Sponsalia de futuro (or sponsalia pro futuro, also stipulatio sponsalitia) was a Canon form of engagement used by medieval rulers in cases when one or both future spouses were minors. It was seen as a precursor to valid marriage. In order to celebrate a sponsalia de futuro, both children had to be older than seven.
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It was Peter Lombard who introduced the distinction between a sponsalia de praesenti and a sponsalia de futuro. While the former, a promise of an immediately effective marriage, created a marriage that could not be dissolved, the latter concerned only a future marriage and as such was seen as a betrothal dissolubleLind, 105. by the mutual consent of the involved parties. It was presumed that the consummation of marriage included the sponsalia de praesenti and thus rendered the sponsalia de futuro a valid marriage.
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The presence of a credible witness or witnesses was usual. For much of the relevant period, church courts dealt with marital matters. Ecclesiastical law recognised two forms of handfasting, sponsalia per verba de praesenti and sponsalia per verba de futuro. In sponsalia de praesenti, the most usual form, the couple declared they there and then accepted each other as man and wife.
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For much of the relevant period church courts dealt with marital matters. Ecclesiastical law recognised two forms of handfasting, sponsalia per verba de praesenti ("espousal by word given at the present time") and sponsalia per verba de futuro ("espousal by word at a future time"). In the former — the most common form — the couple declared they there and then accepted each other as man and wife; the latter form was a betrothal, as the couple took hands only to declare their intention to marry each other at some future date and could be ended with the consent of both parties – but only if the relationship was unconsummated. If intercourse did take place, then the sponsalia de futuro "was automatically converted into de iure marriage".
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The sponsalia de futuro form was less binding, as the couple took hands only to declare their intention to marry each other at some future date. The latter was closer to a modern engagement and could, in theory, be ended with the consent of both parties – but only providing intercourse had not occurred. If intercourse did take place, then the sponsalia de futuro "was automatically converted into de iure marriage". Despite the validity of handfasting, it was expected to be solemnised by a church wedding fairly soon afterwards.
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However, on approaching the altar, Philemon suddenly surprises everyone by saying that he was so adamant in his faith that he would rather die than do homage to an idol. Bidermann also wrote a novel Utopia about a hundred years after Thomas More wrote a story by the same name. His theological works include:Theses Theologicae (1620); Sponsalia (1621); and Poenitentiae Sacramentum (1621).
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The verb is spondeo, sponsus. Related words are sponsalia, the ceremony of betrothal; sponsa, fiancée; and sponsus, both the second-declension noun meaning a husband-to-be and the fourth declension abstract meaning suretyship.Servius, note to Aeneid X 79 The ceremonial character of sponsio suggestsIn conjunction with archaeological evidence from Lavinium. that Latin archaic forms of marriage were, like the confarreatio of Roman patricians, religiously sanctioned.
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Although this was never declared unorthodox, few theologians have been prepared to follow Peter Lombard in this aspect of his teaching. Compare Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Deus caritas est, 2006. Also in the Sentences was the doctrine that marriage was consensual and need not be consummated to be considered perfect, unlike Gratian's analysis (see sponsalia de futuro). Lombard's interpretation was later endorsed by Pope Alexander III, and had a significant impact on Church interpretation of marriage.
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His chief work, Jus Ecclesiasticum Universum, first published in Ingolstadt in 1817, underwent various editions, the last appearing at Rome (1843-5) in twelve quarto volumes. A compendium of this work was styled Succincta sacrorum canonum doctrina; another, Compendium juris ecclesiastici; both were published in Augsburg in 1747. Grandclaude's work (Paris, 1882-3) is practically a compendium of Schmalzgrueber. Other writings are: Judicium ecclesiasticum, Clerus saecularis et regularis, Sponsalia et matrimonia, Crimen fori ecclesiastici, Consilia seu responsa Juris; all appeared at Augsburg between 1712 and 1722.
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The children's sponsalia de futuro, or "provisional marriage", was celebrated at Hainburg on 15 June 1378. The ceremony established the legal framework for the consummation of the marriage without any further ecclesiastical act as soon as they both reached the age of maturity. Duke Leopold agreed that Jadwiga would only receive Treviso, a town which was to be conquered from the Republic of Venice, as dowry from her father. After the ceremony, Jadwiga stayed in Austria for almost two years; she mainly lived in Vienna.
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The same year, Hedwig, promised to William of Austria in a sponsalia de futuro, left her mother's court and moved to Vienna, where she spent the next two years. The Polish lords swore to uphold Mary's rights in 1379, while Sigismund received this recognition three years later. Elizabeth was present, along with her husband and mother-in-law, at a meeting in Zólyom on 12 February 1380, whereby Hungarian lords confirmed Hedwig's Austrian match; this indicates that Louis may have intended to leave Hungary to Hedwig and William. The King, weakened by illness, became progressively less active in the last years of his reign, devoting an increasing amount of time to prayer, as did his aging mother, who had returned from Poland in 1374.
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