The Youngest Royal Brides in History


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Judith of France married Ethelwulf of England aged 13, later marrying his eldest son and successor Ethelbald,,,
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Im reading about this girls who marry under 12-doesnt a girl have to be fertle to marry a royal or future king?
 
IloveCP said:
Im reading about this girls who marry under 12-doesnt a girl have to be fertle to marry a royal or future king?
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No- the idea was they'd produce heirs when the time was right and if they proved to be barren, they were cursed, called witches, killed or the marriage annualled....never the Kings fault- Henry VII's mother had him at 14 so that's fertile- people got married/pregnant very young back in those days
 
IloveCP said:
Im reading about this girls who marry under 12-doesnt a girl have to be fertle to marry a royal or future king?
Click to expand...

Royal marriages were dynastic until the 20th century. A princess might be betrothed to a foreign prince or king at a very early age to cement an alliance and the marriage would not be solemnized or consummated until many years later.
 
I'm glad though, that while dynastic marriages were the rule within the royal families way into the 20th century, they stopped marrying off princes and princesses so young, that they still were children. The youngest bride in the history of the Bernadotte dynasty (the current Swedish royal dynasty) was Josephine of Leuchtenberg, who was sixteen years old. And even she was allowed two "white years", when her husband wouldn't have sex with her yet.
 
Did anyone mention Isabelle D'Angoulême, who married King John of England at about age 12? Some sources say age 9, but I think there's now general agreement that she was 12.
 
Isabella of Valois, queen of Richard II of England, was six years old when she became queen consort, Isabella of Valois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia She must have loved/respected him as she refused to allow Henry IV marry her off with his son, the future Henry V, after the murder of her husband. Quite a strong resolve for a girl just ten years old.
 
Princess Diana, married at age 20
Queen Sirikit of Thailand, married at age 18
 
I think Isabella of Valois is "winning." Amazing.
 
Margarethe of Austria, she was the daughter of Emperor Maximilian I. was not yet 3 years old when she became the fiancée of the french Crownprince Charles who was 13 at the time. But afterwards the marriage didn't take place, he married Anne of Brittany instead.
 
In the Treaty of Greenwich on 1 july 1543 the six month old Mary, Queen of Scots was promised to be married to the future Edward VI of England. As we know, the promise was not kept.
 
Sheikha Shaikha Shair bin Mohammed al Maktoum, one of the Dubai Emir's daughters, was married to one of the Bahrain King's sons, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al Khalifa in 2009 at the young age of 17. One year later, Sheikha Shaikha gave birth to a girl, Sheikha Sheema, on July 16, 2010, at the age of 18.
 
Some research.

I am an author and I am hoping to get some information.

A novel I am working on is set in the medieval period and I would like to know generally speaking would it be inconcievable for a Prince whether hier to throne or not in that period to have been 14-15 years old when he was married. If so assuming bride was also simular in age what consestions would likly be made for their ages?

Thanks

Meagain
 
It was not unusual for a princely couple to marry at that age, or even younger, during that time period, remember people did not live as long as we live today. Catherine of Aragon was about 3 when she was engaged to Arthur, Prince of Wales and about 15 when she arrived in England to marry him. What concessions are you asking about?
 
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I have done quite a bit of research so far and dug up plenty of references where the girl was of that kind of age, but (ceratinly the net at least) seems to be virtually bereft of any such marriages where the groom was of such an age. So I wondered there if there was impediment that meant that in terms of dynastic lines marriages where the male was so young were abnormal. In terms of concessions I mean this in the way of both the subsequent production of heirs and the acual household. What I mean I think is would it be normal for a couple with both aged thus to immediatly set about with the idea making hiers or would they we expected to wait on that task until more maturity was gained, but also would their subsequent household, ue retaineers etc reguard them as they would other married couples or still regaurd them as children?
 
Well Catherine and Arthur were of a similar age, so if she was 3 when they were negaged he would have been about the same age. Consumation of their marriage was on eof the big questions in Henry VIIIs divorce case. It was expected that they would have but in her divorce defence she said it wasnt. It would not have been unusual in such cases for consumation to have happened an an expectation of heirs to follow.

Take a look at her siblings. If I recall correctly they were married off quite young. Not sure at what age they started producing heirs.
 
Henry the Young King of England, born 1155, married Margaret of France, born 1157, in 1160! Their only child, William was born in 1177. Henry the Young King - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward I of England, born 1239, married Eleanor of Castile, born 1241, in 1254. They had their first child (of 16!), a stillborn daughter in 1255, their second in 1264. Edward I of England - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't think that people in medieval times saw someone who was 14 or 15 as a child, not the way we considered them as still being children, but as adults with the same responsibilites as adults.
 
Is it not true though that they still legally have been minors then?
 
