Marc Retterath Kirchenrechtliche Vorschriften und Rubriken zur kirchlichen Eheschließung im Erzbistum Köln seit dem Konzil von Trient

About this book

For a long time, the form of marriage was not precisely defined. All that was required was an exchange of the consent, i.e. the declaration of the bride´s and groom's will to irrevocably enter into the bond of matrimony. This consent could also be declared in secret, but such clandestine marriages caused a variety of problems as they were difficult to prove.

The Church therefore tried to prevent such marriages early on, albeit with only moderate success. It was not until the Council of Trent that things began to change. The decree Tametsi, passed in 1563, introduced the formal obligation. Thereafter a marriage had to be concluded in front of the local priest and two or three witnesses after banns had been issued previously, otherwise the marriage was invalid.

This study shows how these new marriage regulations were adapted in the Archdiocese of Cologne. This was mainly done with the help of the first officially published diocesan ritual, the so-called Agenda, which was released in 1614. In addition to the liturgical marriage rite, it contained a large number of newly written canonical instructions and thus went far beyond the scope of a liturgical book.

In 1720, a revised edition of the Agenda was published, whose canonical material was expanded once again. This content and further developments are also analysed by the author in terms of legal history.