Marriage

===Europe===
{{Further|History of the family|Royal intermarriage}}
[[File:Brauysegen im Bett.gif|thumb|Woodcut. How Reymont and Melusina were betrothed / And by the bishop were blessed in their bed on their wedlock. From the ''[[Melusine]]'', 15th century.]]

From the [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] era (30 to 325 CE), marriage was thought of as primarily a private matter, with no uniform religious or other ceremony being required.<ref>{{cite book |title=Marriage, sex, and civic culture in late medieval London |last=McSheffrey|first=Shannon |year=2006 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3938-6 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJX_Nr2fdzAC}}</ref> However, bishop [[Ignatius of Antioch]] writing around 110 to bishop [[Polycarp]] of Smyrna exhorts, "[I]t becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-polycarp-longer.html |title=St. Ignatius of Antioch to Polycarp (Roberts-Donaldson translation) |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2 February 2006 }}</ref>

In 12th-century Europe, women took the surname of their husbands and starting in the second half of the 16th century parental consent along with the church's consent was required for marriage.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages">{{Cite book| last1 = Pernoud|first1 = Régine|title = Those terrible Middle Ages: debunking the myths| url = https://archive.org/details/thoseterriblemid00pern| url-access = limited|year = 2000|publisher = Ignatius Press| location = San Francisco|isbn = 978-0-89870-781-6|page = [https://archive.org/details/thoseterriblemid00pern/page/n52 102]}}</ref>

With few local exceptions, until 1545, Christian marriages in Europe were by mutual consent, declaration of intention to marry and upon the subsequent physical union of the parties.<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook">[http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/14042_toc.html Excerpt from Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323055903/http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/14042.html |date=23 March 2009 }} "the sacramental bond of marriage could be made only through the freely given consent of both parties."</ref><ref name="marriageDotAbout">{{cite web |url=http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |title=marriage.about.com |publisher=marriage.about.com |date=16 June 2010 |access-date=25 November 2008 |archive-date=14 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214012630/http://marriage.about.com/cs/generalhistory/a/marriagehistory.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The couple would promise verbally to each other that they would be married to each other; the presence of a priest or witnesses was not required.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.exploregenealogy.co.uk/FindingEarlyMarriageRecords.html |title=Marriage Records |publisher=Exploregenealogy.co.uk |date=29 October 2007 }}</ref> This promise was known as the "verbum." If freely given and made in the present tense (e.g., "I marry you"), it was unquestionably binding;<ref name="upennExcerptFromBook"/> if made in the future tense ("I will marry you"), it would constitute a [[Engagement|betrothal]].

In 1552, a wedding took place in Zufia, [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]], between Diego de Zufia and Mari-Miguel following the custom as it was in the realm since the Middle Ages, but the man denounced the marriage on the grounds that its validity was conditioned to "riding" her ("''si te cabalgo, lo cual dixo de bascuence (...) balvin yo baneça aren senar içateko''"). The tribunal of the kingdom rejected the husband's claim, validating the wedding, but the husband appealed to the tribunal in [[Zaragoza]], and this institution annulled the marriage.<ref name="Matrimonios a lo Navarro">{{cite journal |last1=Esparza Zabalegi |first1=Jose Mari|date=March 2010 |title=Matrimonios a lo Navarro |journal=Nabarralde Kazeta |issue=7 |page=45 }}</ref> According to the [[Fueros of Navarre|Charter of Navarre]], the basic union consisted of a civil marriage with no priest required and at least two witnesses, and the contract could be broken using the same formula.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} The Church in turn lashed out at those who got married twice or thrice in a row while their formers spouses were still alive. In 1563 the [[Council of Trent]], twenty-fourth session, required that a valid marriage must be performed by a priest before two witnesses.<ref name="Matrimonios a lo Navarro"/>

One of the functions of churches from the [[Middle Ages]] was to register marriages, which was not obligatory. There was no state involvement in marriage and personal status, with these issues being adjudicated in [[ecclesiastical court]]s. During the Middle Ages marriages were arranged, sometimes as early as birth, and these early pledges to marry were often used to ensure treaties between different royal families, nobles, and heirs of fiefdoms. The church resisted these imposed unions, and increased the number of causes for nullification of these arrangements.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages"/> As Christianity spread during the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the idea of free choice in selecting marriage partners increased and spread with it.<ref name="those_terrible_middle_ages"/>

