Marriage, Separation, and Divorce in England, 1500-1700

K.J. Kesselring is a Professor of History at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. She has published works on early modern English law, crime, and politics, including books on the royal pardon, the Northern Rebellion of 1569, and homicide, as well as a series of articles and book chapters on such topics as felony forfeiture and the Court of Star Chamber. She has also edited or co-edited several volumes of essays and primary sources, including a collection of essays on the history of coverture co-edited with Tim Stretton: Married Women and the Law: Coverture in England and the Common Law World.Tim Stretton is a Professor of History at Saint Mary's University in Canada and has published widely on the topics of women, litigation, law, and literature. He is the author of Women Waging Law in Elizabethan England (1998), the editor of Marital Litigation in the Court of Requests, 1542-1642 (2008) and co-editor (with Krista Kesselring) of Married Women and the Law: Coverture in England and the Common Law World (2013).

• Introduction PART I 1: Secular Separations: Privy Council, Chancery, and Requests 2: Self-Help and the Court of Star Chamber 3: Bigamy and Adultery: Parliament and the Courts of Common Law 4: The High Commission for Ecclesiastical Causes and the Rise of Alimony PART II 5: Parliament, Chancery, and the Triumph of Alimony, 1640-1660 6: Private Litigation and Parliamentary Divorce, 1660-1700 Afterword

The book is a sound guide to the subject and, within the limits set, a success. The presentation is excellent.