Middle+Ages+Documents

Women didn't have a choice as to who they would marry and, most of the time, women didn't even know the man before they wed. However, men were sometimes able to choose their bride. Marriage back then was not based on love; most marriages were political arrangements. Husbands and wives were generally strangers until they first met. If love was involved at all, it came after the couple had been married. Even if love did not develop through marriage, the couple generally developed a friendship of some sort. The arrangement of marriage was done by the children's parents. In the middle ages, children were married at a young age. Girls were as young as 12 when they married, and boys as young as 17. The arrangement of the marriage was based on what it was worth. The family of the girl who was to be married gives a dowry, or donation, to the boy she is to marry. The dowry goes with her at the time of the marriage and stays with the boy forever. || Iconografico, Archivo, and Johansen Krause. "Medieval Marriage Contract." //ABC-CLIO//. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. ||
 * [[image:http://www.ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Images/DBImages/1216/1216170w.jpg width="243" height="346" align="top" caption="Medieval marriage contract"]] ||
 * In the Medieval times, marriage was different than today.
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