| An elaborate penned (not printed) marriage certificate from Germans in Pennsylvania mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. |
I know this post is short, but I just got engaged last night. :D Thus, I have been distracted, but managed to do some research. . .
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| Marriage certificate from 1875 |
Not until the sixteenth century did Europe governments begin to regulate marriage. This was in part was to ensure that parents approved of the match for their children. (Source). I am still not sure how the printing press impacted the distribution of marriage licenses, as it was difficult to find information about this topic from just a few online searches, but I imagine it helped standardize them and made the elaborate details (as seen above) more arbitrary.
These are some more thoughts to ponder:
Recording marriages provided a way to keep a history of familial relations, which is useful for genealogy. Printing these papers made it more convenient for people to obtain. I wonder what the cost difference was between printing and illustrating a license? I think printing would be cheaper as it would be mass produced and not require tedious individualized labor to produce each certificate.
I would imagine a major purpose for government regulation of marriage was to ensure "political correctness" in marriage. If the government issued the license, then they would have to know who you married beforehand. If they did not approve due to social prejudice, etc., I imagine that couple would not be able to get married due to the government's control and regulation over marriage.
Why is it still important that we have a marriage license today? Is it really necessary to receive government approval to get married? Today's debate regarding marriage relates to same-sex marriages. Thus, by continuing to issue licenses of approval for marriage, the government can decide what marriages they will allow based on if it is socially acceptable.
CONGRATULATIONS! :)
ReplyDeleteYour comment about genealogy got me thinking about how lots of people used to keep their family history (dates of birth, baptism, marriage, and death) in the front of their bibles. Family and marriage were so important to them that they recorded it in the most important book that they had.
It's interesting also how governments expanded their own power when the print medium came around: you discussed marriage licenses, in class we discussed copyright laws, etc. It's also interesting to me that these 16th & 17th century developments mostly began in England, which (unless I'm mistaken) didn't really get into printing as fast as continental Europe did.
Interesting! Yeah, a part of me feels like this is not something the government should exercise power over, yet another part of me is grateful. I do not think it should be good for government to regulate marriage, because it seems more of a religious, personal thing and none of the government's business. Think of so many of the couples who live in other countries; it takes FOREVER for them to be approved for marriage, so most people say "forget it" and end up living together. This makes it so hard for missionary work because they can't get baptized if they are living together among other things outside of wedlock. Thus, government should just leave marriage alone.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I think it can be a good thing that government gets involved, considering the gay marriage issue. Its comforting that in most states, it is against the law; however, I am sure this is soon to change.
Either way, I am glad that someone decided long ago to record marriage on paper, because this really does help us with our genealogy and family histories.
The reason government has gotten involved in marriage is that families are an asset to a country. In general they are socially and civically responsible, and they also provide what every country needs...a population.
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