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204 Conclusion
In the fourteenth century, if not earlier, the meaning of the marriage
ceremony was changed, at least in England, to foreground
symbolic reasons for changing the ritual of second marriages (details
and definitions varying). Paradoxically, this tended to assimilate
the ritual to that of first marriages, by pinpointing a specific
symbolic clause that could be excised while the rest was retained.
In the fifteenth century, under Pope Martin V, we see the beginnings
of a trend to enlarge the range of reasons for dissolving
an unconsummated marriage (it should be stressed that the issue
here is not impotence). This trend continued into the early modern
period and afterwards. Symbolism provided the rationale.
In the sixteenth century popes began to grant dispensations for
‘bigamous’ clerics in minor orders to retain their clerical status
in circumstances where a bishop was likely to refuse. The papal
Penitentiary register entries that reveal this also hint at the wide
range of privileges clerical status might entail, and which many
would have lost because of bigamy symbolism.
All these curious details are symptoms of something bigger: a
strong conviction that the analogy between marriage and Christ’s
union with the Church was far more than a figure of speech.
Explanations in a nutshell
How to explain the influence of marriage symbolism and its timing?
The symbolic rationale had roots deep in the Christian past, so the
delayed reaction is interesting.
In the case of preaching, the explanation is simply that there
probably was relatively little marriage preaching,symbolic or otherwise,
until the central Middle Ages.
In the case of indissolubility, popes were seldom in a position to
enforce their strong line on a powerful laity. Acceptance of exclusive
Church jurisdiction in marriage cases was practically a sine qua non.
So was a religious leadership strong enough to stand up to kings
and great nobles.
Why were they so ready to do so? A plausible if undemonstrable
explanation has to do with the discipline of clerical celibacy. It had
been in place in theory for centuries. However, from the late twelfth
century the leadership of the Church systematically tried to impose
celibacy on the clergy from the level of subdeacon upwards. By the
end of the twelfth century a de facto wife or public mistress would
have been an obstacle to high church oce. A celibate clergy is likely