>From: Jim Balmer <[email protected]> >Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:33:31 +0000 > >Lesley Robertson wrote: > >>John's illegitimacy wouldn't have mattered. Once his mother (and probably >>his father) had been hauled before their Kirk Elders and repented, that >>would have been it. > >Would have been what? Would John then have been officially legitimate? >Would his father and mother have been deemed to be married? What if his >father was unknown? > No, I meant that would have been the end of official recriminations. "it" - the end of the story. The original question was whether he would have had to marry outside his home parish because his parents hadn't wed. He wouldn't have been able to inherit (unless specifically mentioned in a will), but they wouldn't have "punished" him by making problems about his own marriage, etc. They reserved any humiliation for the "guilty couple" - including such things as making them sit on special stools at the front of the church during services for specified numbers of weeks to express their repentance. Lesley Robertson _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963