Flitch of bacon custom

The awarding of a flitch of bacon^[a] to married couples who can swear to not having regretted their marriage for a year and a day is an old tradition, the remnants of which still survive in Great Dunmow, Essex.

The Dunmow tradition originated at the nearby Little Dunmow, where it was practiced until the mid-eighteenth century. The origin of the custom is unknown, but according to tradition it was instituted by Robert Fitzwalter in the 13th century. The Dunmow flitch was referred to in Piers Plowman and by Chaucer, and seems to have already been widely-known at that time. A similar tradition practiced at Wychnor in Staffordshire can be traced back to the fourteenth century; related customs are also known from mainland Europe in Brittany and Vienna.

The Dunmow tradition died out after 1751, before being revived in 1855, largely inspired by the novel The Flitch of Bacon by William Harrison Ainsworth. The revived tradition continues in Great Dunmow. Every leap year, a public mock-trial is held for claimants of the flitch; counsels are appointed for the claimants and for the flitch, and they argue their case in front of a jury of six maidens and six bachelors.
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