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This chapter demonstrates how kinship was demonstrated in Sui-Tang, Turko-Mongol, and Eastern Eurasian societies. It takes a look at the two primary types of kinship bonds in foreign and domestic affairs, which were marriage and fictive kinship. The latter is based on genealogical manipulation, surname bestowal, adoption, and fosterage. The first section focuses on political marriages, including the marriage patterns, and strategic cultures involved, and notes that marriage alliances are one of the most studied features of Eastern Eurasian diplomacy. This is followed by a discussion of fictive kinship, which is taken from the patrimonial preference for modelling the polity on the household.

This chapter examines the theme of marriage in imperial statecraft. Like many other features of medieval organization, the Ottomans inherited and adapted a diplomatic system from Byzantium. In his book, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, Edward Luttwak demonstrated the significance of diplomacy in keeping the medieval empire alive, especially in periods of weakness and decline. But he barely investigates the serious part marriage could play in this process. The chapter argues that marriage alliances became an essential part of Byzantium's foreign policy because they achieved something that no written diplomatic treaty could. Further, it seems clear that such arrangements are a common feature of imperial statecraft at many times in different societies.

Chapter Two examines the marital choices of artisan and llaurador women in late medieval Valencia and argues that because of their socio-economic and immigrant background, labouring-status women exercised agency in the first “project of marriage”: choosing a spouse. Some of these women were influenced by family members in their marital decisions. For others, the lack of familial presence in Valencia, and the fact that many of their fathers were deceased, impacted the ability of labouring-status women to make their own spousal choices. At the same time, these women were influenced by friends, neighbours and employers. While families looked for marriage alliances that could augment their economic resources and cement social ties within neighbourhood and guild structures, these factors were also considerations for women themselves as they sought husbands with whom they could create economically and socially viable households.

Hugh and Walter de Lacy had a number of ways by which to control their surroundings, both intensively (through tenure and the control of courts) and by tribute (receiving acknowledgements of superior status from their neighbours); all of these can be characterised as dimensions of ‘lordship’. The methods used depended on the pre-existing social structures within each realm. As aristocrats, one of the Lacys’ means to enforce lordship was war. Whether as captains in royal armies, or through the conquest and defence of their own territories along the frontier, their military acumen was a key determinant of their wider success or failure. The growth of seigniorial households and affinities was in part a result of the increasing demands of medieval warfare, made more necessary for the Lacys by the collateral administration of their transmarine interests. The necessary personnel was supplied by the emerging knightly class whose members were also courted by the king of England. This chapter includes a focused look at the competition between royal and aristocratic lordship for support from knightly communities. The Lacys often turned to each other for security, and the place of the family in lordship, including marriage alliances, filial piety and inheritance rounds off this study.

Chapter 4 examines marital relations in indigenous communities of highland Mexico. The first part of the chapter reveals the social, political, and economic significance of marriage to shed light on marital expectations and obligations. The chapter also considers informal unions, and the circumstances that gave rise to these types of arrangements. The second section of the chapter examines marital conflicts and domestic violence that developed in failed relationships. Formal and informal attempts to resolve disputes illustrate cultural expectations and attitudes about one’s rights within a relationship. The study reveals a complex process of negotiation among husbands and wives, their households, and local native officials, in which women sometimes aired their grievances before the community. Chapter 4 argues that the criminal prosecution of wife-beating suggests that domestic violence, especially when it was deemed excessive, was not condoned in indigenous communities.

This chapter centers on the figure of Lidia and the violence of dynastic foundation. It considers a particular case of intertextuality in the Furioso, and defines entrelacement as the principle by which models are organized and brought into conflict. The Lidia episode (canto XXXIV) reveals a complex web of references, in which a classical model (the Aeneid) is revitalized and reformed through a medieval intertext (the Cantari di Febus il forte, an Italian translation of a French prose romance). In this chapter, genealogy is considered as the literary technique that allows Ariosto to create a text which has multiple and conflicting meanings inscribed in itself, intertextual layers that acquire significance when read simultaneously. In the episode of Lidia, this particular use of entrelacement (realized at the intertextual level) allows Ariosto to expose the violence hidden in the social and literary narrative of marriage alliances.

