Matrimonial tangles

… are nothing new. From Ely in the early 17th century:

A Matthew Maye was presented to the church court

suspected to lyve in fornication in the house of John Lemon with Dorothye Sutton, & he hathe a wief and children in another place, & she hathe a husband & children alsoe in another place as it is reported, & theise woulde marrye togither.

Dorothye said in her defence “yt in ded she was & is married to another husband wch said husband she saythe was married before to another woman, & yt therefore she is not bound to tarrye with him”.

R. Adair, Courtship, Illegitimacy and Marriage in Early Modern England, Manchester Uni Press, 1996, p. 162-3

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