Types of Cause: Matrimonial – separation from bed and board (adultery and/or cruelty)

Divorce as we know it today was not permitted in the sixteenth century, but there were some situations in which one of the parties could be granted a separation a mensa et thoro (from bed and board – literally from table and bed). This was sometimes called ‘divorce’, but did not give the parties the right to remarry, only the right to live apart, and the woman could sometimes then claim a form of maintenance.