<!--QuoteBegin-ben_ami+Oct 24 2006, 11:06 AM-->QUOTE(ben_ami @ Oct 24 2006, 11:06 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->english society is not known to have dowry[right][snapback]59609[/snapback][/right]
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Not quiet true...
Wikipedia says:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A dowry (also known as trousseau) is a gift of money or valuables given by the bride's family to that of the groom at the time of their marriage. It has been regarded as contribution of her family to the married household's expenses.
In societies where payment of dowry is common, unmarried women are seen to attract stigma and tarnish the family reputation, so it is in the bride's family's interest to marry off their daughter as soon as she is eligible. In some areas where this is practised, the size of the necessary dowry is directly proportional to the groom's social status, thus making it virtually impossible for lower class women to marry into upper class families. In some cases where a woman's family is too poor to afford any dowry whatsoever, she is either forbidden from ever marrying, or at most becomes a concubine to a richer man who can afford to support a large household. Dowries have been part of civil law in almost all countries, Europe included. Dowries were important components of Roman marriages.
The opposite direction, property settled on the bride by the groom, is called dower.
Dowry was widely practiced in Europe, being found from classical Greece to Victorian England. It was regarded as contribution of her family to the married household's expenses. In many cultures, it was regarded as an early payment of her inheritance, such that only daughters who had not received their dowry were entitled to part of the estate when their parents died, and if the couple died without children, the dowry had to revert to the bride's family.
In Homeric times, the usual practice was of a brideprice, and when dowries were practiced in classical times, there would also be a (smaller) brideprice being given by the groom to the bride's family. Ancient Romans also practiced dowry, though Tacitus noted that among the Germans, the practice was the reverse: a groom settled a dower on the bride.
With the advent of Christianity and religious orders, women also brought their dowries with them when they became nuns.
Failure to provide a customary, or agreed-upon, dowry could call off a marriage. William Shakespeare made use of this in Measure for Measure: Claudio and Juliet's premarital sex was brought about by their families' wrangling over dowry after the betrothal, and Angelo's motive for forswearing his betrothal with Mariana is the loss of her dowry at sea.
Customs varied widely, but some were widespread. Normally the bride would be entitled to her dowry in event of her widowhood, prior to the evolution of her dower rights; so common was this that the terms "dowry" and "dower" are sometimes confused. In event that the couple were childless, the dowry normally reverted to the bride's family; sometimes the groom could retain possession of it through his lifetime, or until he remarried.
One common penalty for the kidnapping and rape of unmarried women was that the abductor or rapist had to provide the woman's dowry.
Providing dowries for poor women was regarded as a form of charity. The custom of Christmas stockings springs from a legend of St. Nicholas, in which he threw gold in the stockings of three poor sisters, thus providing for their dowries. St. Elizabeth of Portugal and St. Martin de Porres were particularly noted for providing such dowries, and the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation, a Roman charity dedicated to providing dowries, received the entire estate of Pope Urban VII.
In some parts of Europe, land dowries were common. In Grafschaft Bentheim, for instance, it was not uncommon for people who had no sons to give a land dowry to their new son-in-law with the stipulation attached that with the land comes the family name whence it came, thus a condition of the land dowry was that the groom would take on the family name of his bride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry#Dowry_In_Europe
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Not quiet true...
Wikipedia says:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A dowry (also known as trousseau) is a gift of money or valuables given by the bride's family to that of the groom at the time of their marriage. It has been regarded as contribution of her family to the married household's expenses.
In societies where payment of dowry is common, unmarried women are seen to attract stigma and tarnish the family reputation, so it is in the bride's family's interest to marry off their daughter as soon as she is eligible. In some areas where this is practised, the size of the necessary dowry is directly proportional to the groom's social status, thus making it virtually impossible for lower class women to marry into upper class families. In some cases where a woman's family is too poor to afford any dowry whatsoever, she is either forbidden from ever marrying, or at most becomes a concubine to a richer man who can afford to support a large household. Dowries have been part of civil law in almost all countries, Europe included. Dowries were important components of Roman marriages.
The opposite direction, property settled on the bride by the groom, is called dower.
Dowry was widely practiced in Europe, being found from classical Greece to Victorian England. It was regarded as contribution of her family to the married household's expenses. In many cultures, it was regarded as an early payment of her inheritance, such that only daughters who had not received their dowry were entitled to part of the estate when their parents died, and if the couple died without children, the dowry had to revert to the bride's family.
In Homeric times, the usual practice was of a brideprice, and when dowries were practiced in classical times, there would also be a (smaller) brideprice being given by the groom to the bride's family. Ancient Romans also practiced dowry, though Tacitus noted that among the Germans, the practice was the reverse: a groom settled a dower on the bride.
With the advent of Christianity and religious orders, women also brought their dowries with them when they became nuns.
Failure to provide a customary, or agreed-upon, dowry could call off a marriage. William Shakespeare made use of this in Measure for Measure: Claudio and Juliet's premarital sex was brought about by their families' wrangling over dowry after the betrothal, and Angelo's motive for forswearing his betrothal with Mariana is the loss of her dowry at sea.
Customs varied widely, but some were widespread. Normally the bride would be entitled to her dowry in event of her widowhood, prior to the evolution of her dower rights; so common was this that the terms "dowry" and "dower" are sometimes confused. In event that the couple were childless, the dowry normally reverted to the bride's family; sometimes the groom could retain possession of it through his lifetime, or until he remarried.
One common penalty for the kidnapping and rape of unmarried women was that the abductor or rapist had to provide the woman's dowry.
Providing dowries for poor women was regarded as a form of charity. The custom of Christmas stockings springs from a legend of St. Nicholas, in which he threw gold in the stockings of three poor sisters, thus providing for their dowries. St. Elizabeth of Portugal and St. Martin de Porres were particularly noted for providing such dowries, and the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation, a Roman charity dedicated to providing dowries, received the entire estate of Pope Urban VII.
In some parts of Europe, land dowries were common. In Grafschaft Bentheim, for instance, it was not uncommon for people who had no sons to give a land dowry to their new son-in-law with the stipulation attached that with the land comes the family name whence it came, thus a condition of the land dowry was that the groom would take on the family name of his bride.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowry#Dowry_In_Europe
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