Religion: Kindred and Affinity

Matthew Parker was a pious, scholarly divine who took unto himself a spouse in 1547, when it was still illegal for clergymen of the Church of England to marry.* In 1560, as Queen Elizabeth's Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker was set to draw up a list of marriage prohibitions. The resultant Table of Kindred and Affinity, Wherein Whosoever Are Related are Forbidden in Scripture and Our Laws to Marry Together stands prominently in every Anglican church in England to this day (see cut).

Since 1907, successive Acts of Parliament have cut Archbishop Parker's prohibitions from 30 to 20. First to fall was...

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