Shannon McSheffrey wrote:
(snip)
> Although I, too, expected to find that medieval English people married
> at the door of the church (partly because of those very same lectures
> that John Parsons heard from Michael Sheehan!), I have found from
> extensive reading of depositions of marital litigation in the fifteenth
> century that it was also quite common to be married in the nave of the
> church.
(snip)
Just a thought...
Shannon, do these depositions indicate whether the church was merely the
parish church or a collegiate church, or some other larger (monastic)
church that also served parish functions? In such cases the nave was
usually the "parish" church, and the choir separated by a wall or screen
to serve the clergy (or nuns) attached to the church.
Thus the nave of such churches might, in the context of some particular
churches, have been a more public place than in other churches.
John Parsons
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