The testament of gifts: marriage tokens and disputed contracts in north east England

Weddings are still great occasions for giving gifts: a couple still accumulate vital necessities as well as luxuries through the generosity offriends and relations. A couple's gifts to each other usually attract less notice, because nowadays they have no significance except perhaps as an indication of wealth or strong feeling. In earlier periods, however, it was often these gifts which were the subject of debate. When, prior to 1753, valid marriages could be made by a couple ‘handfasting’ or contracting themselves before witnesses, irrespective of any later church wedding, the words exchanged and the gifts given were crucial items in the making of binding relationships.