The Church and the illegal ways of contracting marriage : clandestine marriage and clandestinity : theory, practice, discourses : north-west France, XIIth-mid XVI centuries

Abstract

Appliquée à la formation du lien matrimonial, la clandestinité est une infraction multiple. Contrepoint doctrinal nécessaire pour établir le consensualisme matrimonial, la clandestinité n’en demeure pas moins une infraction aux lois de l’Eglise. Les mariages clandestins sont valides bien que moralement mauvais, potentiellement illicites, théoriquement illégitimes, canoniquement interdits. Théologiens et canonistes craignent d’inextricables dilemmes juridiques et moraux sapant les fondements de l’institution matrimoniale et discréditant l’action régulatrice de la justice d’Eglise empêchée de juger selon la vérité. De micro-processus de prise en charge, de recomposition d’une norme et d’une infraction apparaissent en pratique. La régulation judiciaire épiscopale a construit des instruments de lutte contre les mariages clandestins qui se révèlent des instruments de contrôle socio-religieux au service d’un renforcement du cadre paroissial et du pouvoir juridictionnel de l’évêqueMedieval clandestine marriages were a many-sided offense. Although theologians had to recognize the validity of clandestine marriage to strengthen the consensualist theory to marry someone clandestine is nonetheless a violation of the laws of Church. It is morally bad, potentially illegal, theoretically illegitimate, and canonically prohibited. The theologians and the canonists feared that inextricable legal and moral dilemmas surrounded the fundamentals of the Christian marriage institution and undermined the regularatory action of the justice of the Church, therefore preventing it from judging the truth. In practice, attention to the micro-process, and the reformulation of both the standard and a penalty emerged simultaneously as a result. More notably, the Episcopal judiciary established tools to fight against illegal marriages, these tools being primarily instruments of socio-religious control through the strengthening of the parish and the judicial powers of the bisho