A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 2 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 2 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
[Footnote 140: Thus, for example, Gratian accounts for the
liberty of divorce and remarriage accorded in the letter of
Gregory II. (confusing him with Gregory I.) by assuming that
it was in consequence of a papal dispensation in favor of the
English (_Decret. Grat._, _dictum_ to c. 18, C. XXXII, qu. 7),
although elsewhere he more sensibly rejects Gregory's action as
unorthodox. Peter Lombard makes no mention of Gregory's letter
and with Gratian rejects as false the passage of pseudo-Ambrose
allowing separation and remarriage for adultery (ESMEIN, _op.
cit._, II, 76); while others get out of the difficulty through
the gratuitous assumption that pseudo-Ambrose refers, not to
simple adultery, but to a case of incest committed by a woman
with a relative of her husband, _affinitas superveniens_. Gratian
will not accept this explanation, on the ground that, according
to the theory of _affinitas superveniens_, husband and wife are
treated alike. Yet, with delicious inconsequence, he proceeds
to explain why pseudo-Ambrose had given the man alone the right
to remarry in case of the wife's adultery, without granting the
woman the reciprocal privilege. In the text of Ambrose, he says,
the words _vir_ and _mulier_ are not employed in their proper
sense, but figuratively. Each is used for man irrespective of
sex. _Vir_ is from _virtus_, and means man as a strong being
resisting temptation; _mulier_ is from _mollities_ (softness),
and it is used to denote the weak-minded man guilty of sin (_Dec.
Grat._, _dictum_ to c. 18, C. XXXII, qu. 7. _Cf._ ESMEIN, _op.
cit._, II, 76; FREISEN, _op. cit._, 582, 805). Ivo of Chartres,
bent on sustaining the rigid theory of indissolubility, cites
cc. 5 and 9 of the decree of Verberie in its favor, deliberately
suppressing the clauses allowing the man to remarry (see his
_Decretum_, X, 169; VIII, 189; also his _Panormia_, VI, 91:
GEFFCKEN, _op. cit._, 82); and Gratian, by adopting Ivo's
text for c. 9 instead of the original, gets around a similar
difficulty (FREISEN, _op. cit._, 803). Celestin III. and Urban
III. allowed the faithful spouse divorce and remarriage when the
other becomes an infidel or a heretic; but the later canonists
evaded this authority by claiming that these popes spoke merely
as "simple doctors" (ESMEIN, _op. cit._, II, 80).
On the wide use of "metaphor" in the history of the church see
LECKY, _Democracy and Liberty_, II, 217; and especially his
_Hist. of European Morals_, II, 326, 327, 356-58.]
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