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By Lily Spiro
In any era, getting married is never easy. But, if you lived in the Middle Ages, it was doubly so. First of all, there is the matter of who to marry. In the marriage game it was all about strategy. Conquering distant lands was the first priority, making sure your daughter was happy was just the icing on the cake, you didn't need it, but it was an added bonus. The reason for all this land wanting was simple, for remembrance. All kings wanted to be remembered forever and ever, and what better way to do that than to be more powerful than all the other countries! There were two ways to possess land; to conquer it, or through marriage. Now, which do you think is easier? To the untrained eye, it would be marriage, but this wasn't as easy as it looked.
When marrying off a member of the royal family, you had to think about alliances. One marriage could lead to a huge alliance between families. Take for example, the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry the 2nd of England. This alliance united the dominions of Aquitaine, Poitiers, and England, as well as many other French dominions. This started the reign of the infamous Plantagenet's in England and parts of France.
Marrying off a royal daughter or son was an important process.F irst, the prince or princess had to be betrothed, although this wasn't always the case. Usually they were betrothed as young as three years old! However, these betrothals didn't always last. Better and more eligible royals would pop up over time and the betrothal would be broken.For example, pretend a princess of Germany has just been born. Say her name is Elise. Immediately her parents announce the birth to the world and wait. Bids start flowing in from countries all wishing to increase their power. One may be from an Italian prince, one from a Belgium prince, maybe even one from a French dauphin that hasn't been born yet! (Kidding, that would never happen.) All of the countries want the princess. And yet, this is just the first test, like an audition for a callback audition. The parents then send a beautiful (slightly exaggerated) portrait to each of the princes. The princes counter with a handsome (even more exaggerated) portrait of themselves. Finally, after months of choosing, Elise's parents choose a prince to betroth Elise to. He had to be rich and powerful, but being well mannered and handsome helped too. Did it matter if he was nice? Not in the least. Most of the time the prince was cruel and controlling, not to mention many years older than Elise herself.
The next step was the dowry. Elise's family would give a certain amount of money, cloth, and land to the prince's family. The larger the dowry the more valuable a princess. Then, the princess would be sent to the prince's country to grow up and learn the ways of his people. By the time she was old enough to be married; it would be pretty hard to tell she was a foreigner at birth.
What if the betrothal was broken? Then what? This action complicated matters, but not too drastically. Then, the families would negotiate the dowry until they each had an "equal" share of the riches. The princesses' family would then decide to either take back the princess, or leave her at the prince's court until they found another betrothal for her.
It certainly wasn't easy getting married. What with the rollercoaster of betrothals being made and broken. It was like a soap opera.
Mother: "Honey, I've betrothed you to the dauphin of France! Aren't you excited?"
Daughter: (sarcastically) "Yay for me!"
A week later
Mother: "Honey, I broke you're betrothal, aren't you sad"
Daughter :( sarcastically) "I'm so sad."
With these ups and downs, I'm so glad I don't live in the Middle Ages.
Bibliography
Padrino, M. (2006). Feudalism and family life. Milwaukee, WI. World Almanac Press.
Howarth, S. (1991). Medieval People Brookfield, CT. Millbrook Press.
(2009). Inheritance, Marriage, and Family Alliances. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from www.abc-clio.com. |