natureofleft's Blog 2010-02-22 02:03:06

Allyson Poska’s “When Love Goes Wrong” discusses how local laws protected  under the Fuero came in contact under the watchful eyes of the Catholic Reformation Church, what could marriage be other than righteous and just (and therefore strictly adherent to church law)? In small Spanish diocese like Ourense, far away from the the secular and ecclesiastical powers, marriage was more an act of tradition than an act of religious fervor. As such, the peasants of Ourense ultimately cared very little for the Catholic Reformation Church’s opinions on the act of marital union. Most marriages followed traditional formats, with a private or semi-public exchange of a marriage promise being enough to bind a legal marriage. However, due to the schism in marital beliefs between the Reformation Church and the rural Spanish population served only to blur the line between a “legal” marriage or an “illegal” marriage and allowed the rural population to take advantage of various loopholes in marital law. For instance, the church recommended (forced?) the population to eventually make their marriage promise “legal” by giving it in front of a priest. Almost all of the population eventually did confirm their vows in front of a priest, but many considered themselves married for some time before doing so on private vows alone. This blurred the line between married and unmarried in many people’s eyes simply because what was once considered a binding oath could be considered an illegitimate promise simply because of the lack of a priest’s presence. Ironically, because of this action taken by the Catholic Reformation Church (who happened to be firmly against divorce and considered marriages permanently and spiritually binding) many couples were allowed to separate under allegations of false pretenses. Those legally married in the eyes of the church had a harder time with separation. To be frank, in the eyes of the church it was impossible. Most had to deal with it by way of physical separation, usually by fleeing secretly. However, there were loopholes even in the Church’s draconian divorce laws. For instance, the Church was strictly against forced marriages and didn’t consider them binding. The Church also would annul marriages if one or both of the wedded desired to take up the cloth. Because of local tradition and differing cultural beliefs from those of the governing Reformation Church, most of the people living in these rural areas were rather promiscuous. The rate of illegitimacy was between five and ten percent, much larger than the two percent boasted by a large part of Europe. All of this shows that although the Catholic Reformation Church was strict and staunch in its lawmaking, cultural flair around Europe (especially in areas far from the concentrated areas of power) could not be completely stamped out.