Witnesses and the marriage

The famous 'speak now or forever hold your peace' did not use to exist in the Middle Age.

This allowed for new marriages to take place, as past secrets would come up only after the marriage had been celebrated.

In the Middle Age, Christians did not need to marry inside of the church: whenever they came to the consent over the union, they could get married anywhere.

The difficult part was proving that the marriage had taken place though.

In the Middle Age, one only needed to have reached the age for puberty in order to be able to get married.

Furthermore, the parents' approval was not even necessary. However, rules like asking for your landlord's consent or marrying only persons from the same class were given a lo...