Marriage contract no. 342: Erbach - Hessen-Darmstadt

  • Date of contract conclusion: 28. November 1594
  • Place of contract conclusion: s. l.

Groom

  • Name: Friedrich Magnus von Erbach
  • GND: 1097215733
  • Year of Birth: 1575
  • Year of Death: 1618
  • Dynasty: Erbach
  • Confession: lutherisch

Bride

  • Name: Christine von Hessen-Darmstadt
  • GND: 1014147956
  • Year of Birth: 1578
  • Year of Death: 1596
  • Dynasty: Hessen-Darmstadt
  • Confession: lutherisch

Actors of the Groom

  • Name: Georg III. von Erbach
  • GND: 12887516X
  • Dynasty: Erbach
  • Relationship: Vater

Actors of the Bride

  • Name: Georg I. von Hessen-Darmstadt
  • GND: 118690493
  • Dynasty: Hessen-Darmstadt
  • Relationship: Vater

Contract content

Preamble: Names of the marriage partners and parties involved; consent of the parents

Article 1: Setting of the wedding date for 5 May 1595 in Darmstadt; payment of 24,000 guilders as dowry and trousseau for the bride by her father

Article 2: Payment of the 24,000 guilders regulated

Article 3: Regulation of the bride’s renunciation of inheritance: due to the tradition and inheritance brotherhood between Saxony and Hesse, with the exception of the extinction of the male line of Hesse; inheritance from the bride’s mother or her sisters is excluded

Article 4: Guarantee of a morning gift in the amount of 3,000 guilders

Article 5: Donatio propter nuptias of 24,000 guilders; investment in the Reichenberg office; life annuity of 2,400 guilders; consent of the Electoral Palatinate to the dower

Article 6: If the groom dies before the bride: guardianship of the children regulated, commencement and trousseau of the dower regulated, repairs; redemption of the dower in the event of remarriage

Article 7: Inheritance of dower and donatio propter nuptias with and without children from first and second marriages regulated

Article 8: Regulations on inheritance of dower and donatio propter nuptias without children in the event that the bride dies before the groom; groom receives usufruct of marriage property and donatio propter nuptias

Article 9: Regulations on morning gift: interest, power of disposal by will, reversion of the morning gift in the absence of children and will

Article 10: Inheritance of personal property, jewellery and silverware of the bride regulated: may be bequeathed by will, inheritance to children from first and second marriages in the absence of a will according to the origin of the items

Article 11: Regulations regarding debts

Article 12: Contract is void in the event of the death of one of the two marriage partners before consummation; promise to abide by the contract

Article 13: Place, date, signatures, seal

Article 14: Note that Georg I of Hesse-Darmstadt’s son Ludwig would have signed on his behalf because his physical condition did not allow him to wield a pen

Regulations on inheritance law

Article 3: Renunciation of inheritance by the bride regulated: due to the tradition and inheritance brotherhood between Saxony and Hesse, exception in the event of the extinction of the male line of Hesse; inheritance from the bride’s mother or her sisters is excluded

Article 7: Inheritance of dower and donatio propter nuptias with and without children from first and second marriages regulated

Article 9: Reversion of the morning gift in the absence of children and a will

Article 10: Inheritance of personal possessions, jewellery and silverware of the bride regulated: may be bequeathed by will, inheritance to children from first and second marriages in the absence of a will according to the origin of the items

External authorities involved

Article 5: Consent of the Electoral Palatinate to the dower

Ratifications, confirmations, approvals

Article 13: Signatures, seals

References