(Cover image – © Unknown Artist – BBC)
During the Tudor period, marriage was considered a legal rite of passage, a transition from youth to adulthood.[1] It was a festivity and an affair that not only involved a man and a woman in courtship, but their families as well. Marriage was often deemed to be a political tool and a business proposition, however, the romanticized idea of a ‘loveless marriage’ was not as common as most people would like to believe. The middle and higher classes mostly took on various ways to build upon their own family’s wealth when it came to finding a spouse, whereas the lower class had more freedom in being able to choose whom they would want to marry, and children of both sexes were dependent on their families for the land and money that were required to marry within their class, along with the religious and secular moralists of the age insisted that the fifth commandment required them to obey their parents' wishes.
An aristocratic marriage in early Tudor England is an example of a social institution that subordinated women to maintain the class and gender power of elite men. [2] As Tudor marriages indeed did not, of course, function in isolation; and rather, they were both depended upon and reinforced on a whole network of institutions and ideologies that created the form of male dominance characteristic of the elite in early sixteenth-century England. [3] In Lawrence Stone's Family, Sex, and Marriage in England, 1500-1800, the standard authority on the subject, assumes that the primary purpose of the arranged marriage was to preserve and expand the wealth and political power of aristocratic patrilineages and that its role in perpetuating the subjection of women was secondary, even incidental.' Stone also suggests that most elite women consented to the matches negotiated for them because they identified with the interests of the patrilineal families that exploited them as objects of exchange.[4]
COURTSHIP:
Courtship is described as an intended period for couples to be able to get to know each other and see if they are suitable enough to be in a relationship and perhaps develop an amount of affection towards each other, before deciding if they would be best fit to be in a marriage. [5] The structure of courtship deals with being surrounded by economic possessions that that could possibly be brought into a potential marriage, whether it would be of property, dowry, jointures or other various settlements. [6] The practice of exchanging items and tokens during the period of courting showcases the social importance of the stages that lead itself toward marriage. Once the stage of courtship began, it was expected for the man to attend to the woman frequently, plying her with gifts. While the nobility and similarly wealthy could give some truly extravagant gifts, those with lesser accounts might give something like bright ribbons, girdles, lace, and gloves to the woman of their affection.
Such gifts accompanied courtship in the form of a man proving coins, trinkets or clothing to the woman he is trying to woo. [7]
ARRANGING MARRIAGES:
Although fathers negotiated matches for both their own daughters and sons, the burden of the arranged marriage had a much heavier weight on women than men. Daughters were much more vulnerable than sons to pressure to consent to matches they disliked because of their dependence on their dowries and because Tudor culture was far more insistent on inculcating submissiveness in girls than in boys. Younger sons were free to choose their mates because relatively little property was at stake when they wed and because their fathers were often dead by the time they married.
But even heirs were able to choose their spouses if they were single and over twenty-one when their fathers died. Women rarely acquired this freedom because men routinely made their bequests of dowries conditional on their daughters' agreeing to marriages negotiated by their fathers' executors. Thus, elite marriages always involved the exchange of women, but men were objects of exchange only until they achieved adulthood. This difference accurately reflected the fact that women remained social dependents throughout their lives. [8] Daughters were not only most likely to have been settled into unions they disliked, but their marriages also had a much greater effect on their subsequent lives. their subsequent lives. Husbands had enormous legal and economic power over their spouses but the reverse was not true.
However, unless they were willing to risk social ostracism and poverty, wives had no alternatives if they found themselves in intolerable situations or subject to abuse. In contrast, dissatisfied upper-class husbands were able to escape to London, the court, or one of their other residences. Complacent attitudes toward men's extramarital affairs and illegitimate children made it relatively easy for them to live apart from their mates. The only constraint they faced was the necessity of producing legitimate heirs.
Despite their relative powerlessness, some upper-class women did risk eloping or contracting secret marriages. Margery Paston's clandestine marriage with her father's steward, Richard Calle, is probably the best known of these defiant matches, but it is certainly not unique.[9] In the 1530s, one of the daughters of Sir Richard Grenville eloped with the surveyor of Calais, Richard Lee. [10] Henry VIII's niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, secretly married Lord Thomas Howard, one of the third Duke of Norfolk's younger half-brothers, while his widowed sister-in-law, Mary Boleyn, ran off with Sir William Stafford.[11]
MARRIAGE CEREMONY:
For the simpler townsfolk, a couple that wishes to conduct a church ceremony would then have to announce their intentions of marrying by ‘crying the banns’ on three consecutive Sundays.[12] It was a process that allowed anyone with objections to come forth and declare reasons why the union should not proceed, and a common reason usually involved a ’pre-contract’ wherein one of the partners had already been promised to another person. [13] When it came to the common town marriage feasts, it might’ve involved the entire village. It was considered as an opportunity for the community to celebrate and relax, and it was not unusual for everyone to contribute to the entertainment and food. This could carry on well into the night until at some point the guests would remember that the couple needed to fulfill one more requirement to make the marriage binding. They would then escort the newlyweds to their home, often leaving ‘bride-ale’ with them to help ease any nerves and leave them to enjoy their new life together.
