2009
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Elena Brambilla, « Il Concilio di Trento e i mutamenti nella legittimità dei rapporti tra sposi », Publications de l'École Française de Rome (documents), ID : 10670/1.ojnkyv
The starting point of this essays are the so-called « sponsali » which were, before the Council of Trent, regular civil marriage, registered privately by notaries and often performed at home. « Sponsali » had two main forms, those arranged publicly by parents, and those contracted (and usually also consumed) in secret by the sponsi, without parental authorization, but with the promise of future marriage guaranteed in law. The Council of Trient, by establishing that marriage was a sacrament requiring a priest, and not a civil ritual, provoked great difficulties and strong repression by the Episcopal tribunals : the latter refused to recognize the « sponsali » as legitimate civil unions and proceeded against them by penai law as fornicati on or concubinate, so as to make the sacramentai union in church prevail.