How Gretna Green Became the Quickie Wedding Capital of 18th-Century Englanders格雷特納格林：18世紀英格蘭人的“閃婚之都”

艾米麗·賴利 譯/杜磊 審訂/肖維青

In the U.S.， Las Vegas is known as the ultimate quickie wedding destination. But across the pond， the verdant village of Gretna Green in Scotland has been a hotbed of runaway “I do’s” for more than 260 years—longer than Sin City has even been around. And it was all thanks to one stuffy British lawyer who， in an attempt to reform English marriage laws， inadvertently made elopements to the tiny Scottish hamlet de rigueur1 for couples looking to tie the knot as soon as possible.

Before the 1750s， couples in England who wanted to get married only had to make a declaration to make the union legal and binding. However， the Church of England’s rules on marriage were a little more complicated. In order to hold an official church wedding， a couple had to make their plans publicly known several weeks before the ceremony through the reading of banns—public announcements， made on three different Sundays before the wedding， that would give the public the chance to object to the union for any legal or religious reasons， such as if one half of the couple had a previous marriage that was never annulled2. （In a time when a divorce was hard to obtain， it wasn’t uncommon for people to simply try to skip town， then get married to someone else later on.） And if either person was under 21， they had to have parental permission to marry.

But since weddings that didn’t comply with these church rules were still considered legal by the British government， these so-called clandestine or irregular marriages became quite common. There were a number of other reasons why couples might have opted to forgo an official wedding， whether it was to avoid a pricey marriage license or parish fees， evade the public announcement requirement， marry despite parental opposition， conceal a pregnancy， or comply with religious beliefs outside the Church of England.

Skirting the marriage laws

Some clergy members were willing to perform clandestine marriages for a fee， but those who did so risked being fined and suspended by the church for up to three years. Couples looking to get around the rules could seek out imprisoned clergy， who ostensibly had nothing to lose. As a result， London’s Fleet Prison3， which fell outside the jurisdiction of the local bishop， became an especially popular place to get married... until the glut of Fleet weddings came to the attention of one of the highest-ranking members of the British government.

To combat this scourge4 of irregular marriages， Lord Chancellor Philip Yorke， 1st Earl of Hardwicke， introduced “An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage，” also known as the Marriage Act of 1753. The law established two main requirements for a marriage to be considered legal： The ceremony had to be performed in a church （usually the bride’s local parish） according to Anglican rites and both members of the couple had to be at least 21 years old or have their parents’ permission.

Still， some young lovebirds were determined to get around the rules. Numerous English couples avoided Lord Hardwicke’s Act by traveling to Scotland—very often in secret. There， girls as young as 12 years old and boys as young as 14 could get married without parental consent. They simply needed to express their desire to be married in order to be legally bound together. So Gretna Green， the most easily reachable village across the Scottish border from England， became a hotspot for elopements.

Tying the knot with anvils

Though Scottish marriage laws allowed for pretty much anyone to legally marry a couple， brides- and grooms-to-be arriving from England often felt as if they needed some kind of formality to make their wedding seem more official. In seeking out responsible， upstanding local citizens in a town where they likely knew no one， couples often turned to toll keepers， innkeepers， and blacksmiths to perform the ceremony.

As the local lore goes， when earnest couples crossed the Scottish border and arrived at Gretna Green， they spotted the village’s blacksmiths at their forges and would ask if they’d be willing to join them in matrimony. So it became a local tradition for couples to seek out these anvil priests in the village’s two blacksmith shops and inns， and thus the anvil came to symbolize the commitment newlyweds were making to each other.

“As a blacksmith would join metals together over the anvil， two hearts were also joined，” Susan Clark， director of Gretna Green Ltd.， a local wedding planning business， tells Mental Floss5. It became a popular side gig for local blacksmiths. One anvil priest， Richard Rennison， reportedly performed as many as 5，147 marriages.

It didn’t take long for the village to gain a reputation as a perfectly quaint destination for elopements. By the 19th century， numerous references to the village’s popularity as a spot for runaway weddings began to appear in literature. In Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice， for example， Lydia Bennet leaves a note for her friend that she is on her way to Gretna Green to elope with George Wickham. Austen wrote about Scottish elopement in Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park as well.

Gretna Green has also garnered mentions in everything from Agatha Christie’s 1971 novel Nemesis to the early 2000s Japanese manga series Embalming： The Another Tale of Frankenstein. On television， running off to Gretna Green has been a plot point on numerous series， including the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street and， more recently， Downton Abbey.

A modern wedding destination

While irregular marriages are a thing of the past， even today， people are still drawn to the mysticism of marrying at Gretna Green. Saying “I do” over the village anvil or in the area around Dumfries continues to be a popular matrimonial choice for modern-day couples.

According to one Scottish tourism website， about 5，000 couples get married at Gretna Green each year. The tidal wave of weddings occurs not just during typical romantic holidays， like Valentine’s Day， but on other memor-able dates on the calendar as well. On November 11， 2011 （11/11/11）， for instance， 51 weddings and two civil services took place in Gretna Green and the surrounding area. People “want to become part of the magic that is Gretna Green—the history， the intrigue， the romance and rebellion，” Clark says.

