First published in Great Britain in 2014 by
PEN AND SWORD HISTORY
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Copyright Maria Nicolaou, 2014
ISBN 978 1 78159 340 0
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Contents
Acknowledgements
S o many people have assisted me in this journey that it is difficult to know where to begin. From the start, I have been supported by my capable and efficient editor, Jennifer Newby. I am exceedingly grateful, not only for her insightful comments and suggestions, but also for her enthusiasm about this project. I am obliged to my publishers, Pen and Sword, for giving me the opportunity to write this book.
It is impossible to overstate how grateful I am to one of my former lecturers, Professor Bernard Capp, who first suggested to me that marital separation was a potential topic of investigation, and how it could be researched. I would never have considered this topic possible without him. My sincere thanks go to him for his help and guidance over the years. I am similarly grateful to my former supervisor, Professor Beat Kmin. Professor Kmin read over drafts of the dissertation on which this book was based, and provided many helpful hints as to sources and how marital breakdown fitted into the early modern world at large. Ms Joanna Kemp assisted me by translating a Latin appendix to Wriothesleys Chronicle .
The works of Lawrence Stone not only gave me a general introduction to the period, but also led me to some of the most well-documented cases of marital breakdown. I have looked at several of the same cases as Stone, although my interpretation of the primary sources tends to vary slightly, most notably with the case of Lady Westmeath. Similarly, Samuel Menefee provided a useful list of wife sale cases, which greatly assisted my own research.
Several bodies very kindly gave their permission for me to quote from their documents. The Parliamentary Archives gave me permission to quote from their documents on parliamentary divorce, and the trustees of Lambeth Palace allowed me to quote from the records of the Court of Arches. The National Archives allowed me to quote from the records of the Court of Requests. The Trustees of the British Library permitted me to quote from the Althorp Papers, the letters of the Duchess of Kingston to Lord Barrington, the correspondence of Elizabeth and Anthony Bourne, and letters of the Duchess of Devonshire to Lady Melbourne. The Marquess of Salisbury very kindly allowed me to access and quote the papers of the Marchioness of Westmeath at Hatfield House. The University of Leicester permitted me to quote from the records of the Old Bailey. Cambridge University Press and Merlin Press have allowed me to quote from various publications.
CHAPTER 1
The World of Marriage
I n 1566, Thomas Burgess walks out of the humble dwelling that he shares with his wife Joan without a word, never to return. In 1636, Elizabeth Norris does not celebrate Easter with a carefree heart. She has just received the news that her husband has not only stolen her property but has maliciously had their marriage declared invalid on the grounds of bigamy. In the summer of 1768, the Duke of Grafton reads a letter from his agent, telling him that the spies he has planted in the house of his estranged wife will soon provide proof of her illegitimate child, allowing him to obtain a divorce. These couples were divided from each other by time, geography and social status. Nevertheless, they all had one thing in common: their marriages had collapsed in early modern England.
Today, most people assume that divorce is a relatively modern invention. We read Jane Eyre and hear that Mr Rochester is irrevocably bound to his insane wife, leaving him no choice but to marry Jane bigamously. We watch Pride and Prejudice and see Mr and Mrs Bennet sniping at each other, trapped in a marriage that Austen describes as devoid of real affection not a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. The film The Duchess paints a dire portrait of life after divorce, where Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, is faced with the prospect of losing her children, income and social position in short, her world.
This, combined with twenty-first century reports on ever-increasing divorce rates, leaves people believing that before our modern day, marital break-ups were almost non-existent. The all-powerful forces of religion, money and society meant that women in particular needed to put up and shut up with miserable marriages. This, however, was simply not always true. Not only were there separations but women could also, in some cases, walk away from their marriages with more than would be expected. In Divorced, Beheaded, Sold , we will meet those who were determined to defy convention and who succeeded in escaping their marriages.
Before we start exploring the worlds and lives of these men and women we need to understand more about the societies they lived in, and what marriage and separation would have meant to them. The world of a sixteenth century woman would have differed greatly from that of a nineteenth century lady. Throughout this book we will pass from the realm of Henry VIII to that of Queen Victoria. The sixteenth century is clearly linked to the medieval era, while the nineteenth century is more obviously recognisable as the forerunner of our modern world.
In 1500, church services were considered an effective cure for the plague outbreaks that regularly killed thousands; America had not yet been discovered; the Kings will was paramount and Parliament was merely a vehicle that monarchs could command, as Henry VIII would do during his infamous marital escapades. Yet by 1847, both the Industrial and Scientific revolutions had taken place; the British Empire was expanding; and Parliament had overseen the murder of Charles I and the formation of a republic. Although the monarchy had been restored, the Catholic Stuarts had long since been replaced with their distant relatives, the Hanoverians, and, while Queen Victoria governed the United Kingdom, she did so firmly in conjunction with Parliament.
