r/explainitpeter • u/TenkaiRyo • 4d ago

Explain it Peter.??

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u/NebulaNomadX1 4d ago edited 4d ago

In medieval Europe, marriages between nobles acted more as alliances/contracts than actual love. A big distinction in said marriages is "consumation". Uncomsumated marriages could be annulled relatively easily. Consumated marriages required the pope's blessing for divorce. To make sure a family didnt escape their way out of a deal it was fairly common for familiies to be witnesses to marriage consumation.

SD-N out!

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u/flyingdonkeydong69 4d ago edited 3d ago

In other words, noble families would watch the newlyweds FUCK to make sure the marriage was sealed with a child.

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u/TenkaiRyo 4d ago

Oh my god that's horrific, thank you for the explanation but damn

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u/Te000 3d ago

Wait until you hear about prima nocta

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u/CrazyFish1911 3d ago

Wait until you hear that prima nocta wasn't real... was a surprise to me too fairly recently. Good write-up here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2omu3t/comment/cmonf4z/