In medieval Western Europe, later marriage and higher rates of definitive [[celibacy]] (the so-called "European marriage pattern") helped to constrain patriarchy at its most extreme level. For example, [[England in the Middle Ages|Medieval England]] saw marriage age as variable depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until the early twenties when times were bad and falling to the late teens after the [[Black Death]], when there were labor shortages;<ref>Hanawalt, Barbara A. 1986. The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England. Oxford University Press, Inc. Pg 96</ref> by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England.<ref>Hanawalt, pp. 98–100</ref><ref>33. Young, Bruce W. 2008. ''Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare''. Greenwood Press. pp. 21, 24, 28</ref> Where the strong influence of classical [[Celts|Celtic]] and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] cultures (which were not rigidly patriarchal)<ref>John T. Koch, Antone Minard. 2012. The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 495</ref><ref>Young, Bruce W. 2008. Family Life in the Age of Shakespeare. Greenwood Press. pp. 16–17, 20</ref> helped to offset the Judaeo-Roman patriarchal influence,<ref>Greif, Avner. 2005. Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origin and Implications of Western Corporatism. Stanford University. 2011. pp. 2–3. {{cite web|url=http://www.aeaweb.org/assa/2006/0106_0800_1104.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-11-20  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904002714/https://www.aeaweb.org/assa/2006/0106_0800_1104.pdf |archive-date=4 September 2015 }}</ref> in Eastern Europe the tradition of early and universal marriage (often in early [[adolescence]]),<ref>Levin, Eve. 1995. ''Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900–1700''. Cornell University Press. pp 96–98</ref> as well as traditional [[Slavs|Slavic]] patrilocal custom,<ref>Levin, 1995; pp. 137, 142</ref> led to a greatly inferior status of women at all levels of society.<ref>Levin, 1995; pp. 225–27</ref>
[[File:Dräkt, Gustav III, gnr 3485 & dräkt, Sofia magdalena, gnr 3502. Fel föremålsref - Livrustkammaren - 16527.tif|thumb|Swedish royal wedding clothes from 1766 at [[Livrustkammaren]] in Stockholm]]

The average age of marriage for most of [[Western European marriage pattern|Northwestern Europe]] from 1500 to 1800 was around [[Hajnal line|25 years of age]];<ref>Stone, Linda. (2010). ''Kinship and Gender''. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 231–36, {{ISBN|0-8133-4402-6}}.</ref><ref>Schofield, Phillipp R. (2003). ''Peasant and community in Medieval England, 1200–1500''. Medieval culture and society. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan. p. 98, {{ISBN|0-333-64710-6}}.</ref><ref name="autogenerated82">Laslett, Peter. (1965). The World We Have Lost. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 82, {{ISBN|0-415-31527-1}}.</ref> as the Church dictated that both parties had to be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their parents, the bride and groom were roughly the same age, with most brides in their early twenties and most grooms two or three years older,<ref name="autogenerated82"/> and a substantial number of women married for the first time in their thirties and forties, particularly in urban areas,<ref>Coontz, Stephanie. (2005). ''Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage''. New York: Viking Press, Penguin Group Inc. pp. 125–29, {{ISBN|0-14-303667-X}}.</ref> with the average age at first marriage rising and falling as circumstances dictated. In better times, more people could afford to marry earlier and thus fertility rose and conversely marriages were delayed or forgone when times were bad, thus restricting family size;<ref>Kertzer, David I and Marzio Barbagli. (2001). ''The history of the European family''. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. xxii, {{ISBN|0-300-09090-0}}.</ref> after the [[Black Death]], the greater availability of profitable jobs allowed more people to marry young and have more children,<ref>Lehmberg, Stanford E. and Samantha A. Meigs. (2008). The Peoples of the British Isles: A New History: From Prehistoric Times to 1688. Lyceum Books. p. 117, {{ISBN|1-933478-01-2}}.</ref> but the stabilization of the population in the 16th century meant fewer job opportunities and thus more people delaying marriages.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00483.x|title=Girl power: The European marriage pattern and labour markets in the North Sea region in the late medieval and early modern period|year=2010|last1=De Moor|first1=Tine|last2=Van Zanden|first2=Jan Luiten|journal=The Economic History Review|volume=63|pages=1–33 (17)}}</ref>

The age of marriage was not absolute, however, as child marriages occurred throughout the Middle Ages and later, with just some of them including:
* The 1552 CE marriage between John Somerford and Jane Somerford Brereto, at the ages of 3 and 2, respectively.<ref name="woman-compendium" />
* In the early 1900s, [[Magnus Hirschfeld]] surveyed the age of consent in about 50 countries, which he found to often range between 12 and 16. In the [[Vatican City|Vatican]], the age of consent was 12.<ref name="ascrim-persp">{{Cite book |last1=Bullough |first1=Vern L. |title=Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law: Multidisciplinary Perspectives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9d23AwAAQBAJ&q=Magnus+Hirschfeld+age+of+consent+50+countries&pg=PA37 |access-date=18 October 2015 |isbn=978-1-317-95499-6 |page=37|date=2014-06-03 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

As part of the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], the role of recording marriages and setting the rules for marriage passed to the state, reflecting [[Martin Luther]]'s view that marriage was a "worldly thing".<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=History of Marriage}}</ref> By the 17th century, many of the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] European countries had a state involvement in marriage.

