Category: Church Of England

Ep106: The Thing About Special Licenses

6/26/2025

Mrs. Bennet would like to ensure that Lizzy's special day is the MOST special. And what better way to do that than by having Darcy and Lizzy marry by special license. This episode we cover the banns, common licenses, and special licenses, and we dig into whether Mrs. Bennet's wedding dreams are likely to come true.

Select Sources

Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jane Austen’s England. New York: Viking, 2013.
Bannet, Eve Tavor. “The Marriage Act of 1753: ‘A Most Cruel Law for the Fair Sex.’” Eighteenth-Century Studies 30, no. 3 (1997): 233–54.
Byrne, Sandie. Jane Austen’s Possessions and Dispossessions. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137406316.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. “Banns of Marriage.” In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, January 1, 2009. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001/acref-9780192802903-e-637.
Francis, Keith A. “Canon Law Meets Unintended Consequences: The Church of England and the Clandestine Marriage Act of 1753.” Anglican and Episcopal History 72, no. 4 (2003): 451–87.
Muir, Rory. Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist; the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Probert, Rebecca. Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment. Cambridge University Press, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511596599.
———. “The Impact of the Marriage Act of 1753: Was It Really ‘A Most Cruel Law for the Fair Sex’?” Eighteenth-Century Studies 38, no. 2 (2005): 247–62.

EP11: The Thing About Steventon Rectory

10/3/2021

Although it no longer exists, Steventon Rectory was the birthplace of Jane Austen and where she lived for the first 25 years of her life. This week we travel back to Steventon Rectory and learn more about this place that was so formative to Austen's development. And most importantly, we dig up some excellent Austen potato content. This biographical episode was the result of multiple listener requests — we love hearing from you!

Selected episode sources:

Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Edited by Deirdre Le Faye. 4th ed. Oxford [England] ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections. Edited by Kathryn Sutherland. Reiss. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
BBC News. “Unlocking Secrets from Jane Austen’s Steventon Home.” Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-20678244.
Jane Austen Centre. “Jane Austen’s China and the Steventon Archaeological Dig.” Accessed January 28, 2022. https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/jane-austen-life/jane-austens-china-and-the-steventon-archaeological-dig.
Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen’s Country Life: Uncovering the Rural Backdrop to Her Life, Her Letters and Her Novels. London: Frances Lincoln Publisher, 2014.
Worsley, Lucy. Jane Austen at Home. First U.S. edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2017.

EP09: The Thing About the Rushworths' Divorce with guest Dr. Ellen Campbell

10/3/2021

Sex! Scandal! This week we're headed to Mansfield Park where a matrimonial fracas is brewing. Actually, it happened in Twickenham, and it's already fully steeped. If you ever thought Jane Austen was just about polite tea parties, this episode is for you. A huge thanks to Dr. Ellen Campbell for joining us for this discussion, despite suffering from new semester laryngitis — thank you, Ellen! You can find her on Twitter @EllenCampbell.

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Ep106: The Thing About Special Licenses

EP11: The Thing About Steventon Rectory

EP09: The Thing About the Rushworths' Divorce with guest Dr. Ellen Campbell

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