Note 974 — Chapter VII · RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL MARRIAGE: THE CHURCH ACCEPTS THE LAY CONTRACT AND CEREMONIAL

Léon Gautier, La chevalerie, 424 n. 3: ap. Martene, De ritibus, who says: "Nuptiae communiter solent celebrari ad valvas ecclesiae;" and places before us abundant proof in the sixteen ordines which he publishes, ibid., II, 127-44. Gautier cites also Étienne de Bourbon, ed. of Lecoy de la Marche, 366: "Cum duceretur ... ad parrochiam ... et esset sub porticu ecclesiae ut sponsa sua ei consentiret et matrimonium ratificaretur per verba de praesenti, ut moris est, et sic in ecclesia matrimonium solempnizaretur in misse celebratione et aliis." The same writer makes a thorough examination of the "Pontifical ou rituel de lire" (published by Martene, II, coll. 356-59, who assigns it to the twelfth century), comparing it with other rituals, with illustrations and proofs from many sources. In chaps. ix to xi inclusive, entitled "Le mariage du chevalier" (op. cit., 341-450), Gautier gives a learned and most interesting discussion of mediæval marriage rites and customs. Compare Daniel, Codex liturgicus; and the summaries in Palmer, Origines liturgicae, I, 106 ff.