In England, under the Anglican Church, marriage by consent and cohabitation was valid until the passage of [[Marriage Act 1753|Lord Hardwicke's Act]] in 1753. This act instituted certain requirements for marriage, including the performance of a religious ceremony observed by witnesses.<ref name="WestLaw">''West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd Edition.'' Thomson Gale, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7876-6367-0}}</ref>
[[File:Paolo Monti - Serie fotografica - BEIC 6363689.jpg|thumb|A marriage in 1960 in Italy. Photo by [[Paolo Monti]].]]
As part of the [[Counter-Reformation]], in 1563 the [[Council of Trent]] decreed that a [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] marriage would be recognized only if the marriage ceremony was officiated by a priest with two witnesses. The council also authorized a [[Catechism]], issued in 1566, which defined marriage as "The conjugal union of man and woman, contracted between two qualified persons, which obliges them to live together throughout life."<ref name="Witte">{{cite book|last=Witte|first=John Jr.|title=From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1997|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fromsacramenttoc0000witt/page/39 39–40]|isbn=978-0-664-25543-5|url=https://archive.org/details/fromsacramenttoc0000witt/page/39}}</ref>

In the [[early modern period]], [[John Calvin]] and his [[Protestantism|Protestant]] colleagues reformulated Christian marriage by enacting the Marriage Ordinance of Geneva, which imposed "The dual requirements of state registration and church consecration to constitute marriage"<ref name="Witte"/> for recognition.

In [[England and Wales]], Lord Hardwicke's [[Marriage Act 1753]] required a formal ceremony of marriage, thereby curtailing the practice of [[Fleet Marriage]], an irregular or a clandestine marriage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/17.1/leneman.html |title=The Scottish Case That Led to Hardwicke's Marriage Act |last=Leneman |first=Leah |year=1999 |publisher=Law and History Review  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706143516/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/17.1/leneman.html |archive-date=6 July 2008 |access-date=8 June 2008 }}</ref> These were clandestine or irregular marriages performed at Fleet Prison, and at hundreds of other places. From the 1690s until the Marriage Act of 1753 as many as 300,000 clandestine marriages were performed at Fleet Prison alone.<ref>{{cite book|title=For Better, for Worse: British Marriages, 1600 to the Present|last=Gillis|first=John R.|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn = 978-0-19-503614-5|year=1985|url=https://archive.org/details/forbetterforwors00gill|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/forbetterforwors00gill/page/92 92]}}</ref> The Act required a marriage ceremony to be officiated by an Anglican priest in the [[Anglican Church]] with two witnesses and registration. The Act did not apply to Jewish marriages or those of Quakers, whose marriages continued to be governed by their own customs.

[[File:Flodmark-Ehrs Marriage 2016 crop.jpg|thumb|Newlyweds after a civil ceremony in the tower of [[Stockholm City Hall]] in 2016]]
In England and Wales, since 1837, civil marriages have been recognized as a legal alternative to church marriages under the [[Marriage Act 1836]]. In Germany, civil marriages were recognized in 1875. This law permitted a declaration of the marriage before an official clerk of the civil administration, when both spouses affirm their will to marry, to constitute a legally recognized valid and effective marriage, and allowed an optional private clerical marriage ceremony.

In contemporary [[English law|English common law]], a marriage is a voluntary [[contract]] by a man and a woman, in which by agreement they choose to become husband and wife.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/Marriage |title=Marriage&#124;LII / Legal Information Institute |publisher=Topics.law.cornell.edu |date=19 August 2010  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325205909/http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/Marriage |archive-date=25 March 2011 }}</ref> Edvard Westermarck proposed that "the institution of marriage has probably developed out of a primeval habit".<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Human Marriage|last=Westermarck|first=Edward Alexander|author-link=Edvard Westermarck|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London]]|year=1903|isbn=978-1-4021-8548-9|edition=reprint}}</ref>

Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, and more couples choosing to [[Cohabitation|cohabit]] rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.<ref>Vucheva, Elitsa. (30 July 2013) [http://euobserver.com/social/27161 / Social Affairs / Europeans marry older, less often]. Euobserver.com. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref> As of 2000, the average marriage age range was 25–44 years for men and 22–39 years for women.