Engagement

An engagement, betrothal, or fiancer is a promise to wed, and also the period of time between a marriage proposal and a marriage. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, "intended", affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged. Future brides and grooms may be called the betrothed, a wife-to-be or husband-to-be, fiancée or fiancé, respectively (from the French word fiancer). The duration of the courtship varies vastly, and is largely dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved.

Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, and it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the engaged couple were old enough.

Origin

The origins of European engagement in marriage practice is found in the Jewish law (Torah), first exemplified by Abraham, and outlined in the last Talmudic tractate of the Nashim (Women) order, where marriage consists of two separate acts, called erusin (or kiddushin, meaning sanctification), which is the betrothal ceremony, and nissu'in or chupah, the actual ceremony for the marriage. Erusin changes the couple's interpersonal status, while nissu'in brings about the legal consequences of the change of status. (However, in the Talmud and other sources of Jewish law there is also a process, called kiddushin, corresponding to what today is called engagement. Marrying without such an agreement is considered immoral. To complicate matters, erusin in modern Hebrew means engagement, not betrothal.)

Engagers

The Engagers were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters, who made "The Engagement" with King Charles I in December 1647 while he was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle by the English Parliamentarians after his defeat in the First Civil War.

The Covenanters, a national Presbyterian movement, governed Scotland from 1639–51, during the civil Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They supported the English Parliamentarians in the First English Civil War in return for the Long Parliament agreeing to the Solemn League and Covenant, which promised reform in England and support for the Scottish church settlement.

However, after the English Parliament's victory, they feared being sidelined – especially by the more radical Independent faction that had a strong following in the New Model Army both in the rank and file and among the Grandees like Oliver Cromwell.

As a result, some of their General Assembly members signed a secret treaty with Charles I in 1647, known as The Engagement, which promised that Charles would support the establishment of Presbyterianism, in England for a period of three years, in return for a military alliance with the Covenanters. Not all Covenanters agreed with The Engagement and a large faction known as the Kirk party, strongly influenced by Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll were opposed, because King Charles refused to take the Covenant personally and they feared he would not honour the agreement if he were restored to power. However the faction that supported The Engagement, known as The Engagers, outmaneuvered the Kirk party, defeating some of them in a skirmish at Mauchline Muir, and organised an expeditionary army. Neither of the more experienced Scottish Generals, Lord Leven or David Leslie, was willing to lead the army as they sided with Argyll, so the command was given to the less experienced Duke of Hamilton.

Engagement (disambiguation)

Engagement may refer to the following: