[MR] Wilipedia: Shakespeare's Marriage Bond

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1582 William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway "paid" a £40 
bond for their marriage license. Actually this statement by Wikipedia is 
somewhat in error.

According to the Wikipedia article on Anne Hathaway, the couple did not 
obtain the bond themselves. Fulk Sandells and John Richardson, friends 
of the Hathaway family from Stratford, signed a surety of £40 as a 
financial guarantee for the wedding of "William Shagspere and Anne 
Hathwey": 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hathaway_(Shakespeare%27s_wife) . 
Shakespeare's marriage is quite controversial, and a reading of the 
Hathaway page is very interesting.

The concept of a marriage bond is something now lost in the U.S., but 
was an English invention and was used here until well after colonial 
times. Two of my own ancestors who married in 1796 at Bath, Virginia, 
have a bond recorded (and guaranteed by the bride's guardians; she was 
likely an indentured servant and like Anne Hathaway was about three 
months pregnant). Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this practice:

"To obtain a marriage licence, the couple, or more usually the 
bridegroom, had to swear that there was no just cause or impediment why 
they should not marry. This was the marriage allegation. A bond was also 
lodged with the church authorities for a sum of money to be paid if it 
turned out that the marriage was contrary to Canon Law. The bishop kept 
the allegation and bond and issued the licence to the groom, who then 
gave it to the vicar of the church where they were to get married. There 
was no obligation for the vicar to keep the licence and many were simply 
destroyed. Hence, few historical examples of marriage licences, in 
England and Wales, survive. However, the allegations and bonds were 
usually retained and are an important source for English genealogy." 
Here's more if you want to go that far: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_license .

Thus the marriage bond was actually not paid, but was a promise to pay 
in case of bigamy or other fraud. This replaced the customary reading of 
the banns in the parish church for three successive weeks, by which 
someone could assert the groom or bride were already married or were not 
supposed to marry by law. This practice has an echo today in the 
traditional marriage ceremony text where the officiant asks for any man 
(note the sexism here) to speak or forever hold his peace.

You can read more about William Shakesepeare, mostly about his acting 
and writing career, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare 
. Or you could spend a lifetime reading the thousands of speculative 
books about him, since much of his life is a mystery.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Who Once Trod the Boards as Robin Starvling 
(Midsummer Night's Dream)