It's yet again time for a monthly update. There are some interesting — if a bit historically crunchy — details this time. Let's jump right in. [h1]Marriage[/h1] One of the goals of Dei Gratia Rex's design is "hard historical fiction," in a similar sense as hard sci-fi. The game presents a fictitious scenario and will privilege gameplay over simulation. However where possible, things are kept as closely in line with the actual history as I can. With that in mind, the time had come to revisit marriage. Medieval marriage was a complicated process. It wasn't as easy as, say, searching a database of every woman in the world, filtering it, scrolling until you found the one you wanted, and being married under a week later. Indeed, even knowing who you could marry wasn't straightforward. Sometimes you might meet a prospective spouse naturally, but that's not necessarily the best plan for a royal marriage. Luckily we have a chancellor. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35864886/93b74b5f30c4f22efc3698f3797fba0cae488357.png[/img] Moreover, the marriage always required terms. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35864886/bbd430f1dc88e455155db977ec5a250539445738.png[/img] In particular, dowry — known also as marriage portion or in the primary sources [i]maritagium[/i] — was extremely widespread in 12th century Anglo-Norman England. A century later, the practice was indeed nearly universal from the highest ranks of society to the humblest. To be very brief, this was property (more often lands or rents rather than chattels) given by the bride's family to her on her wedding, in the care of her husband. More on that last bit later. For a royal wedding, matters of oaths, alliances, and monetary payments must also be sorted. Beyond that, there's also the matter of providing for the lady should she become a widow. Her dowry would be part of this most assuredly, but provision of a dower was also part of the marriage contract. These are lands held by the groom that are promised to the bride at the time of the groom's death. Dower lands were only held for a life term before reverting to the normal chain of inheritance. Isn't medieval land tenure wonderful? [h1]Enjoying the lands of others[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35864886/91a27fadebcbd13f011772a866b2bffa0ad2d98b.png[/img] Here we see the maritagium in action. The title is clearly the lady's. However the befit of these lands belongs to her husband, who has not yet gained lands of his own. Her father, whose gift these lands were, owes the military service attached to those lands until such a time as his daughter's husband can provide it. This is a new feature that I wrote specifically to handle these lands given as dowries. However that's not the only place I'm using it. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35864886/4af7873ee82b735eee618db701afdd1db59f5b90.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35864886/d4b1ae94357ce88fffaa0d553810327c2a23a113.png[/img] A particularly thorny issue in the 12th century was the Investiture Controversy. Kings, as they had done for some time, thought they should choose who aught to be enthroned bishop within their kingdoms. The Pope on the other hand thought that he (or his delegates anyway) aught to be the one to choose. This matter was inflamed further by the practice of leaving sees vacant so that their wealthy estates could pay into the Exchequer. Using the new system, a king can enjoy these episcopal lands without holding the title. Another historical case of this was wardships. If one of your direct vassals is a child, the same sort of thing applies. They will continue to hold their titles, but you, their lord, will enjoy the revenues until they reach the age of majority. On the other hand, they will not owe you knight service during that time. This is not fully implemented, so no screenshot just yet! [h1]Further reading[/h1] I've consulted a number of sources for this. However I would particularly like to highlight [url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2325/][i]The Contract of Marriage: the Maritagium from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century[/i] by Claire de Trafford[/url]. If you find this sort of thing interesting, you'll find some fascinating material there. [h1]What's next[/h1] Finishing the marriage negotiations. Some work remains on that front. When that's finished, plugging in the wardships so that they use the new system. When [i]that[/i] is done, some provisions for, shall we say, less than regular marriages. More next time!