Adapting True Crime: George Wilkins's The Miseries of Inforst Marriage, the Tragedy of Wardship, and the Early Modern Court of Wards and Liveries
Walter Caluerley of Caluerley in Yorkeshire Esquier, murdered two of his owne children in his owne house, then stabd his wife into the body with full entent to haue killed her, and then instantly with like fury went from his house to haue slaine his youngest child at nurse, but was preuented: he was...
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| Published in: | Early modern literary studies 2019-01, p.1-15 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Walter Caluerley of Caluerley in Yorkeshire Esquier, murdered two of his owne children in his owne house, then stabd his wife into the body with full entent to haue killed her, and then instantly with like fury went from his house to haue slaine his youngest child at nurse, but was preuented: he was prest to death in Yorke the 5 of August.1 Public interest in the Calverley case endured for more than a decade after the murders, revealing the culture's assessment of the case as an important event in English history. [...]there is no evidence in the pamphlet that Calverley even informs his guardian of his first relationship. Though the couple is alone and without witnesses, they plight their troth, even co-opting wording directly from the Book of Common Prayer's Solemnization of Marriage Service.8 Scarborow's use of present-tense verbs - 'This hand thus takes thee as my louing wife' - indicates di presentí spousals, the spoken exchange of consent that immediately bound a couple together in matrimony.9 The exchanged vows have legal standing but also religious importance, as Clare observes when she states, 'Men neuer giue their Faith, and promise Marriage, / But Heauen records their Oath' (B1v). [...]when Lord Falconbridge separates the lovers, he overturns civil and divine authority and violates his ward's consent. A prior contract to wed prohibited marriage to another and served as one of the few reasons that marriages could be annulled.10 Even if Lord Falconbridge doubts that a marriage actually occurred, at the very least Clare and Scarborow are betrothed to one another and are not free to enter into another marriage contract. [...]Lord Falconbridge destroys social structures in Wilkins's play |
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| ISSN: | 1201-2459 1201-2459 |