Choosing a Bride
Robert Bartlett
This chapter discusses the way royal brides were chosen. Some dynasties, e.g. Carolingians and Wessex kings, married members of their own aristocracy, others, Plantagenets kings Denmark, foreign princesses. Both strategies had advantages disadvantages. In Byzantium there is evidence (much debated disputed) for bride-shows, public searches a bride. Royal princesses sent abroad as young girls might have to learn new languages adopt names. They also brought alien customs, which not always welcomed. Marriage king his predecessor’s widow occurred could either be decried disgusting custom or accepted perfectly pragmatically. Church rules affected range choice, with increasingly strict prohibiting cousin marriage. The closes case study, projected marriages daughter Edward III England.
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