For better, for worse : British marriages, 1600 to the present / John R. Gillis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gillis, John R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marriage--Great Britain--History.

Marriage.

Courtship--Great Britain--History.

Courtship.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 417 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1985.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Did you know that...The "contemporary" fashion of living together before marriage is far from new, and was frequently practiced in earlier days...Self-divorce, although never legal, was once a commonplace occurrence...Marriage is more popular today than in the Victorian era...Marriage inchurch was not compulsory in England and Wales until the mid-18th century. These are just a few of the fascinating, and often surprising, revelations in For Better, For Worse, the most comprehensive treatment to date of the history of marriage in a major Western society. Using fresh evidence frompopular courtship and wedding rituals over four centuries, Gillis challenges the widely held belief that marriage has evolved from a cold, impersonal arrangement to a more affectionate, egalitarian form of companionship. The truth, argues Gillis, lies somewhere in between: conjugal love was neverwholly absent in preindustrial times, while today's marriages are less companionate than is commonly believed. Gillis also illustrates, in rich detail, the perpetual tension between marital ideals and actual practices. This social history of the behavior and emotions of ordinary men and womenradically revises our perspective on love and marriage in the past--and the present.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Figures

Introduction

Part I: Courtship and Marriage in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

1. Neither Single nor Actually Married: Courtship and Betrothal in a Homosocial World

2. A Maie Game of Marriage: The Politics of Big Weddings

3. Neither Birth nor Portion Shall Hinder the Match: Clandestine Marriage and Sexual Nonconformity

Part II: Conflict and Change in the Age of Agrarian and Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850

4. The Better Man of the Two: Changing Relations between the Sexes, 1750-1850

5. Time Changes Fau'k an' Manners: Private Marriages versus Public Bridals

6. The Last Stage of Their Hope: From the Celibate to the Conjugal City

7. Married but not Churched: Common-Law Marriage and the Renewal of Sexual Nonconformity

Part III: The Era of Mandatory Marriage, 1850-1960

8. Better a Bad Husband Than No Husband at All: The Compulsion to Marry, 1850-1914

9. Love on the Dole: The Ritualization of Courtship in the Twentieth Century

10. The Lady Generally Likes White Weddings: Revival of the Big Wedding

Part IV: Conjugal Myths and Marital Realities, 1960 to the Present

11. Love and Marriage: The Unresolved Contradiction

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography: p. 385-407 and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-280-43925-4

9786610439256

1-4237-6362-9

0-19-534541-X

1-60256-580-5

OCLC:

226376719