Anyone know how breach of promise actions fitted into this? Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elizabeth Atherton" <elizabeth.atherton@tesco.net> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 9:19 AM Subject: Re: [OEL] Marriage bonds > Between 1711 & 1715, one of my ancestors -an attorney - acted as bondsman > for several marriage bonds in the Congleton area of Cheshire. This makes me > wonder if the bonds were a bit like present day house mortgages - an offer > is made, but most people certainly don't have the full purchase price. > > Best wishes ... Elizabeth Atherton > > > An interesting aspect of this is that almost all these bridegrooms-to-be who > pledged £200 didn't actually have it - certainly not in ready cash, and in > most cases not even by selling all their worldly goods. A familiarity with > wills of the period makes this clear (and bridegrooms were much younger, and > so poorer, than testators). £200 was just an awful lot of money. > > So while Eve and others are undoubtedly right in saying that the £200 was > legally payable to the bishop if the marriage didn't go ahead, this very > rarely happened. In practice the bond amounted to a binding promise to go > ahead with the marriage. > > Best wishes > > Paul Prescott > > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > To UNSUBSCRIBE from list mode -- > Send the one word UNSUBSCRIBE to > OLD-ENGLISH-L-request@rootsweb.com > >