Brides and Borders: Marriage, Power, and Politics in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, one wedding could change the map. This course explores dynastic marriage as geopolitics: queens and princesses sent across borders to seal peace treaties, secure inheritances, and bind kingdoms together—sometimes successfully, sometimes disastrously. We’ll look at famous examples like Eleanor of Aquitaine’s first marriage to Louis VII, the union of Isabella and Ferdinand in Iberia, and more obscure but surprisingly successful matches that created new political orders. Along the way, we’ll ask what these marriages meant for the women involved and how their lives and choices shaped medieval Europe.