Rules for Attending Wedding Banquets in Early Medieval Europe. A Matter of Fun, Excess and Moral Integrity

Abstract

Banquets played a fundamental social role in early medieval marriages, and both secular and ecclesiastical authorities wished to exert control over them. This was due, among other things, to the enduring success of the consensus theory as opposed to the copula theory of marriage. This paper examines norms which aimed at regulating the attendance of monks, churchmen and laypeople at wedding banquets, and focuses on two main related issues: firstly, their dangerous similarities with non-Christian feasts and, secondly, their importance in the public expressions of consent (by the spouses) and endorsement (by priests). Wedding banquets are also critically compared with other forms of late antique and early medieval banquets, but the concepts of fun and abundance are also explored in the framework of biblical and pastoral traditions, with particular attention to the two key evangelical representations of wedding banquets: John 2:1-11 and Matthew 22:1-14.