Consummated marriage is a well-known term that means the beginning of a full-fledged relationship between spouses. Probably, modern young people do not even realize that they married before, but this in no way meant that the couple entered into intimate relationships with each other. Such marriages were widely practiced in the Middle Ages, and there were plenty of reasons for concluding such an agreement. But first things first.
History reference
What does consummate marriage mean?
Such an intricate name characterizes the relationship between people who have entered into a marriage. This term appeared during the heyday of the aristocracy, the elevation of feelings and embellishment of reality. The very name of this process in Latin means "completion". Consumation was of great importance, because without it marriage was considered invalid.
In past centuries, the conclusion of a marriage between minor children was considered normal. 
In aristocratic circles, this was a natural phenomenon, as parents were worried about maintaining family traditions and procreation, and established political and diplomatic contacts. When concluding such agreements, the timing of consummation between spouses was agreed upon in advance. All this was done due to the fact that marriage and family implied full-fledged relations between spouses, if sexual relations were absent - the church could terminate such a union. Thus, it was the first sexual contact that was considered the final stage of consummation, the fact of a completed marriage.
Solemn Ritual
The consummation of marriage was widely publicized. The very moment of intimate relations between marriages took place in the form of a solemn ritual. After all, the main task of this action was to prove that the bride is faithful to her husband, and therefore innocent.
The evidence of the innocence of the bride among many peoples was blood on a white sheet after the solitude of the spouses. The very process of deprivation of innocence was accompanied by various rites: chants at the wedding bed, the special protection at the windows, the preparation of ritual dishes that give strength. Such rites were designed to drive away evil spirits and dark forces.
The most famous divorced marriage in world history due to lack of consummation
A striking example of such a marriage can be considered the union between Henry VIII (king of England) and Anna Cleves. Anna was the fourth wife of the monarch. Their marriage was not just terminated - it was annulled (it was considered that it never existed). It was not a consummated marriage that caused this couple to break up. 
There was no intimate relationship between Henry and Anna, and the refusal or inability to complete the process of intercourse, even according to church laws, was a good reason for terminating the union.
It should be noted that after the dissolution of the marriage, Anna only won. Heinrich did not love her as a woman, but after this event they remained friends (which cannot be said about his past wives who ended their lives on the scaffold). In addition, she gained independence and became a well-to-do woman.
Consummated marriage: our time
The modern world has not changed a bit. As before, the lack of intimate relations between married people can be a good reason for breaking up relations not only in words, but also from a legal point of view. This item is clearly spelled out in the laws of many developed countries.Sad statistics claim that it is the lack of sexual relations in marriage that is a common cause of divorce.
Nevertheless, consummation is not only carnal pleasures and joys. The legal registration of the marriage union and the process of consummation is the personal life of the spouses, a way of solitude. This is an important point, which means that henceforth a woman and a man are one. Making a marriage, entering into an intimate relationship, the couple confirms their desire to continue to follow only together along the path of life.
It should be noted that in all this lies a deep meaning, rooted in antiquity. Marriage and family is a reunion of a man and a woman in which a miracle can happen - the birth of a new life, the continuation of the human race.
