The law known as Marchetta, or Marquette, compelled newly married women to a most dishonorable servitude. They were regarded as the rightful prey of the Feudal Lord from one to three days after their marriage, and from this custom the eldest son of the serf was held as the son of the Lord…. Marquette was claimed by the Lord’s Spiritual, as well as by the Lord’s Temporal. The Church, indeed, was the bulwark of this base feudal claim.
