April Beckett
asked
Grace Burrowes:
Grace, hello. I'm reading "Lady Eve's Indiscretion" (paperback); on p. 128 Eve makes a list of what her sister calls "your white marriage knights". The list of potential white knight husbands that Lady Eve is drawing up are men who do not impress her. I've never heard this expression white marriage before, and there are a few references to it in the earlier part of the book; what does it mean? Thank you.
Grace Burrowes
A "white marriage" was a marriage without an expectation of intimacies. If a man had to be married to acquire an inheritance, if he wasn't inclined toward women intimately, if a woman was desperate to escape her father's household, if she had no access to her funds absent marriage... then two people might agree to a white marriage. Contrary to what you might read in some older historicals, "nonconsummation" was not a grounds for annulment (but barrenness and impotence were). A white marriage would thus stand up as a legal union, though any woman entering into such an arrangement was doing so on trust. The agreement to leave each other in peace was not enforceable, and I've never heard of it being reduced to writing. Thanks for the question!
More Answered Questions
Jayne
asked
Grace Burrowes:
Grace. Elijah Harrington has brothers as does Will. Are they going to get stories ?
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