Exploring Tuscany today, we saw and
admired the old villages Sorano and Sovana. They were built in the Medieval and
Renaissance times and the styles of these two periods are shown in the beautiful
architecture. The article, “A Loveless Economy?” studies dowries in the time
period of the Medieval and Renaissance. Dowries had to be provided, but
parents could choose the size of the dowry for their daughters. A dowry was a
wealth transfer for parents to give their daughters. They examine the correlation
between the size of the dowries and the contribution a wife could give to the
marital household.
The article
hypothesized that the age of the bride impacted the size of the dowry. The
younger a bride was, the less parents had to pay for her dowry because she could
contribute more to the marital household. While on the other hand, an older
bride needed a higher dowry because she would probably have less children and
not look as good. Therefore, being less desirable and not contributing as much
to the marital household. A wife's contribution to the household included, housework, framework, ability to have and raise children, the love and pleasure she could give to her husband.
In
conclusion, the study found that there was a positive correlation that a higher
dowry led to more births. This can be due to being better fed and taken care of
with a high dowry. The study also found that parents also payed dowries in installments. This gave the parents
and bride more power over the marriage. Women were also ensured by the dowries
if widowed and could have a good standard of living. Their hypothesis that the
age of the bride does impact the dowry size is true.
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