9 - Marriage

Summary

While the ‘bigamy’ rules applied only to the clergy, and remarriage by lay men or women after a spouse’s death was unproblematic, the indissolubility rule applied to all. The earliest papal legislation was already trying to enforce the system (perhaps unique in the history of literate societies) that ruled out both divorce and polygamy. For the married clergy one can imagine that this was successful in that they were under the bishop’s control. What effect it had on the laity is impossible to estimate but the legacy of these decretals would be a key fact in medieval history. Exclusion from communion after proven adultery came within the purview of the clergy.