For Better, For Worse: British Marriages, 1600 to the Present

by John R. Gillis

The history of marriage is commonly thought of as an evolution from cold, impersonal arrangements to new, more affectionate and egalitarian forms of conjugality. For Better, For Worse , the most comprehensive treatment to date of the history of marriage in a major Western society, presents a
radically different perspective on both past and present marriages. Using fresh evidence from popular courtship and wedding rites since the 17th century, John Gillis argues that love was never wholly absent in the past and that the passage of time has by no means produced a perfect conjugality
today.

Genres: History

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 1985

Reviews

[C. B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Undoubtedly rich in anecdote and offers some useful interpretation of demographic trends.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at British marriage from the Tudor era onwards. I learnt a lot from this book that I had not known before, there are detailed accounts of courtship and marriage customs, particularly among the working class. It is interesting to discover for instance that many of the things that we think of as traditional, the reading of banns,the white wedding dress, the bride being ‘given away’ by her father etc, are actually comparatively recent. Also that betrothal was viewed by most as being as legally binding as marriage, a great many brides were already pregnant at the time of marriage. There are some surprising facts about divorce too. I must admit I am quite glad that weddings nowadays are not as rowdy as they were in earlier centuries, I would have found all that horseplay acutely embarrassing. But they certainly were more colourful. This is one of those books that has fascinating facts on every page. Very absorbing.

[catechism · Rating 4 out of 5]

fascinating look at marriage and courtship from the early modern period on, conclusively proving that everything I learned about conjugal customs and mores from romance novels was, in fact, lies. The scholarship is a bit outdated at this point, and in places this is uneven (poor treatment of the middle class, too much economics), but a pretty good read if you're into this sort of thing.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the evolution of marriage in Britain. Some surprising facts: that up until the 19th century, more people were unmarried than married; that marriage was almost always more of a social status change - signaled most significantly by switching one's friends to married people instead of single people, than it was anything else; that it wasn't until the late 18th century that parents (fathers) were able to veto any marriage their child entered into without their consent, solely for the purpose of controlling the family's wealth as fear of the growing middle class gave parents worry that their children would be seduced by middling/low class gold diggers.