On 10 June 1412 Henry IV licensed the Maison Dieu, or House of God, built by Roger Thornton on the Sandhill at Newcastle to feed and clothe the poor. The founder’s son granted the use of its hall and kitchen to any young couple who wanted to hold their wedding dinner there and receive the gifts of their friends, because houses were then small. Sykes, the Newcastle chronicler quoted by Hone, took it for an old custom to encourage matrimony.
Wedding dinners at the Maison Dieu
Printed under 10 June · Sandhill, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland
No longer kept
for a young couple when they were married to make their wedding dinner in, and receive the offerings and gifts of their friends, for at that time houses were not large
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, cols. 787-788. Read the original
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