In medieval times, the age of engagement/marriage differed; a woman of 14 was considered old enough to be a mother. A woman of 20 just young enough to be eligible for marriage, and a woman over 20 was considered "too old". Many European Princesses were engaged soon after they were born to forge political alliances; many were even married (usually, by proxy) before their 10th birthday. Several of the French princesses who married quite young:

- Isabella of Hainault (aged 10 at the time of marriage)
The daughter of Baldwin V of Hainaut and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders, Isabella married Philip II of France days after her 10th birthday. The marriage was probably consummated shortly afterwards, because just three years later Philip considered repudiating her for failing to provide him with an heir - she was barely 14 at the time (his plans didn't go ahead because Isabella was a very popular Queen and people literally stormed the palace when they heard the news). The long-awaited heir was finally born in 1187, when Isabella was 17 years old.

- Margaret I, Countess of Burgundy (aged 10 at the time of marriage)
The daughter of Philip III of France, she married Louis I, Count of Flanders in 1320, aged just 10.

- Joan I of Navarre (aged 10 at the time of marriage)
The daughter of Henry I of Navarre and Blanche of Artois (and Queen Regnant of Navarre herself), she married Philip IV of France in 1284, aged just 10. She had her first child at 14.

- Isabella of France (aged 12 at the time of marriage)
The daughter of Philip IV of France married Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales (future Edward II of England) in 1308, aged just 12. They had become engaged in 1303, when she was 7 and married by proxy in 1305.

- Margaret of Provence (aged 13 at the time of marriage)
The eldest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy, she married Louis IX of France aged just 13.
 
meagain said:
Is it not true though that they still legally have been minors then?
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Laws were quite different in mediaeval times; marriageable age was well below 16.
The first recorded law concerning marriageable age dated back to 1275. As part of rape laws, it was deemed a criminal offence to "ravish a maiden within age, with or without consent". The "within age" was interpreted as the age of marriage, which at the time was 12 years old. Although people still could marry younger than that (although they had to be at least 7), in order to consummate the marriage, they had to be over 12.

According to 12th century jurist Gratian, the marriageable age was considered to be between 12 and 14. However, the age of consent was 7; consequently, most authorities honoured marriages conducted between two consenting individuals older than 7. In fact, marriages between children younger than that, though rare, were accepted as well; there are records of marriages of children as young as 2. As long as the child was consenting (although what consent can be given at 2 is arguable), the marriage was unlikely to be considered illegal. At the same time, the age of consummation was still expected to be 12.

When the American colonies were established, they took the English law and traditions as model. Consequentially, the age of marriage was established at 12, although younger marriages were accepted as well.
 
meagain said:
Is it not true though that they still legally have been minors then?
Click to expand...
As far as I know there was no legal "age of majority" during medieval times as there is today, when a youth was considered as an adult depended on where he lived and his position in society. Here is an interesting site about children in medieval times: Medieval Children
 
Meraude said:
As far as I know there was no legal "age of majority" during medieval times as there is today, when a youth was considered as an adult depended on where he lived and his position in society. Here is an interesting site about children in medieval times: Medieval Children
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Interesting link, thanks. :)
I rather enjoyed the article, especially as it dealt with false ideas about children in medieval times.

There was no age of majority, but from about 12th century onwards there was age of consent; in most (European) countries, it was 12 for girls and 10 for boys.
 
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I don't know about medieval times, but in ancient Rome, a girl could be married off at 12 years old and a boy at 14 years old. But as we see in this thread, marriage at such young ages were common in the medieval times as well.
 
Anne of Bohemia, born May 11, 1366, was 15 when she married King Richard II of England on January 20, 1382.
​
 
HM Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (née of Denmark) married 2 weeks after her 18th birthday in 1964. The late Diana, Princess of Wales married a week after her 20th birthday in 1981.
 
^ James II of England married 15 year old Maria of Madona in 1673. She was his second wife and he was 40 years old.
 
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:previous:
Just a small correction: James II was 40 when he married the 15-y-o Mary of Modena in 1673; he was born in 1633.
 
Thank you MAfan! Still miles too old for Maria though.
 
magnik said:
Margaret Beaufort Countess of Richmond and Derby (b. May 1443)
- almost 7 on her first marriege with John de la Pole (Jan/Feb 1450)
- 12 on her second/first marriege to Edmund Tudor (Nov 1455).
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In the end, Margaret Beaufort was married four times:1) John de la Pole, married appx August 1450, annulled 1453; 2) Edmund Tudor, married 1455, he died in 1456, leaving a pregnant 13 year-old widow; 3) Sir Henry Stafford, son of the 1st Duke of Buckingham, married 1457, he died 1471 in battle; 4) Thomas Stanley, married 1472 and he died in 1504. Her only child was Henry Tudor.

I just found this thread. How times have changed!
 
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