| A white wedding in a church with a horse and | | | | reverse (and is still continuing in most parts of the |
| carriage may be every young woman's dream, | | | | world today). |
| however the concept of marriage as a union | | | | The neighboring Romans adopted the custom |
| between a man and woman (and sometimes | | | | from the Greeks, though they added a further |
| between men and women note the plural) has its | | | | layer of legality and ceremony to the concept. |
| roots several thousand years before Christianity. | | | | There were several different forms of marriage |
| Marriage is also a universal concept which has | | | | in the Roman Empire and which version was used |
| developed in numerous cultures around the world | | | | depended on whether the woman was to join her |
| even though they have not had direct contact | | | | husband's family or remain associated with her |
| with each other. | | | | own. A free marriage allowed the wife to own |
| So how has the idea of a man and woman | | | | her own property and retain her own family's |
| setting up a union come about? | | | | name, but more importantly, she (and her original |
| First off, where did the word marriage come | | | | family) kept any property she owned or inherited |
| from? Well marriage first originated in the English | | | | within her own family. It was more traditional for |
| language in the mid-13th Century, and came from | | | | a woman to be simply transferred to her husband |
| the Old French marier but, the French themselves | | | | and his family; the wife lost her right to inherit |
| had stolen it from the Romans maritare being | | | | property from her old family and found herself |
| Latin for to marry. | | | | under the total authority of her husband and his |
| The oldest written reference to the institution of | | | | family. |
| marriage comes from Hammurabi's Code of | | | | Christianity arose out of the ashes of the Roman |
| Ancient Mesopotamia (broadly covering modern | | | | Empire, however it was not until this radical, new |
| day Iraq), and where the first permanent cities | | | | religion was over 100 years old that the idea of a |
| were established. This takes us back to around | | | | religious implication was developed in connection |
| 1800 B.C., almost 4,000 years ago, however the | | | | with marriage. Until then, and for a long time |
| custom of marriage certainly pre-dates even this. | | | | afterwards, Christians married in much the same |
| Marriage came to Europe via the Ancient Greeks, | | | | way as everyone else a family arrangement, |
| but there were no set rules or procedures to be | | | | usually negotiated without any pretense of |
| followed to create a lawful union. All that was | | | | emotion or love between the parties. As |
| required was mutual consent of bride and groom | | | | Christianity gained traction in the Roman Empire, it |
| and that both acknowledged each other as their | | | | became clear that this moral religion should take a |
| respective spouse. It is from the Spartans (of the | | | | stand that marriage should bein accordance with |
| 300 fame) who started the European tradition for | | | | the laws of God and not simply an expedient |
| men to marry in their 30's and women as early | | | | business deal. |
| as possible. The logic was that the men would | | | | By the 12th Century, it had become compulsory |
| have completed (and survived) military service | | | | for wives to take their husband's surname and |
| (and this was a time when living to your 40's was | | | | additional layers of legality and ceremony were |
| considered to be old age), while for women, if | | | | added. By the mid-16th Century, the bride and |
| you wanted a virgin when you married it was | | | | groom had to have the consent of a number of |
| considered best to marry a woman as young as | | | | people to get married usually their parents and |
| possible. | | | | the Church, but if you were a noble or a |
| More importantly, the Ancient Greeks also set the | | | | landowner, you may have needed the permission |
| very clear pattern of marrying for position, wealth | | | | of the King! The Church's permission was |
| and power. The idea you married because you | | | | integrated into the ritual because it opposed the |
| loved someone was irrelevant sentimentality or | | | | formation of marriages by children, sometimes |
| feelings did not come into what was a commercial | | | | even babies, by their families. We ought to thank |
| transaction between families looking to advance | | | | the Church for the fact that free-will became an |
| or protect their own positions. Upon becoming a | | | | established feature of modern Western marriage. |
| wife, a Greek woman lost practicality all of her | | | | Before the Church, you married who your |
| rights which has taken over 2,000 years to | | | | parents or patriarch told you to marry! |