| Summary: | Marriages performed a vital function in ensuring the survival of a family line and the domination of a dynasty. In this study, Cyrille Debris examines the marriages of the Habsburg dynasty and the intracacies of political manoeuvring at the end of the Middle Ages. The book covers eight generations of Hambsburgs, fifty-eight successive marriages and numerous matrimonial projects constructed for a variety of territorial, financial, military or religious purposes. Debris looks at how the heads of families played matrimonial chess, at the family members, the strategies, priorities and rules of princely marriages, at motives, how suitable matches were sought, the role of initiators and mediators in negotiations, and the diplomatic games that were played. Issues of demography (numbers of infants and their sex), the stages of engagement, financial implications, dowries, marriage rites, manipulation, and the fragility of some marriages, are also considered. A corpus of Habsburg family members from 1281 to 1480 is given at the back. French text.
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