Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 1 - Choosing a Bride

  • from Part I - The Life Cycle
  • Robert Bartlett, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book:
    Blood Royal
    Published online:
    09 July 2020
    Print publication:
    09 July 2020, pp 9-51

  • 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.