Roman law, pledges or earnest money (arrhae) were often made. In the Middle Ages,
families might enter into contracts of betrothal promising young children in future
marriage, although the church prohibited the formal marriage of girls under twelve and
boys under fourteen. Churchmen often were present at the passage of betrothal and
marriage contracts, with the actual ceremony performed at the church door before a
nuptial Mass.
In southern France in the high and late Middle Ages, marriage contracts were drawn
up before a notary. The contract might open with the constitution of dowry by the bride’s
family, followed by the bride’s donation of herself (implying individual consent) to her
future husband with a prdmise of loyalty. The groom then made the same commitment
and gave acquittal for the receipt of the dowry. He then proceeded in some contracts to
make a donatio propter nuptias (OFr. augment), with the projected return of both dowry
and augment to his widow secured by his own property. Finally, he renounced any legal
recourse to invalidate obligations. The ceremony of marriage generally followed shortly
after the contractual arrangements had been concluded.
Kathryn L.Reyerson
[See also: DOWRY; MARRIAGE, CLANDESTINE]
Duby, Georges. The Knight, the Lady and the Priest: The Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval
France, trans. Barbara Bray. New York: Pantheon, 1983.
Ganshof, François Louis. “Le statut de la femme dans la monarchie franque.” Recueils de la Société
Jean Bodin 12(1962): 5–58.
Gaudemet, Jean. “Le legs du droit romain en matière matrimoniale.” In II matrimonio nella società
altomedievale. Spoleto: Presso la Sede del Centro, 1977, pp. 139–89.
Herlihy, David. Medieval Households. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.
Hilaire, Jean. Le régime des biens entre époux dans la région de Montpellier du début du XIIIe
siècle à la fin du XVIe siècle. Montpellier: Causse, Graille and Castelnau, 1957.
Shahar, Shulamith. The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages. London: Methuen,
1983.
Wemple, Suzanne. Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
BEVERAGES
. Water was just as important a means to slake thirst in the Middle Ages as it is today.
And just as we must today be cautious about the source of potable water, so six hundred
years ago streams and rivers running through urban areas tended to become too polluted
to afford safe drinking water. Normally, the dug well was vital to any community. People
who had access to a spring or a fountain could consider themselves fortunate: their water
was valued for its clarity and its dependable purity.
Water was not considered to be a proper beverage at meals. To accompany food and to
aid digestion, a mildly fermented drink of some sort was usually available. The presence
of alcohol reduced the risk of bacterial contamination in a beverage. Depending upon
both tradition and the strengths of regional agriculture, this drink varied in France among
beer (Ofr. cervoise), used generally in north-eastern areas and in Paris when wine was
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