Carolingian marriage had much of the same structure and tradition that contemporary marriage has: families gathering, vows exchanged, a transition of wealth, and consummation of the partnership. However, in Carolingian society, marriage had a slightly different connotation given to it; this fact lies in the question of love. Today people marry because they want to spend the rest of their worldly lives together; in medieval society marriage was most often used as a political tool to bring powerful families together. And while we as a civilization are debating the definition of marriage, the Carolingians were known to have had two definitive types.
Muntehe
Muntehe, by practice, was a transfer of guardianship over a woman from her kin group to her husband. This type of union was based heavily on the social status of the woman and, predictably, the man and woman would be of a similar status background thus insuring that both parties’ families were benefiting. Generally, the benefits of such a binding union (and this was the more legally binding of the two) were the transfer of wealth between families and also the continuation of the bloodlines of both families. One of the main points of interest in this type of marriage is that consent on behalf of the participants was not very important in order for the couple to be married; very often the two had never even met and the families had already given their blessing, which was the only legal consent that was needed in such situations (Karras, The History of Marriage and the Myth of Friedelehe).
Along with the parental consent of the couple to wed, often a bride-price was to be paid by the man. A bride-price would be a monetary amount with which the groom often “purchased” either the wife or the rights to the guardianship of the woman and of her property. An interesting fact, though, is that this bride-price was most often paid to the woman and not to her family. The practice of payment eventually evolved into both a bride-price and a dowry which was the promised wealth and property that the woman brought to the union (Thomas, Medieval and Renaissance Marriage: Theory and Customs). Beyond these monetary agreements there were four conditions that were used to legally bind a muntehe marriage, written out by Hincmar, the Archbishop of Rheims, which states:
1. The partners had to be of equal and free rank and must give their consent
2. The woman must be given by her father and dowered
3. The marriage must be honored publicly
4. The union was completed by sexual consummation (Duby, 34)
As time past, the rules of this more permanent marriage began to change where consent became an important fixture of the proceedings. There were two types of consent: verba de futuro and verba de praesenti. Verba de futuro is very similar to the action of becoming engaged in today’s world; it was the consent of the parties to marry in the future shone by the example in the wording of “I will take you as my wife”. In contrast the promise of verba de praesenti or in the same vein “I do take you as my wife” was used as the final step for the couple to be wed and for the women to then move into her new husband’s quarters. (Thomas, Medieval and Renaissance Marriage: Theory and Customs). It is also important to include that Muntehe was much more difficult to dissolve (or get a divorce) then the upcoming Friedelehe; however, if the marriage was not consummated, it could still be dissolved and the parties were allowed to remarry-this rule coming from the ecclesiastical side of things.
Friedelehe
Friedelehe is a type of marriage in the Carolingian period that more closely relates to our modern version of the practice. In this type the woman is recognized more as a “wife” due to the fact that the marriage is by choice rather than as a symbolic act to make peace or benefit two families. Very often this union was for a lower class crowd or if the man was marrying below his status. Friedelehe may have its origins as an early form of Germanic marriage as shown in Tacitus’s writing “alone among the barbarians they are content with one wife, except for a few who, not because of lust but because of their nobility enter into several marriages” (Karras, The History of Marriage and the Myth of Friedelehe). In this marriage the woman would receive a “morgengabe” or monetary morning gift from the groom after the consummation; it is suggested by historian that this was a present to recognize that the wife had remained a virgin. Notice, though, that this is not a dowry and no possessions were transitioned; thus, allowing this particular form to be much more easily dissolved then the Muntehe version. Moving deeper into the Carolingian period, the status of Friedelehe has been downgraded and the women in the relationship were now known as concubines. And while Friedelehe was an official marriage in which the offspring were considered legitimate, the church became consistently more vocal against these non-binding practices. This lead to celebrating Friedelehe without legal proceedings thus why there are no legal accounts of the practice. (Karras, The History of Marriage and the Myth of Friedelehe). Due to the church pressure this marriage type was also not able to be publicly celebrated. (Stone, Bound From Either Side). It is interesting to note that Charlemagne allowed his daughters to enter into these agreements as opposed to the more binding kind so that he would not have to transfer any money or property permanently to the spouses.
