Could men in England sell their wives at the so-called auction? That's right, and this is not a joke, but a shocking truth of life. And if you think that such wild traditions existed thousands of years ago, then not at all. The British sold their wives not in some dense Middle Ages, but in the 17th-19th centuries! But why? 

The thing is that in those days it was possible to breed only by giving a huge bribe to certain authorities. And it all cost 40-60 pounds. For comparison: the salary of a wet nurse or a nanny was 17 pounds a year. In other words, a divorce without connections and a huge amount of money were unthinkable. Therefore, men found a way out in the form of an auction of wives.

© The Shockingly Recent Time British Husbands Sold Their Wives at Market / Today I Found Out / YouTube.com

It all started back in the 17th century at fairs in rural England, where men brought bored wives for sale, often on a leash, like a cow. Having collected more onlookers, the man announced an auction and sold the betrothed to the one who offered a good amount, and at the same time would be a good owner of this lady. The winner immediately became her new husband. The whole fair immediately indulged in revelry and drank to the happiness of the young. Most often, all this was specially arranged, and her current lover redeemed her, moreover, by prior agreement with her husband.

Do you want to know how much the British usually sold their wives for? The cost of a wife varied widely: you could buy yourself a new wife for a glass of rum and a Newfoundland puppy, for a rusty pistol, for a few pints of beer, a keg of cider, a mare, or a couple of pounds sterling.
This strange custom lasted in England for three centuries. The last case was officially documented in 1901. But even after that, in 1913, a Leeds man again tried to sell his wife at the auction but the police intervened and the authorities declared the divorce null and void. The tradition died as soon as it became possible to get a divorce simply and legally.