marriage bond/allegation

[deenor]

I have found details of a marriage bond for an ancestor for £200 in 1737,
Whilst I understand what a marriage bond is I would like to know why they did this ?
Secondly £200 was a fairly substantial amount of money then, does this indicate my ancestor was quite well off, he is described as "Ale brewer of Doncaster"
Denise

[Peter Goodey]

This was surely answered the other day. Yes, the bond was high but it was a bond not a fee. People only had to pay up as a penalty if it came to light that they had lied about something affecting the validity of the marriage.

It's because there were no banns and therefore members of the public wouldn't have an opportunity to weigh in with something like "hang on, he's already married".

[deenor]

Thankyou for that, I didn't know that banns was not in use then, when did this come about ?
Denise

[Peter Goodey]

Marriage by licence was an alternative to marriage by banns.