale. Paris: A. Colin, 1990. Haines, Frank, and Elizabeth Haines. Foreign Brides From Antiquity. Cumberland, Md.: Hobby House P, 1989. (The Haines present general examples of brides from various points in history (1600, B.C. - A.D. 1720) Costumed dolls model the fashions in color photos. Also includes detailed descriptions of costume, with line drawings of each item of clothing and brief descriptions of wedding customs.) Herlihy, David. The Social History of Italy and Western Europe, 700-1500. London: Variorum, 1978. Holliday, Carl. Wedding Customs Then and Now. Boston: Stratford, 1919. James, Edwin Oliver. Marriage Customs Through the Ages. New York: Collier, 1965. Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane., Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1985. Lafon, Jacques. Les Epoux Bordelais: 1450-1550, Regimes Matrimoniaux et Mutations Sociales. Demographie et Societes 16. Paris, S.E.V.P.E.N., 1972. Laiou, Angeliki E., ed. Consent and Coercion to Sex and Marriage in Ancient and Medieval Societies. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1993. Lasker, Joe. Merry Ever After: the Story of Two Medieval Weddings. 1st ed. New York: Viking P, 1976. (children's book with nice color illustrations) Molho, Anthony. Marriage Alliance in Late Medieval Florence. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1994. Molin, Jean-Baptiste, and Protais Mutembe. Le Rituel du Mariage en France du XIIe au XVIe Siecle . Theologie Historique 26. Paris: Beauchesne, 1974. (One of the most frequently quoted works on the topic) Powell, Chilton Latham. English Domestic Relations, 1487-1653: a Study of Matrimony and Family Life in Theory and Practice as Revealed by the Literature, Law, and History of the Period. New York: Columbia UP, 1917. Rollin, Betty. I Thee Wed: a Collection of Marriage Vows Past and Present, Here and There. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961. Roqueta, Joan. Lo Ritual Occitan del Maridatge: Testimoni d'una Civilisacion Originala: Edicion Sinoptica e Critica de Tres Rituals amb Formularis en Lenga Occitana (Bordeu 1466, Caors 1503, Perigus 1536), Seguida d'una Analisi de Textes Occitans Medievals e d'una Prepausicion de Ritual Moderne del Maridatge en Lenga d'Oc. Besiers: Centre Internacional de Documentacion Occitana, 1981. Salamallah, the Corpulent. Medieval Games. 2nd ed. Albuquerque, N.M.: Raymond's Quiet P, 1982. A 3rd ed. was published in Aug. 1995 (Games and sports you can try at the reception!) Salisbury, Joyce E. Medieval Sexuality: a Research Guide. Garland Reference Library of Social Science 565. Garland Medieval Bibliographies 5. New York: Garland, 1990. Saslow, James M. The Medici Wedding of 1589: Florentine Festival as Theatrum Mundi. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996. (projected date of publication: 5-96) Schott, Clausdieter. Trauung und Jawort: Wandel einer Form. Frankfurt: Metzner, 1969. Schwerdtfeger, Anne. Ethnological Sources of the Christian Marriage Ceremony. Stockholm: Ceres, 1982. Searle, Mark, and Kenneth W. Stevenson. Documents of the Marriage Liturgy. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical P, 1992. (_The_ book to read for copies of the vows themselves. Includes a Jewish ceremony and a number of Christian liturgies from the Early Middle Ages to the present) Stevenson, Kenneth W. Nuptial Blessing: a Study of Christian Marriage Rites. New York: Oxford UP, 1983. (Chapter 2 is a good source for various rituals and ceremonies, while Chapter 3 deals with marriage customs during the Reformation) Stone, Lawrence. The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, 1500-1800. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Tasman, Alice Lea Mast. Wedding Album: Customs and Lore Through the Ages. New York: Walker, 1982. Tegg, William. The Knot Tied: Marriage Ceremonies of All Nations. Detroit: Singing Tree P, 1970. Urlin, Ethel L. A Short History of Marriage, Marriage Rites, Customs and Folklore in Many Countries and All Ages. Detroit: Singing Tree P, 1969. Van Hoecke, Willy, and Andries Welkenhuysen. Love and Marriage in the Twelfth Century. Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, ser. 1, studia 8. Leuven: Leuven UP, 1981. Vocelka, Karl. Habsburgische Hochzeiten 1550-1600: kulturgeschichtlichen Studien zum manieristischen Reprasentationsfest. Veroffentlichungen der Kommission fur Neuere Geschichte Osterreichs 65. Wien: Bohlau, 1976. Waugh, Scott L. The Lordship of England: Royal Wardships and Marriages in English Society and Politics, 1217-1327. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1988. Westermarck, Edward. The History of Human Marriage. 5th ed. New York: Allerton Book Company, 1922. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Charsley, Simon R. Rites of Marrying: the Wedding Industry in Scotland. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1991. Martin James. The Road to the Aisle. New ed. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1987. (Scottish weddings) McGuire Kim. The Irish Wedding Book . Dublin: Wolfhound P, 1994. Power, Patrick C. Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland. Dublin: Mercier, 1976. (reprinted in 1993?)