Chapter 1
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Contrary to popular belief, marriages in the old days did not always take place with the benefit of clergy. Oftentimes only the rich could afford a church ceremony (which took place in the porch of the church, not inside), and in any case, in some areas, priests were thin on the ground, and one could not be found to conduct every marriage. In most parts of Europe, a declaration before witnesses was enough to constitute a legal marriage recognized by Roman Catholic Canon law. Even children were married in this manner, with the consummation sometimes taking place years later. It wasn't until 1563 that the Council of Trent changed the law, and a priest and marriage ceremony were required to constitute a valid marriage in Catholic countries.
Roman Common-Law Marriages
The ancient Romans could celebrate marriage ex usu, by which, if a woman, with the consent of her parents or guardians, lived with a man for a year without being absent for three nights, she became his legal wife. This custom was obsolete in Roman law by the time of the Republic.
English Handfastings
The term handfasting originates in the Anglo-Saxon word handfæstung, which meant the shaking of hands to seal a contract. A similar word exists in German and Danish. Among other things, it was applied to the act of betrothal in both England and Scotland. This betrothal itself was called, in Anglo-Saxon, a beweddung, because the future husband was called upon to make a down payment, or wed, against the bride price of his lady. (This is the origin of our term wedding.) The contract was sealed with a handshake, or handfæstung.
Irish Handfastings
In ancient Ireland, Teltown Marriages were temporary unions entered into at Lughnasa, the festival celebrated at the beginning of August. At Larganeeny (Lag an Aonaigh, the hollow of the fair), there was an oral tradition, recorded in the nineteenth century, that a form of marriage was held there in Pagan times. According to this legend, a number of young men would go to the north side of a high wall, while a number of young women went to the south side. A woman would then put her hand through a hole in the wall, and a man would take it, guided in his choice only by the appearance of the hand. The two who had thus joined hands by blind chance were then obliged to live together for a year and a day. At the end of that time they appeared together at the Rath (Fort) of Teltown, and if they were not satisfied, they obtained a deed of separation and were entitled to go to Larganeeny again to get a new partner. If they were satisfied, a longer-term arrangement was entered into.
One of the largest Lughnasa fairs was held at Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland. The fair lasted eleven days, and taking a sexual partner for its duration was a common practice. Such couples were known as Lammas brothers and sisters. For couples thinking of a slightly longer-term commitment, this was a traditional time for handfasting. Couples would join hands through a holed stone, such as the ancient Stone of Odin at Stenness, and plight their troth for a year and a day. Many such temporary unions became permanent arrangements. The handfasting ritual was just one of the forms of marriages permitted under the ancient Brehon law. The same law declared how the property would be divided if the couple split up, and how any children of the marriage would be cared for. It wasn't until the middle of the nineteenth century that the registration of marriages was required by the government in Ireland.
Scottish Handfastings
In Scotland, the civil authorities recognized marriages constituted in the old style-consent to marry followed by intercourse at some later date-though the Scottish Church did not. Such marriages were legal until 1940. As a result, many English couples whose parents objected to their marriages crossed to the Scottish border town of Gretna Green where they could perform their own handfastings before witnesses. In Scotland, the term handfasting, or handfisting, meant the shaking of hands to seal a contract. This might be a contract of employment or a betrothal.
In 1820, the famous Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott wrote of handfasting as a trial marriage in The Monastery:
When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day; that space gone by, each may choose another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life; and this we call handfasting.
The practice was also mentioned by Thomas Pennant, recounting his tour of Scotland in 1772:
Among the various customs now obsolete the most curious was that of handfisting, in use about a century past. In the upper part of Eskdale . . . there was an annual fair where multitudes of each sex repaired. The unmarried looked out for mates, made their engagements by joining hands, or by handfisting, went off in pairs, cohabited until the next annual return of the fair, appeared there again and then were at liberty to declare their approbation or dislike of each other. If each party continued constant, the handfisting was renewed for life.1
This account was confirmed in The Old Statistical Account of Scotland:
At that fair [in Eskdale], it was the custom for the unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion, according to their liking, with whom they were to live till that time next year....(Continues)
