Mariage consenti et mariage contraint: L'abjuration sub pena nubendi à l'officialité de Cerisy, 1314-1346

According to medieval Canon Law the validity of a marriage depended solely on the consent of the parties. No one could legally force a couple to marry if they did not freely consent to do so. At the same time, any kind of sexual relations outside of marriage was prohibited by Canon Law. An unmarried couple could be forced to abjure one another sub pena nubendi. This meant that any future intercourse would automatically leave them legally married. In this article I study the conflict between the idea of marriage as solely depending on the free consent of the parties and the marriage coercion imposed by abjuration sub pena nubendi.