HISTORICAL ALMANAC

Summary

The article is a characteristic of the treaty Summa de matrimonio by Master Vacarius (1120 –1200), a lawyer who engaged in the twelfth-century discussion on the issue of mar-riage. He discussed engagement, marriage contracts and dowries. Summa de matrimonio presents the former legal standards, which usually combined secular customs with the of-cial doctrine of the Church. In his considerations, Vacarius puts for ward a belief that the va-lidity of the marriage is determined by the spiritual bond between spouses, not their bodily contact. In legal terms, he distinguished two contracts: an engagement contract and a mar-riage contract which also determined the division of property. He pointed out that in ma-trimonial issues the Church did not apply any rules of secular law, but was guided by the principles of canon law.