Pope Innocent III
12th-13th century
Pope from 1198 to 1216, convened the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 which among other constitutes banned handfasting ceremonies, requiring marriages to be overseen by a priest.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Uncle Jerry discusses Pope Innocent III's suppression of handfasting at the Fourth Lateran Council as part of the historical context for the string-as-binding tradition that underlies invisible string's central metaphor.
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Handfasting
“All along there was some Invisible string Tying you to me?”
Uncle Jerry traces the European tradition of handfasting as a parallel cultural practice to the Asian red thread folk tale. In handfasting ceremonies, couples would have a cord or string tied around their joined hands to symbolise their bond. Uncle Jerry follows the tradition through its suppression by Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, its continuation through the eighteenth century, and through Fleet marriages in London. The string-as-binding-of-two-people register in the song echoes both the Asian thread tradition and the European handfasting practice, giving the invisible string metaphor roots in world folklore rather than a single cultural source.