在美國，拉斯維加斯因能讓人極速結婚而成為遐邇聞名的勝地。但大洋彼岸，郁郁蔥蔥的蘇格蘭格雷特納格林村260余年來就一直是私奔情侶締結良緣、高喊“我愿意”的大本營——這比拉斯維加斯這座“罪惡之城”存在的歷史還要綿長。而這一切都要歸功于一位古板的英國大律師——他曾嘗試對英國的婚姻法進行改革，卻在無意之中讓期待盡快結合的情侶把私奔至這個蘇格蘭小村莊當成必要的儀式。

18世紀50年代之前，想要結婚的英國戀人只需發布一則聲明就能使婚姻合法并具有約束效力。然而，英國國教對婚姻的規定則更復雜一些。為了舉行正式的教堂婚禮，男女必須在婚禮前幾周，通過發布公告的方式讓公眾知曉他們的結婚計劃——這種公開聲明要在舉行婚禮前的三個禮拜連續每個周日發布，以便給人提出任何法律與宗教緣由反對這一結合的機會，例如，夫婦中有一方之前有過一段婚姻且從未解除。（在一個很難離婚的時代，人們只要試著跑路，就可隨后與他人結婚，這種現象并不算罕見。）還有，如雙方中有一方未滿21歲，他們必須征得父母的許可方能結婚。

但是，不符合這些教會規定的婚禮仍然被英國政府視為合法，這些所謂的秘密或非正?；橐鲈诋敃r變得相當普遍。還有其他一些原因也可能會讓新人選擇放棄正式的婚禮，如為了節省昂貴的結婚證或教區費用、為了逃避公開聲明的要求、不顧父母的反對而結婚、隱瞞未婚先孕或信奉英國國教以外的宗教信仰。

法外成婚

某些神職人員為了收取費用甘愿為秘密婚禮證婚，但這樣做的人卻有面臨罰款和被教會停職長達三年的風險。希望繞開這些規則的情侶則可以尋找那些被監禁的神職人員，因為表面上，他們不會再有任何損失。因此，不屬于當地主教管轄范圍的倫敦艦隊監獄一度成了一處特別受人歡迎的結婚場所……艦隊婚禮由此泛濫，直到引起一位英國政府最高級別官員的注意。

為了應對非正?；橐鰩淼奈：?，哈德威克伯爵一世、大法官菲利普·約克提出了“一項更好地防范秘密婚姻的法令”，也被稱為《1753年婚姻法》。該法令規定了婚姻被視為合法的兩項主要條件：結婚儀式必須在教堂（通常是新娘所在教區）按照英國圣公會的儀式舉行，并且雙方必須至少年滿21歲或得到父母的許可。

然而，一些年輕的愛侶還是決心要繞開這些規則。許多英國戀人通過前往蘇格蘭——通常是偷偷摸摸地——來規避哈德威克伯爵婚姻法。在那里， 女孩到12歲、男孩到14歲，結婚無須經過父母同意。他們只需表達自己的結婚意愿就可以在法律上獲準結合。因此，格雷特納格林，這個從英格蘭跨越蘇格蘭邊境最容易到達的村莊便成了私奔的一大熱門地點。

鐵砧證婚

盡管蘇格蘭婚姻法允許幾乎任何人成為證婚人，但這些從英格蘭趕來的準新娘和準新郎卻常常覺得他們需要某種形式來使他們的婚禮看起來更為正式。新人想在一個可能誰也不認識的小鎮上尋找到負責、正直的當地公民，常常求助于收費員、旅館老板和鐵匠來主持婚禮。

當地有個傳說，誠心誠意的戀人穿越蘇格蘭邊境到達格雷特納格林時看到了村里正在鍛造鐵器的鐵匠，于是就上前詢問鐵匠是否愿意幫他們結為夫妻。從此，新人要在村里的兩家鐵匠鋪和小酒館里尋找到這些鐵砧牧師成了當地的一項傳統，鐵砧也因此成為新婚夫婦對彼此忠誠的象征。

當地婚禮策劃公司格雷特納格林有限公司的主管蘇珊·克拉克告訴《心理牙線》雜志：“當鐵匠在鐵砧上將金屬連接在一起時，兩顆心也被鍛造在了一起?！弊C婚成了一項頗受當地鐵匠歡迎的副業。據報道，一位名叫理查德·倫尼森的鐵砧牧師證婚多達5147次。

沒過多久，該村就獲得了私奔獨家勝地的美譽。到了19世紀，文學作品中開始大量提到這個村子是私奔結婚的勝地。例如，在簡·奧斯汀的《傲慢與偏見》中，莉迪婭·貝內特在留給她朋友的一張字條中就說道，她要與喬治·威克姆私奔，正在趕往格雷特納格林的路上。奧斯汀在《理智與情感》和《曼斯菲爾德莊園》中也寫到了私奔到蘇格蘭的情節。

從阿加莎·克里斯蒂1971年的小說《復仇女神》到21世紀初的日本漫畫系列《獵尸者》，也都提到了格雷特納格林。在電視節目中，逃跑到格雷特納格林是許多劇集的一個橋段，包括英國長篇肥皂劇《加冕街》以及更近的《唐頓莊園》。

現代婚禮勝地

雖然非正?；橐鲆殉蛇^去，但即使到了今天，在格雷特納格林結婚的神秘感依然吸引著人們。如今，很多情侶結婚時還喜歡來到這里，在村里的鐵砧旁或在鄧弗里斯周邊地區說上一句“我愿意”。

根據蘇格蘭一家旅游網站統計，每年約有5000對新人在格雷特納格林結婚。如潮的婚禮不僅在情人節那樣獨特的浪漫節日里，也在一些其他值得紀念的日子里舉行。例如，2011年11月11日（三11），格雷特納格林與其周邊地區一共舉行了51場婚禮和兩場世俗儀式?？死苏f，人們“想親身體驗格雷特納格林的魔力——蘊含歷史、陰謀、浪漫和叛逆的魔力”。

（譯者單位：浙江大學外國語言文化與國際交流學院）