How Did Marriage Develop in the West

Another ancient institution with us today is marriage. While many think marriage is a natural state in human societies, the reality is its history is complex in its early development and the fact we see multiple types of marriage systems, including monogamous and polygamous marriages, indicates different developments around the world. Marriage systems have often been related to the development of land, property, and other assets, as marriage also relates to inheritance and establishing the future for households. In Western regions, this is no different, although over time, for most of our history over the last two thousand years, marriage had become more narrowly defined than it initially was.

Origins of Marriage

It is not clear when exactly marriage became part of normal human social behavior. In early evolution of modern humans, it is likely, although not certain, that bands formed revolved around family relationships where there was one dominant male and one or more females that were partners with the male. What is clear is that marriage today is universal in every type of society, including hunter-gatherers. This suggests that it is something that developed long ago in our history. However, it is also clear that its evolution is complex. Studies do not always agree, but early marriage may have included polygamous, usually polygyny relationships often conducted by a more dominant male, and monogamous for most other relationships. Using modern hunter-gatherer groups, arranged marriages are among the most common, where the bride and groom are exchanged. Marriage serves to regulate not only sexual behavior, in a socially acceptable format, but it also seems to serve as a way for bands and groups to introduce new wives and males and thus allow small groups to more diversify their genetic makeup, including avoiding diseases. Marriages were also used to make agreements and as a way to resolve conflict.

While in early evolution there is evidence polygamous relationships may have been more common, by the time societies began to settle and farm in the Near East and eventually in Europe in the Neolithic, we begin to get more information and indication of marriage patterns through household remains and then later, with writing, historical data. Polygamy appears to still be fairly common in societies in the Near East and Europe even well into the Neolithic. One group does begin to appear to show more monogamous patterns, specifically the Proto-Indo-European or Indo-Hittite groups that emerged in Asia and Europe.

In polygamous societies, monogamy still seems the norm; however, polygamy was allowed in Mesopotamia and other Near Eastern states. Laws indicate that polygamy, always being polygany, could occur in cases where the first wife was unable to have children. In fact, the second wife was often one with the status of a slave or secondary, where her role was to provide offspring for the household to continue rather than share in its wealth or future. In fact, it was often the first wife that would help or even be responsible for choosing the second wife. Rulers and elites likely also had polygamous relationships, although the reasons are likely different from more common households. Thus, we see that even in polygamous societies in the Middle East, monogamy started becoming the norm. One suggestion is that monogamy started becoming the norm as agriculture took hold. In this case, property and possessions started becoming important and passing on these possessions to ones offspring became important. Monogamy became relatively easier as it helped make it clear who the parents were and who would inherit property. Polygamy, however, was still useful because it provided a greater possibility for those who could inherit in cases where there were no children. Interestingly, we do not see cases of polyandry, that is a woman marrying multiple men, although there have been known cases in various societies, suggesting it did occur in more limited places.

Historical Development

Historical information from Greek and Roman societies shows that both had strict rules about monogamy being the only form of marriage, although it was common practice to accept concubines for men and other forms of relationships, usually permissible only for men. In Greek societies, marriage was also an expectation, where the relationship had to be monogamous. However, here we also see that society allowed other relationships to be formed for men, including having concubines or even homosexual relationships. In effect, sexual preference and marriage were sometimes separated for men. In fact, in Greek society children from concubines could be made legitimate if the wife gave consent. Marriage in Greece and Rome was used to unionize families rather than developed as a standard for sexual behavior for men. This meant that marriage was often arranged, although a man could win his wife in competition. In most cases we see from early historical Europe is these societies were patrilineal and patrilocal, where households would be headed by a man and the wife was expected to live in the husband's household. Marriage was seen as a social practice that supported public interest, specifically continuing society and raising children, rather than a romantic pursuit. Adultery could lead to divorce or even punishment. Adultery was defined as a man having sex with another man's wife. Punishment was often carried out by the husband or father.

In other parts of Europe, particularly Celtic regions, where the Brehon Law documents this social pattern, marriage was polygamous and monogamous. Women tended to have more choice and rights for selection of partners relative to Greek and Roman societies, where often it was the families who decided. However, there was also strong family pressure on the spouses. Celts may have been one of the few European societies to also allow multiple husbands for a woman, as this seems to be suggested in cases given that there was more choice on marital patterns in Celtic societies. Homosexual marriages do not seem to have occurred or at least were not documented. Interesting law governed polygamous marriage. For instance, some Celtic law may have allowed the first wife to murder the second after the first few days of marriage, where the only punishment would be a fine. Marriage was also more of a civil matter than one that incorporated religion. There was also no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, as all had rights to inherit if the parents agreed to this.

Rise of Monogamous Marriages

While it is true that the spread of Christianity in Europe and Middle East did further make monogamous marriage the norm, history of this was complex. In some cases, early Christians from the Middle East formed polygamous unions, where early church leaders often did not interfere in these cultural practices. Josephus, the Jewish writer from the 1st century AD, indicates polygamy still practiced by Jews and Jewish converts to Christianity seemed to have continued this practice. In fact, the clash of polygamy and monogamy occurred as a cultural clash between Roman society, that saw polygamy as unacceptable, and Jewish culture. Early Christian writers did seem to discourage polygamy in their believers. Augustine, Justin Martyr, and Basil were among those who tried to discourage it. The debates in the early church though suggest that for a period early Christianity likely had two practices, where some only accepted monogamy while others conducted polygamy. This stems more from cultural variation between Middle Eastern and Southern European marriage systems, namely Greek and Roman. In fact, it was Augustine who went on to have the most influence on views of marriage in the developing Western tradition after Christianity. Namely, while being celibate was better, following the example of Christ, marriage was preferable over fornication.

With the Roman Catholic Church gaining increasing power in Europe, marriage was still an area left to civil law. This stemmed from Roman and even northern European tradition where marriage was not seen as a sacred act. Although marriage, from the time of Augustine, was increasingly performed in church, laws regulating it often derived from civil laws, sometimes influenced by pre-Christian law. This changed in the 12th century, where an edict was passed by the Pope that now defined marriage as a holy sacrament. This not only solidified marriage but also made it very hard to divorce, as it was now seen as a permanent bond between a man and woman. Adultery or death could break that bond, but an annulment had to be granted by the Church. This developed as a reaction against the Cathars, which was a Christian and Gnostic inspired movement that saw marriage and sexuality as human acts to avoid and as being intertwined with the world and, therefore, evil. These Gnostic ideas had a lot of similar views to Manichaean philosophy that often also had views against any form of marriage.

The next big change to marriage occurred in the Reformation period in the 16th century. At this point, marriage was once again moved back to state authority. This time, Christian Protestants saw marriage as a civil act and the privy of government, as originally seen by Luther. This also meant that divorce could be obtained through civil action if the marriage contract was broken. In effect, marriage became more defined as a civil binding contract rather than holy sacrament.