Marital Alliances: GoT and Historical Realities
Arranged marriages are pivotal in Game of Thrones and vital in history, shaping alliances, politics, and dynasties.
At some point, we realize that the theme of arranged marriages is crucial in Game of Thrones. Tywin Lannister wants to marry Sansa Stark to Tyrion Lannister to prevent the House Tyrells from becoming lords in the North. Robb Stark pleads with his uncle to agree to marry one of Lord Frey’s daughters to benefit from the military support of the disliked lord. Even Cersei isn’t feeling too well either because Tywin wants to see her married to Loras Tyrell.
Arranged marriages were no exception in medieval noble families. Marital unions cemented partnerships, alliances, and the pooling of vast lands, creating even greater wealth and security from enemies. Arranged marriages were also a tool of international diplomacy. The idea was that a king was in no hurry to declare war on another king whose daughter he had married.
George R.R. Martin explains best what it was like with these arranged marriages:
Marriage was a form of political alliance. It was a way to cement a political alliance — one of the ways to bind to families together and hopefully make peace between them or to establish that… they would be allies against a third common enemy. You didn’t want your sons or daughters, if you were a lord, marrying for love. That was, that was insane… If you had a vassal whose loyalty you questioned, maybe you married him to one of your daughters and thereby bind him more closely to the family. If you have a rival you’d been at war with, and now you make peace, you marry a daughter to his son…
George R.R. Martin
Martin also reminds us that the royal offspring were descended from two houses and therefore continued, by the mere fact that he existed (if he survived), to ensure the peace they all enjoyed.
In real history, one of the underlying causes of the Wars of the Roses, especially in its second period, was the issue of dynastic marriages.
Edward IV dared to fall in love with Elizabeth Woodville (i.e., a commoner). He threw away the diplomatic pact of his most important ally, Warwick. The Kingmaker had already signed a treaty obliging Edward to marry a princess of the French court. Edward’s marriage to a Woodville woman meant humiliating the man who had helped Edward become king in the first place (Warwick!).
Secondly, once she became queen, Elizabeth Woodville’s extended family monopolized the marriage opportunities at court, again hurting the same Warwick, who would have liked to have no rivals and play the court marriage game himself.
Thirdly, the King’s brother, George Duke of Clarence, felt humiliated when Edward did not offer him a suitable match in 1469, so he allied himself with Warwick and the rebels against Edward. However, perhaps the spark leading to the break in relations between the two brothers was Edward’s refusal to marry Clarence to the widow Mary of Burgundy.
The kings kept a clear record of noble marriages. The king had to consent to some marriages, such as those of dukes. Dukes were princes, and the kings did not want them to use marriage to increase their military power, which could make them a potential rival to the throne.
When Henry VIII’s best friend, Charles Brandon, secretly married Mary Tudor, Henry’s sister, he took fate into his own hands. Anyone who has seen The Tudor Dynasty remembers Henry VIII’s nervous breakdown. This is the reason for that upset and for Charles Brandon, though a good old friend of the king, to be banished from court. The expulsion was the slightest punishment; Brandon could also have been charged with treason and, therefore, executed. Thanks to Cardinal Wolsey, however, Henry VIII returned to better feelings, and the couple eventually ended up with only a hefty fine. Here is Jan Mabuse’s portrait of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon at Woburn:
Today, arranged marriages have a romantic air about them, and Jane Austen’s novels and others have contributed to this. Plus, they have a more feminist charge linked to the fact that women had little choice but to marry men they didn’t love. In reality, however, arranged marriages were more of a problem for men, as they were prepared to die for such marital alliances, no matter how happy they were.
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