Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/311

 12 s. ix. SEPT. 24, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 253 pledging each other in English as follows : I "I, N., take the, N., to my wedded wif, to j haue and to holde fro this day forwarde, [ for bettere for wers, for richere for pouerer, | in sykenesse and in hele ; tyl dethe vs | departhe, if holy churche it w r oll ordeyne, j and thereto I plight the my trout he : " manum retrahendo. The woman says : " I, X., take the, N., to my wedded housbonde, to haue and to holde fro this day forwarde, for better for wors, for richer for pouerer, in sykenesse and in hele, to be bonere and buxom in bedde and atte borde, tyll dethe I vs departhe, if holy churche it woll ordeyne, ! and therto I plight the my trout he : manum retrahendo. The man then places gold and silver with the ring on the priest's book ; and j after the ring has been asperged, the man places it on the woman's hand, saying : " With this rynge I the wed, and this gold and silver I the give, and with my bodi I the worshipe, and with all my worldely catel [i.e., chattels] I thee endowe. In nomine Patris [placing the ring on the thumb of the bride] et Filii [placing it on the forefinger] et Spiritus Sancti ton the third finger]. Amen [on the fourth finger]." The significance of this is indicated by the next rubric: " Ibique dimittat annulum, quia in medico est quaedam vena procedens usque ad cor." After the Blessing the rubric directs : " Hie intrent Ecclesiam usque ad gradum Altar is et sacerdos in eundo cum suis ministris dicat hunc Psalmum sequentem : Beati omnes, et cetera (Ps. cxxvii.)." After the preliminary prayers at the altar-step the man and woman take their places on the I south side of the presbytery between the choir and the altar and the Mass then begins with the Introit. The formal Benediction is given between the Consecration and Communion. The Pax is given by the priest to the bride- j groom, who in turn kisses the bride. After Mass the. priest and newly married | couple partake together of bread and wine which have been blessed, and then depart. On the following night the priest visits the bridn and bridegroom at their home and blesses them there. The only important difference in the srrviee effected by the first Prayer Book of 1549 is that the bridal party are directed to come into the body of the church ; and the Elizabethan Prayer Book allowed the Nuptial Ma.ss to be optional. If MB. ROBERTS desires further informa- tion on the subject he will find the full text of the Sarum Office in vol. Ixiii. of the Surtees Society publications, 1875 ; also in Maskell's ' Monumenta Ritualia Eccle- siae Anglicanae,' 1846. Professor Swete's ' Church Services and Service Books,' 1896, is also very instructive 011 this point. G. KENNETH STRUGNELL. Brand (' Popular Antiquities,' vol. ii., p. 134) says : Until the time of Edward VI., marriages were performed in the church porch and not in the church. Edward I. was married at the door of Canterbury Cathedral, Sept. 9, 1299, to Margaret, sister of the King of France : and until 1599, the people of France were married at the church door. . . . By the parliamentary reformation of marriage and other rites under Edward VI., the man and woman were first permitted to come into the body or middle of the church, standing no longer as formerly at the door. Brand further states : All the ancient missals mention at the beginning of the nuptial ceremony the placing of the man and woman before the door of the church, and direct towards the conclusion, that here they shall enter the church as far as the steps of the altar. In the ' Missale ad Usum Ecclesiae Sarisburiensis,' 1555: " Statuantur vir et mulier ante ostium ecclesiae, sive in faciem ecclesiae, coram Deo et sacerdote et populo." See also the ' Formula ' in the Appen- dix to Hearne's ' Hist, and Antiq. of Glastonbury.' Chaucer, in his ' Wife of Bath/ refers to the custom as follows : She was a worthy woman all her live, Husbands at the church door had she five. And the following appears in Herrick's ' Hesperides * : The Entertainment; or Porch Verse, at the Marriage of Mr. Henry Northly and the most witty Mrs. Lettice Yard. Welcome ! but yet no entrance till we blesse First you, then you, and both for white successe : Profane no porch, young man and maid, for fear Ye wrong the threshold god that keeps peace here : Please him, and then all good luck will betide You the brisk bridegroom, you the dainty bride. Brand suggests that the custom had its rise in the uses of Gentilism and refers to Vallancey, who informs us that " the ancient Etruscans always were married in the streets, before the door of the house, which was thrown open at the conclusion of the cere- mony." ROBERT Go WEB. I have taken from various pages in vol. ii. of ' The Wedding Day in all Ages and Countries,' by E. J. Wood, the following information, which may be of interest to your contributor. It appears that in ancient times the people