The Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage’s Social and Historical Context

Abstract

In this article, the historical and social context of Petrus Dathenus’s Form for the Solemnisation of Marriage at the end of the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century in the province of Holland is examined, in order to grasp the meaning of this Marriage Form of the Dutch Reformed Church. In order to do so, the Dutch Classical Reformed Form is related to information of primary and secondary sources about matrimony. A discussion of the marriage banns, parental consent, engagement, the wedding location, the views on marriage, husbands and wives’ responsibilities, and divorce, demonstrates that examination of the historical developments and contemporary rules and manners improves our understanding of the Form. Nevertheless, being a liturgical document, the Form did not always represent the social context, but rather interacted with the social context as a normative source.