Marriage Proceedings
While Friedelehe has its own set of marriage proceedings, they are not as well documented as that of Muntehe arrangements. There are known to be two separate segments in a medieval marriage: the betrothal and the wedding. The betrothal was a more solemn event (at least in Frankish culture) where the parents of the groom and bride-to-be met and discussed the proceedings and usually the transfers of wealth, property, and anything else having to due with the dowry. It is mentioned that many things that are apparent today started in these medieval ceremonies: exchanging of rings, sealing the marriage by handshake between the bride’s father and groom, the sealing by a kiss. In short, the betrothal always included some passing of material between the two families as a sign of promise of marriage in the future (Thomas, Medieval and Renaissance Marriage: Theory and Customs).
After some time had past since the betrothal (usually to get preparations in order) the wedding occurred. Prior to the twelfth century, there is no evidence suggesting that the nuptials actually took place in a church. It is actually known that early on in these marriages, a priest was not required to attend and if one did it was just to bless the couple, not to actually lead them in the marriage ceremonies. When this process does come about, which is speculated to be when the betrothal moved into the church, the bride and groom would do an exchange much like this.
"I, (MName)., give my body to you, (FName) in loyal matrimony."
"And I receive it(f)."
"I, (Fname), give my body to you, (Mname)."
"And I receive it(m)" (Thomas, Medieval and Renaissance Marriage: Theory and Customs).
Once the ceremony was over the families would join in a feast and then the consummation would occur. This was the true sealing of the marriage and afterwareds the bride would then have a ceremonial removal to her husband’s house.
Marriage Laws
There were many rules and regulations to pre-marriage and marriage in Charlemagne’s time. I will include just a few that were named in the book Carolingian Civilization by Paul Edward Dutton.
“If any man’s wife is dead, he has the right to take another, likewise, also, in the case of a woman. If he takes a third wife, he shall fast for three weeks; if he takes a fourth or a fifth, he shall fast for twenty-one week” (Dutton, 249)
“If anyone who has a lawful wife puts her away and marries another, she whom he marries is not his. He shall not eat or drink, nor shall he be at all the conversation with her whom he has wrongly taken or with her parents. Moreover, if the parents consent to it, they shall be excommunicated. If a woman seduces the husband of another woman, she shall be excommunicated from the Christians.” (Dutton, 249).
Both of these laws come from The Penitential of Halitgar which was written around the late 820’s. The next law comes from the Capitularies of Charlemagne and is in reference to the Saxon Territories.
“If anyone shall have made a prohibited or illegal marriage, if a noble (he shall pay) 60 solidi, if a freeman 30, if a litus 15.” (Dutton, 68”).
As shown, these marriage laws and codes did not just apply to royals or just to laypeople, they affected all. But one of the most interesting rules was that of consanguinity or incestual marriage. Councils during the Carolingian period ruled that no marriage was permitted within at least three degrees with many more saying it should be beyond four to five. However, the only way people really knew this was oral history due to the fact that they genealogists (if there were one in the area) only wrote down the male line; this lead to genealogist having to give consent on a marriage proving the couple to be, at least partially, unrelated. (Duby, The Chivalrous Society).
Works Cited
Duby, Georges. The Chivalrous Society. Berkeley, California: University of California P, 1981.
Duby, Georges. The Knight- the Lady- and the Priest: the Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France. New York, New York: Pantheon, 1983. 34.
Dutton, Paul E. Carolingian Civilization. 2nd ed. Ontario, Canada: Broadview P, 2004. 86-249.
Karras, Ruth. "The History of Marriage and the Myth of Friedelehe." Early Medieval Europe 14 (2006): 119-151.
Stone, Rachel. "'Bound From Either Side': the Limits of Power in Carolingian Marriage Disputes, 840-870." Gender and History 19 (2007): 467-482.
Thomas, Kirsti. "Medieval and Renaissance Marriage: Theory and Customs." 20 May 2008
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