Royal Marriage Alliances in the Carolingian Empire

(Paperback)

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Royal Marriage Alliances in the Carolingian Empire is a concise guide to marriage practices and alliances in the Frankish kingdoms during the period of Carolingian rule in Europe, AD 751-987. Taking into account previous scholarship on the subject, assumptions which have been applied to the era from investigation of an individual reign or region are re-evaluated. The book illuminates the patterns underlying marriage practices through a comprehensive survey of the period. After depicting the political and geographical background of the Carolingian Empire and placing marriages in their historical context, a brief survey sets forth those Carolingians who married or who failed to marry, before examining the reasons for and against marriage, the methods by which betrothals and marriages were formed, what happened over the course of a marriage, and what happened when, through death, divorce or annulment, a marriage came to an end. Elucidating the reasons and circumstances surrounding royal marriage alliances, and examining the ways in which marriage alliances affected both members of the partnership, Royal Marriage Alliances in the Carolingian Empire is an original, diachronic study of the role of marriage in political history and gender in royal marriages in this historical era.

Author Bio

Helen Oxenham is Supervisor in Medieval British and European History at King's College, Cambridge, UK.