A Tale of Two Weddings, pt 1
Throughout the 19th century, from the Regency period to the height of the Victorian era, marriage stood as a paramount social and economic institution in England.
Continue reading →Tag Archives: dowry
Financial Realities for Regency Women
We’ve been examining the money and incomes in the Regency era. So far, we’ve been talking about the gentlemen, but what about the women?
Continue reading →Of Dragons and Dowries
In Dancing with Dragons Margaret Dashwood, lacking a responsible family, has a dowry provided by a kindly estate dragon. But what exactly was a dowry and how did it work?
Continue reading →Providing for young ladies’ future in Jane Austen’s World
How did dowries provide for a young woman’s future? A Woman’s Dowry Though Pride and Prejudice’s (1995, movie version) Mr. Bennet referred to dowries as “bribes to worthless young men to marry his daughters,” dowries were more commonly considered a means by which a responsible family compensated a husband for their daughter’s lifelong upkeep. How’s that for a romantic notion? Dowries (or more commonly the interest earned off a dowry) were used to provide a … Continue reading →