Locked into a Relationship: The Medieval Remedy for Divorce Still Requested in Romania

Global divorce rates are on the rise. Some people see this as a social issue. But the small Romanian village of Biertan has a unique method to remedy this problem. They follow a tradition which has been in use since the Middle Ages – a ‘marital prison.’

In practice, the ‘marital prison’ involves locking up couples whose marriages were on the rocks for a couple of weeks so that they could sort out their problems for themselves. Strange as it may sound, this method has been particularly effective – it seems that even today some couples have requested to use the ‘marital prison’ in an attempt to save their marriages.

Lock on a wooden door in the church at Biertan, Romania. The lock contains 19 locks in one, “and is such a marvel of engineering it won first prize at the Paris World Expo in 1900.” (Adam Jones/CC BY SA 3.0)