Marriage_In_The_Middle_Ages

Marriage In The Middle Ages As human beings, we often spend our entire lives living to be loved and searching for our “soul mate.” In response to this need for love and companionship, the tradition of marriage was brought into existence. The idea of a "perfect" wedding has drastically changed over the years; however, if we examine history, we will find that no other era was as influential towards marriage as the Middle Ages. One might say the medieval marriages were the building blocks to what marriage is today. The appropriate age to get married in the Middle Ages was much younger than what we see today. Grooms, on the average, were much older than their brides. More than three-fourths of all women were married before they reached the age of nineteen; however, there were cases of noble women not marrying until twenty-four. Couples typically married as soon as they reached maturity or were able to have children. Love, however, was not seen as a necessity. This is a result of the medieval belief that the sole purpose of marriage was to reproduce. Most couples weren't married by choice; rather the majority of marriages were arranged. This custom allowed families control over who their medieval, marriage, wedding, couples, brides, very, middle, ages, today, one, years, weddings, often, modern, married, however, bride, women, people, over, love, families, even, became, without, wife, wear, promise, out, might, marriages, laws, kiss, important, groom