snaggletoothie of the Loyal Opposition: Wash Tub Bass: The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise

WHAT I'M READING

I’m reading ‘The Verneys’ by Adrian Tinniswood. The Verneys are a family of English nobility that dates back to at least the fourteenth century. They are especially noteworthy because during the seventeenth century they preserved almost every scrap of paper that passed through their hands. Copies of letters sent, letters and notes received, bills, receipts, everything. So rather full histories of each member of the family in this period can be written. Though not always at the center of events, they got around. And their stories give the reader a picture some of thel idiosyncrasies of their times. For examples how a marriage might be arraigned. In 1627 there was a rich heiress who was orphaned at the age of eleven. Her name was Mary Blacknall. Her uncles bought her wardship so as to be able to control her fortune by marrying her where they wished. The court that awarded the wardship directed that she not be married before the age of fourteen. But one of her uncles became worried that someone else would end up with the fortune, so when she was only twelve years old he set about marrying her to his son. Edmund Verney who was then the head of the house of Verney went to the Court of Wards, paid a thousand pounds and took over as Mary’s ward. Then when she was thirteen he married her to his fifteen year old son, Ralph. But Ralph was not allowed to consummate the marriage until Mary turned fourteen.