Book contents
- Blood Royal
- The James Lydon Lectures in Medieval History and Culture
- Blood Royal
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Royal Families
- Part I The Life Cycle
- Chapter 1 Choosing a Bride
- Chapter 2 Waiting for Sons to be Born
- Chapter 3 Fathers and Sons
- Chapter 4 Female Sovereigns
- Chapter 5 Mistresses and Bastards
- Chapter 6 Family Dynamics
- Chapter 7 Royal Mortality
- Part II A Sense of Dynasty
- Book part
- Notes
- Bibliography of Works Cited
- Index
Chapter 1 - Choosing a Bride
from Part I - The Life Cycle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 July 2020
- Blood Royal
- The James Lydon Lectures in Medieval History and Culture
- Blood Royal
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Royal Families
- Part I The Life Cycle
- Chapter 1 Choosing a Bride
- Chapter 2 Waiting for Sons to be Born
- Chapter 3 Fathers and Sons
- Chapter 4 Female Sovereigns
- Chapter 5 Mistresses and Bastards
- Chapter 6 Family Dynamics
- Chapter 7 Royal Mortality
- Part II A Sense of Dynasty
- Book part
- Notes
- Bibliography of Works Cited
- Index
Summary
This chapter discusses the way royal brides were chosen. Some dynasties, e.g. the Carolingians and the Wessex kings, married members of their own aristocracy, others, e.g. the Plantagenets and the kings of Denmark, married foreign princesses. Both strategies had advantages and disadvantages. In Byzantium there is evidence (much debated and disputed) for bride-shows, public searches for a bride. Royal princesses were sent abroad as young girls and might have to learn new languages and adopt new names. They also brought alien customs, which were not always welcomed. Marriage of a new king to his predecessor’s widow occurred and could either be decried as a disgusting custom or accepted perfectly pragmatically. Church rules affected the range of choice, with increasingly strict rules prohibiting cousin marriage. The chapter closes with a case study, the projected marriages of a daughter of Edward III of England.
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- Information
- Blood RoyalDynastic Politics in Medieval Europe, pp. 9 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020