Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

There are very few legal institutions more ubiquitous across British history than marriage.

But what motivated people in the past to get married?

What inspired traditional wedding vows?

And when was Britain's first divorce?

Speaking to Rachel Dining for today's episode,

the legal historian Rebecca Probert

explores the changes in societal and legal views on marriage

in England and Wales over their last 500 years. So starting off with a very sweeping question,

who historically has decided what constituted a marriage and what its implications were?

In 1500s, which we'll take us our starting point today, marriage in England and Wales is under

the control of the Catholic Church. So it's regarded as a sacrament and it's indissoluble except by

death. And this religious control over marriage continues with the establishment of the

Church of England. Church sets the rules governing entry into marriage and it adjudicates upon them.

So it's the church courts under the aegis of the Church of England that decides whether a couple

are actually married. and it also decides on

what remedies they can have. So in case of cruelty or adultery, for example, it's the church courts

that deal with whether a separation can be authorised. But actually, religious control over marriage isn't absolute

even at this point. And as early as the 1530s, you find Parliament passing legislation.

Specifically in this case, regulating the prohibited degrees of marriage, largely in order to

legitimate Henry VIII's shifting matrimonial choices.

And then gradually we see control over marriage in England, Wales, shifting from the church to the state.

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