Divorce in the modern sense of the word did not exist in medieval England. Marriages validly entered into were theoretically indissoluble for any cause which arose after they had been contracted. But the term ‘divorce’ is used throughout the medieval records. It normally meant what we call an annulment, a declaration that a marriage had been invalid ab initio. The term was also used to refer to a judicial separation. But when mere separation was meant the records usually called the case specifically divorce a mensa et thoro. This allowed the man and wife to live apart, but did not break the bond between them. They could not remarry. I have followed the medieval practice in describing the following litigation. The miscellaneous marriage causes, discussed at the end of this chapter, are likewise classed according to the names given them in the Act books.

DIVORCE A VINCULO

The most striking fact about divorce litigation in medieval England is how little of it there was. Excluding the multi-party suits, in which each petitioner's primary aim was to establish his own claim of marriage, the total number of divorce cases, both in percentage and absolute terms, was quite small. Of twenty-three marriage cases heard from April 1437 through April 1440 in the Rochester Consistory court, only five were for divorce. There are eighty-eight cases involving marriage in the York Cause papers of the fifteenth century; only twelve of them are divorce suits.