Note 1006 — Chapter VII · RISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL MARRIAGE: THE CHURCH ACCEPTS THE LAY CONTRACT AND CEREMONIAL

Thus the Hereford ritual simply says, after declaration of the dower, "et pater vel propinquus mulieris accipiat eam, et tradat homini per manum dexteram" (Surtees Society Publications, LXIII, Appendix, 116). Similarly the Pontifical of Anianus, bishop of Bangor, of the thirteenth century declares, "Primo dicatur (dos) feminae, deinde detur" (ibid., 162); and this form agrees substantially with that of the Hanley Castle Missal of the same period (ibid., 163). In the ritual of the fifteenth-century Harleian MS., in the British Museum, after asking the banns, "the woman shall be given in this manner: Sacerdos utriusque manu dextera apprehensa, jungat eos similiter, sicut faciunt qui fide se obligant" (ibid., 166); but here, of course, the words "jungat eos" are not words of power, for they precede the marriage vow of the parties. According to the Welsh ritual of the fifteenth century, "the woman is given by her father or by another friend" (ibid., 167); and this form is observed in the Sarum liturgy published both by Maskell (Monumenta, I, 56), and the Surtees Society (LXIII, Appendix, 19), while in one MS. of the same service the words "deinde detur [Ecclesiae] femina a patre suo, vel ab amicis ejus" (ibid., loc. cit., 19) appear, thus in effect agreeing with the form of the York manual. An interesting variation occurs in the Pontifical of Magdalen College, Oxford, of the twelfth century, where the priest does not receive the woman from her guardian, but joins with him in giving her to the husband: "Sacerdos et patronus sponsae dent ipsam sponso per dexteram" (ibid., 160). A ritual of Arles (ca. 1300) affords evidence of a similar transition in the form of tradition: see the extract in Sohm, Eheschliessung, 165 n. 27; and compare on this subject Friedberg, Eheschliessung, 38, 62. On the English celebration cf. Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, I, 88-98.