Comparison of Medieval and Renaissance Marriage Customs.

The Old and New testaments provided early church leaders with conflicting views regarding marriage. Biblical writings had clearly indicated men and women relationships outside the confines of marriage, multiple partner marriages, and the use of concubines. The Bible was also rampant with stories of lust as in the story of David and Bathsheba. St Augustine defended this by writing that God said it pleased him that certain individuals amongst the Patriarchs of the Bible have many wives, specifically for the multiplication of their offspring. He further suggested that the only reason women would need more than one husband would be for lustful gratification. To give the old guy his due, he also is credited with saying, "Let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Augustine considered marriage a sacrament, a permanent union of faith. Now that marriage was declared a sacrament, the church leaders thusly made a declaration that men and women should pursue marriage with only one partner. They added that sexual relations with the confines of a marriage should be for procreation and not for lust alone. Once marriage had become a sacrament, it soon followed that the church needed legislative power over marriage and that a priest should perform a nuptial blessing. Something as important as deciding on a marriage partner was not left in the hands of the bride and groom, for the bride and groom were usually children. Parents arranged marriages in the Middle Ages when their children were still very young. If love was involved at all, it came well after the wedding had taken place. Girls were as young as twelve and boys as young as 17. The arrangements were not considered complete until a wedding notice was posted on the door of the church. Marriages continued to be arranged during the Renaissance. Boys could marry at age 14 and girls at 12, with their parent