Historians normally treat the canon law of marriage in the later Middle Ages as a unit. Applicable in every country of Western Europe and without appreciable substantive change from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth, the law of marriage appears as a unified and unifying system of social control. There is much to commend this view. The Liber Sextus, the Clementines, and the Extravagantes, which contained the law enacted after the publication of the Decretals in 1234, added virtually nothing to the law on marriage. Their sections on the subject are brief and devoid of innovation. And this law, with the additions and qualifications of the canonists, was in force in the Church courts of every country in Latin Christendom.

How far does this unitary picture correspond with reality? Is it fair to treat the entire period as one? Or were there developments and variations in practice which call for modification of the picture? Obviously, this question cannot be satisfactorily answered from the records of one country alone. We should need comparative studies of the courts of several different countries. The aim of this chapter must therefore be more modest. It is to describe some of the changes which took place in English marriage litigation during the late medieval period. And it is to examine a few differences in practice between the several Consistory courts. We should not expect, nor shall we find, great changes in the law.