Richardson, Catherine (2011). Shakespeare and Material Culture. Oxford Shakespeare Topics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 2. ISBN978-0-19-956228-2.
Cooper, Tarnya (2006). Searching for Shakespeare. Yale University Press. p. 87. ISBN978-0-300-11611-3.
"handfast". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.), n., v. and adj. and "handfasting". Oxford English Dictionary., v. and n. "Old Norse hand-festa to strike a bargain by joining hands, to pledge, betroth" The earliest cited English use in connection with marital status is from a manuscript of c. 1200, when Mary is described as "handfast (to) a good man called Joseph". "?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2389 "Ȝho wass hanndfesst an god mann Þatt iosæp wass ȝehatenn."
Wendy Haynes, "Handfasting Ceremonies" (wendyhaynes.com), January 2010: "It was used to acknowledge the beginning of a trial period of a year and a day during which time a couple were literally bound together – hand fasted."