A 16th-century woodcut of the coronation of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon showing their heraldic badges, the Tudor rose and the Pomegranate of Granada. From Stephen Hawes, A Joyfull Medytacvon to All Englande (1509), printed Wynkyn de Worde, 4to, n.d. (Cambridge University Library)
One of the most prestigious weddings that occurred during the Tudor Period was between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. The marriage ceremony took place not too long after the death of his father, Henry VII, and was the second time Catherine walked down the aisle after being briefly married to Prince Arthur, who unfortunately passed away due to the sweating sickness. Upon becoming a young widow, it was decided that Catherine would marry Henry, who was five years her junior, in order to keep her precious dowry in England and avoid giving it back to her father, King Ferdinand of Aragon. The wedding was held in one of the Queen’s closets, possibly in the Chapel Royal, at what was to become the couple’s favourite place. [14]
While there is no exact record as to how Catherine felt about this marriage prospect, there is record of how she felt during the seven years before her second wedding, when she was held virtually as a prisoner at Durham House in London until Henry was of the proper age to marry her. In a letter written to her father about her poor treatment, she wrote "I choose what I believe, and say nothing, for I am not as simple as I may seem.” [15] Catherine, at that time was twenty-three years old and Henry was nearly eighteen. By all accounts, Henry seemed excited to have the beautiful Spanish princess as a bride for himself, and rumours circulated that he was always enamored with her when she was his brother's wife. Of course, it was not only a love match - as a big motivator in marrying these two was to keep Catherine's dowry in England. Therefore, it was very much a political marriage, even if Catherine did not love Henry at that point, but she would grow to love him very much during their twenty-four year long marriage.
Though we are all fully aware of what became of this marriage very later on, in both Catherine and Henry’s lives, still it must have been an exciting day in 1509, if not a little nerve-wrecking for the princess who was now not only marrying the Prince of Wales, but the King himself. Right after this wedding, Henry would soon begin plans for his double coronation with his wife, and together they would officially be crowned the King and Queen of England.
. . .
We can conclude that the English had quite the practical mindset when it came to the sacrament of matrimony. It’s crucial not to look at this through rose-tinted glasses, as, like stated earlier above that women were the property of their husbands and had little rights or recourse if the marriage turned out poorly. Though separation or divorce could occur, it was rare indeed. Couples were encouraged “to marry first, and love after by leisure” in the hopes that this would prevent rash decision-making and poor choices. Good, long-lived matches were considered the result of effort and dedicated spouses who cleaved to the social expectations of the time. However, for all its problems, there were rare love matches and devoted partners who made everything work.
Sources:
[1] Lawrence, Stone. The family, sex and marriage in England, 1500-1800., (London, 1997)
[2] Barbara Harris, Power, Profit, and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England in Feminist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, Women, Family, and Work (Spring, 1989), 59-88.
[3] Barbara Harris, Power, Profit, and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England in Feminist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, Women, Family, and Work (Spring, 1989), 59-88.
[4] Lawrence, Stone. The family, sex and marriage in England, 1500-1800., (London, 1997)
[5] Diana, O’ Hara. Courtship and Constraint: Rethinking the Making of Marriage in Tudor England. (Manchester, 2002)
[6] Eleanor, Hubbard. “A Room of Their Own: Young Women, Courtship, and the Night in Early Modern England.” The Youth of Early Modern Women, (ed). Elizabeth S. Cohen, Margaret Reeves. (2018, Amsterdam University Press) 297–314.
[7] Diana, O’ Hara. Courtship and Constraint: Rethinking the Making of Marriage in Tudor England. (2002, Manchester)
[8] Barbara Harris, Power, Profit, and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England in Feminist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, Women, Family, and Work (Spring, 1989), 59-88.
[9] Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, (ed). Norman Davis (Oxford, 1971).
[10] Muriel St. Claire Byrne, The Lisle Letters (Chicago, 1981)
[11] Mary Anne Everett Green, Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain (London, 1846).
[12] Ralph, Houlbrooke, The Making of Marriage in Mid-Tudor England: Evidence from the Records of Matrimonial Contract Litigation, Journal of Family History. (1985)
[13] Ralph, Houlbrooke, The Making of Marriage in Mid-Tudor England: Evidence from the Records of Matrimonial Contract Litigation, Journal of Family History. (1985)
[14] Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen, (London, 2010)
[15] Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991).
More resources:
Byrne, Muriel St. Claire, The Lisle Letters (Chicago, 1981)
Green, Mary Anne Everett. Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain (London, 1846)
Harris, Barbara. Power, Profit, and Passion: Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon, and the Arranged Marriage in Early Tudor England in Feminist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, Women, Family, and Work (Spring, 1989)
Houlbrooke, Ralph. The Making of Marriage in Mid-Tudor England: Evidence from the Records of Matrimonial Contract Litigation, Journal of Family History. (1985)
Hubbard, Eleanor . “A Room of Their Own: Young Women, Courtship, and the Night in Early Modern England.” The Youth of Early Modern Women, (ed). Elizabeth S. Cohen, Margaret Reeves. (2018, Amsterdam University Press)
O’ Hara, Diana. Courtship and Constraint: Rethinking the Making of Marriage in Tudor England. (Manchester, 2002)
Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, (ed). Norman Davis (Oxford, 1971)
Stone, Lawrence . The family, sex and marriage in England, 1500-1800., (London, 1997)
Tremlett, Giles. Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen, (London, 2010)
Weir, Alison. The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)
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