This chapter deals with Agathokles’ relations with the cities of mainland Greece and the Macedonian warlords. Ties with mainland Greece were already deep at the start of Agathokles’ reign; relationships with Corinth and Sparta were of key importance during his original seizure of power. These ongoing relationships played a significant role in the construction of identity on both sides of the Adriatic. The Macedonian warlords loomed large in Sicily, partly because their activities seriously disrupted these relationships. Agathokles strove to keep them as far away from himself as possible while watching for opportunities to take advantage of their strife. The Diadochoi were quick to seize any ideology, resource, tactic, or alliance to gain the advantage over their foes. It is no surprise, therefore, that several strove to forge links with Agathokles, often employing the old links between Sicily and the poleis of Greece to do so.

This chapter explains how the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English crown transformed his two elder children into hotly desired marriage material, and how proposals were received from all quarters, many of which were presented as double marriages for Henry and Elizabeth. It explains why out of the many candidates, James chose Frederick V, even above the King of Spain. James had become embroiled in the Jülich-Berg and Cleves crisis, and was supporting the Protestant Union, and thus by extension its leader, the Elector Palatine, with an army. When the Elector died unexpectedly young, his son, Frederick V, was transformed from also-ran into the most eligible of bachelors. With the King of France having been assassinated, James felt the need to counter France having allied itself with Spain through a double marriage treaty: he joined the Protestant Union for six years, as well as promising his daughter to the Elector-Palatine in waiting. Elizabeth moved from Kew to Whitehall in preparation for the arrival of Frederick V, with whom she had begun exchanging courtship letters as was demanded by the duty she owed to her father. Shortly after Frederick’s arrival in England with hundreds of courtiers, and while the court revelled in the upcoming wedding, Henry fell ill and died. Elizabeth was inconsolable. A period of mourning began, but the wedding preparations continued.

Understanding of late medieval Irish history is enhanced by a regional approach, and it is also helpful to recognize that Ireland was part of a larger, late medieval, English world. The source material upon which a study of an Irish locality in this period can be undertaken is uneven, and less rich than that available to historians of English localities. Surviving records suggest that while Louth was not a rich county, the town of Drogheda contributed significantly to Irish revenues. The important men in medieval Louth were both landlords and office-holders, and the leading families in the county made marriage alliances among themselves. They also sought out royal and magnate patronage. Although comparisons with contemporary English county societies can be helpful, it is clear that Louth had features that made it unique.

Disputes among the O’Neills provided respite for the settlers in Louth, and the government encouraged marriage alliances between the English and the Irish. The Talbot–Ormond feud encompassed the elite in Louth as both parties contended for support by retaining key local men. As lieutenant, James Butler, earl of Ormond, healed divisions in Louth and secured local subsidies to fight the Irish. The MacMahons remained undefeated and conducted savage raids on the settlers in the 1420s and 1430s. In response, a wave of castle-building began in the county, and further infighting among the Irish offered some relief for the settlers. The visit of Richard, duke of York, in 1449 provided further reassurance, and the decades that followed were among the most peaceful Louth was to experience in the Middle Ages.

Mithridates I the Founder was succeeded in 266 BC by his little-known son Ariobarzanes, whose son Mithridates II came to the throne in the early 240s BC and became the first powerful king of the new state. During his reign the kingdom reached legitimacy as an international power and expanded its territory. But most importantly, he made an astute marriage alliance, marrying a Seleukid princess; their children became the ancestors of much of the royalty of the eastern Mediterranean well into the Roman period, including Cleopatra of Egypt. Mithridates II became heavily involved in the politics of his era, and was the first Pontic king to strike coinage.

The death of Alexander the Great brings a great deal of political upheaval to the empire, and Alexander’s generals are quick to react. After being threatened by Perdiccas, Antigonus Monophthalmus fled from Phrygia, and eventually forged an alliance with Antipater at the settlement of Triparadeisus in 321 or 320 BC. He cemented it by marrying the 15-year-old Demetrius to Antipater’s daughter Phila, who was aged around 35. She was the mother to Demetrius’ heir, Antigonus Gonatas. This unusual relationship was of great importance to Demetrius and the Antigonid family, and lasted until her suicide in 288. Their age difference caused much comment in the ancient world.