Join us on Friday, November 6th from 4 to 5 PM for another installment of Cambridge House’s Fireside Chat series, as host Dr. Tom McSweeney leads his discussion entitled “Marriage and the Medieval Church”.
Today, most states require an officiant, two witnesses, and the consent of the parties for a marriage to be valid. Did you know that these requirements go back to debates among canonists (jurists who specialized in the law of the Church) in the twelfth century? And that requiring the consent of the parties was actually controversial and countercultural in a society where marriages were often more about property and political alliances than they were about love? In this fireside chat, we'll talk about the development of Christian thought (and law) concerning marriage from late antiquity up to the cusp of the Reformation.
Tom McSweeney, PhD
Dr. McSweeney is a professor at the William & Mary Law School and holds a PhD in Medieval History. He attends St. Martin’s Episcopal Church.