Marriage and Religion

For centuries marriage has constantly changed in meaning and practice. We read many difference accounts of marriages that were for monetary of territory gains and not at all about a relationship or love. And the only institution that could arrange a marriage was the church during these times. The Catholic church in Spain at the time kept tight restrictions on marriage and every aspect of it. As centuries passed and marriage changed the church implemented more rules. Divorce and annulment could only be done through the church if a couple was not happy with their marriage but both were hard to obtain. Technically according to the church once you were married the marriage should not be able to break. Only in special cases could you divorce such as proving that the marriage was forced or something of that nature. Once a divorce was granted though the couple could not get remarried for a set amount of time. An annulment was different and it only occurred when it was proven that the marriage should not have happened in the first place. A marriage could be annulled if  one of the party went to the church and claimed that the person they married was their relative or something equally crazy. However there were also those who chose to marry their cousins and even though it was frowned upon by the church couples found ways around it. As the decades went the church began to lose some of its influence on marriage and the royal family began to share the right to make marriages.  While marriage was still about land and combining assets the idea of marriage began to change which led to the shared right to arrange marriages between the two institutions.