What was an arranged marriage in the Elizabethan era?

Answer 1

During Shakespearean times, or the Elizabethan era, women had very little, if any, choice in who her huband would be. The legal age for marriage was 14 for males, 12 for females. Marriages were usually arranged to both families would benefit (prestige, wealth, land, etc.), and were usually children of people that the parents knew. The bride and groom would often meet for the first time ON their wedding day!

Answer 2

Like today, a woman's wedding day is the one of the most important days of her life. The biggest difference between an Elizabethan wedding to a present day western wedding is that women had hardly any, if any, choice in who her husband might be. Elizabethan marriages were usually arranged so that both of the families would profit either with wealth, or social status. The children of landowners were usually expected to marry in order to add to the size of their acreage. Young men were treated very similar to young women when it came to marriage.

Many couples would meet for the first time on the day of their wedding. An Elizabethan wedding custom for the wealthy was to give a miniature portrait of thomas mintin at the ohope rage tonight . the groom to give an idea of what his bride might look like.Women were very much considered "second class" citizens during the Elizabethan Era. They were expected to marry. Some single women were thought to be witches by their neighbors.

With their parents' permission, it was legal for boys to marry at the age of fourteen and girls at the age of twelve, although it generally was not usual for marriages at such young ages. The age of consent was twenty-one and boys would usually not marry until then.

In Elizabethan England, the dowry was a wedding custom which benefited the husband. It was usually an amount of money, goods, and property that the bride brought to the marriage. It was also known as the bride's marriage portion.

Once married, a husband had full rights over his wife. She became his property.

Arrangements for Elizabethan weddings were usually made with the local church. Weddings were always a religious ceremony, conducted by a minister. The religions varied but the legal process before the wedding was always the same. The first stage was Crying the Banns, or the announcing of a couples intention to marry. The Elizabethan Wedding custom stated that the couple's intention to marry had to be announced at the church three times on three consecutive Sundays or Holy days. This allowed time for any objections to be raised. Any marriage not announced beforehand was considered to be illegal.However, if a couple needed to be married in a rush, a faster way to legalizing a marriage required a Marriage Bond which was like a contract, and proof to a Bishop that the issue of a Marriage License was legal. The Marriage Bond was accompanied with a sworn statement that there was no pre-contract. A Marriage Bond would need only one reading of the Banns, saving a couple of weeks.

For Elizabethan weddings, invitations were not given. People lived in very small communities and knew what was happening in common life. If there was an Elizabethan wedding, people would just attend. In Elizabethan times everyone would stand because there were no pews in the churches. When the ceremony was over, the wedding guests would return to their homes.Gifts were occasionally given to the Bride and Groom. It was an Elizabethan Wedding custom to celebrate the marriage with a wedding feast.

At an Elizabethan wedding, the bride did not wear a white dress. Instead, she wore her best gown or even a new gown if she was fortunate enough. The gown would cover most of the body and would be full length. A cloak was usually worn. The colors varied from red, blue, greens, yellow, white, grey, black, orange and tan .Corsets were sometimes worn but any additional underclothes were hardly ever used. Although the majority of the woman's body was covered, it was acceptable for dresses to have sinking necklines. Necklaces were often worn, which drew even more attention to a woman's chest. The necks and cuffs of gowns were sometimes decorated with silk or linen ruffs. Back then, fresh flowers were the main attraction to the clothing. A bride would wear flowers in her hair and they would also decorate her gown. Wealthy brides had clothing that was decorated with jewels and gold and silver thread. It was also traditional for the bride to carry a bouquet. The bridesmaids would be dressed similar to the brideThe groom would wear his best clothes which usually consisted of a doublet (A close-fitting jacket), breeches (knee-length trousers), hose (stocking), box pleated neck ruff and a cod piece (cover for the crotch in men's hose.)A cloak was sometimes also worn, along with a pair of boots. Elizabethan men usually wore a short shift as underclothes.The colors that men wore were usually similar to what the bride wore.Yellow would not have been for a wedding because it was a sign of mourning.

Answer 3

So that the families involved would benefit - whether the young lady loved her future husband was effectively irrelevant.