In
view of the bad results of a second marriage when a widow falls into
the hands of some designing man, to the destruction of her children's
welfare, this usage, so long discontinued, of binding herself by a
solemn vow, had something to recommend it in times far past, when more
stress was laid upon the sanctions and prohibitions of religion than is
generally the case in our day.
At
a solemn ceremony of this kind, held at the Priory of Campsey, in 1382,
during the reign of Richard II, Isabella, Countess of Suffolk, took
the vow in the presence of the Earl of Warwick, Lords Willough-by and
Scales, and other nobles. The old Norman French form of her pledge has
been preserved and may be given here for its historic interest: "Jeo
Isabella, jadys la femme William de Ufford, Count de Suffolk, vowe à
Dieu, en presence de très reverentz piers en Dieu, évesques de Ely et
de Norwiz, qe jeo doi estre chaste d'ors en avant ma vie durante." (I,
Isabella, formerly the wife of William de Ufford, Count of Suffolk,
vow to God in presence of the very reverend fathers in God, the bishops
of Ely and of Norwich, that I shall remain chaste from now on during my
entire life. )73
73 Op. cit., p. 309, citing Gough, " Sepulchral Monuments," vol. i, p. cxix.
