Courtship And Constraint

This book is the first major study of courtship in early modern England. Courtship was a vitally important process in early modern England. It was a period of private and public negotiation, often fraught with anxiety. If completed successfully it brought respectability, the privileges of marriage and adulthood, and a stable union between socially, economically, and emotionally compatible couples. Using Kent church court and probate material dating from the 15th to the end of the 16th century, the book blends historical and anthropological perspectives to suggest novel and exciting approaches to the making of marriage.

This book is the first major study of courtship in early modern England. It blends historical and anthropological perspectives to suggest novel and exciting approaches to the making of marriage in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Diana O'Hara is a researcher with Victoria County History.