Medieval Life: Child Marriages

A common feature of Medieval life was the incredibly young age at which nobles and royals, particularly females, were married.  Girls were betrothed often while they were toddlers and sent to live with their prospective husbands' families.  They would begin functioning as wives at ages we would consider criminal today.  And the age gaps between these brides and their husbands could be several years or more.  Why?

Laws about sexual conduct with minors, or even the concept of sexual conduct with a minor child was almost non-existent.  While there were some ideas about rape of a child below marriage age, these laws did not cover child marriage.  Canon or church law functioned alongside civil (Europe) or common law (England) and various experts and theologians had their own views as to when the age of consent, and thus lawful marriage, occurred.  There was some loose idea that consent occurred at puberty or roughly the age of 14-16 but this was rarely if ever enforced.  Dispensations were always available and the needs and convenience of the families were the paramount concern, not the child's welfare or safety.

These marriages were dynastic unions.  Love had nothing to do with them.  If two spouses happened to grow to love or respect one another despite the difference in age, all in good.  If not, men could find affection elsewhere while women put up with the situation as best they could.  To that end, marriage negotiations between royal and noble families happened almost from the moment a child was born.  Royal marriages were in integral part of international diplomacy and an alliance could cement a cession of territory or stave off a war for a few years.  Once a betrothal was agreed to, the bride was generally sent to live with her husband's family to learn the language and customs of his court and country.  Her dowry or a portion thereof would be sent along, as well.  If a better opportunity presented itself or international politics shifted in the meantime, she might be kept as a hostage, returned home to be dispatched to another family to repeat the cycle or kept in limbo until an opportunity presented itself. 

Though in today's world we attach great importance to weddings the most important aspect of an alliance was the betrothal, where the two people promised (or their parents or proxies promised for them) to marry and a dowry was specified.  A marriage could be solemnized months or years later with vows and a mass.  The next most important factor was consummation, or the first sexual act between the couple.  While this could mean a public and sometimes raucous bedding ceremony, consummation could also be a symbolic ritual.  Particularly in weddings where one or both parties was represented by a proxy, touching of naked flesh was sufficient evidence of consummation.  Often, a symbolic consummation could formalize a marriage until real physical intimacies were possible, usually when a girl began cycling. 

There was another reason for younger women being married sooner.  Childbirth was a scary prospect before modern medical practices.  Infant and child mortality was high, but so were deaths of women in childbirth.  A woman would generally take the sacraments and write a will or make confession before childbirth, just in case she didn't make it.  Once a woman was capable of childbearing, the goal was to be pregnant and often.  That way, if some children died as infants or children, some might just live to inherit a throne or cement alliance in their own right.  It was thought at the time that a younger woman had the chance of surviving multiple childbirths better, and of bearing more children.  Thus, if a wife died, a man in his thirties, forties or fifties would seek another, usually preteen or teenage royal or noble bride, and continue the quest for heirs, spares, and future alliances.