Binding Interdependence: The Necessity of Marriage in the Stonor Letters

Authors

Sarah Emmett, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Marriage, Medieval England, Elizabeth Stonor, Stonor letters

Abstract

Upon her Mattiage to William Stonor in 1475, Elizabeth Stonor, nee Croke, was no wedding amateur. Twice before, she had stood on the steps of the church, as was the custom, and promised to share her wealth and her body with her husband. Twice before, her husband had promised to provide for her and leave her a dower portion upon his death. Both grooms had offered Elizabeth gold and silver coins and a ring to seal their union, and both times, Elizabeth and her husband had prostrated themselves before the altar of the church and heard mass among their family, friends, and all the parishioners. 1 By the time of her third marriage, Elizabeth had seen her fair share of dowries, weddings, babies, and death, and yet, once again, she found herself in her best dress and veil, standing on the steps of church, ready to relinquish herself and her sizeable fortune ro William Stonor, the young head of the aristocratic Stonor family. Three years later, in 1478, Elizabeth would once again put her experience to good use at the wedding of her daughter Katherine and her man of business Thomas Betson. Through the letters exchanged between these two couples and their associates, Elizabeth, William, Katherine, and Betson subtly make the case for medieval marriage as a means of mitigating insecurity and benefitting from interdependence.

Recommended Citation

Emmett, Sarah (2022) "Binding Interdependence: The Necessity of Marriage in the Stonor Letters," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 51: Iss. 1, Article 12.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol51/iss1/12