Marriage contract no. 380: Kurpfalz-Bayern - Hessen-Darmstadt

Contract content

Preamble: Names of the marriage partners and parties involved; contract with the consent of the groom’s brother, Charles II Augustus; consent of the bride’s mother and ruling uncle

Article 1: Promise of marriage; setting of the wedding date for October

Article 2: Freedom of religion guaranteed for the bride; Maintenance of a Protestant preacher and court staff guaranteed

Article 3: Catholic upbringing of the couple’s children, but at the bride’s request this may not take place in convents

Article 4: Dowry of 20,000 guilders; bride’s renunciation of inheritance regulated; reversion of the dowry in the event of the groom’s childless death

Article 5: Trousseau regulated according to the agreement between siblings dated 28 December 1782

Article 6: The groom’s ruling brother provides pin money and a dowry: 12,000 guilders from the Oberamt Bergzabern as a ‘pin money’ for the bride, which will later also serve as a life annuity; Fodder for 20 horses is regulated; after the marriage has been consummated, 3,000 guilders are to be paid quarterly in cash by the office.

Article 7: Reservation of the groom to pay the bride a dowry.

Article 8: Bergzabern Castle designated as the widow’s residence; furnishings regulated.

Article 9: Money and property that the bride brings into the marriage and receives through gifts and inheritance remains her personal property

Article 10: Guardianship and authority over male children according to the house contracts of the Palatinate house for the bride; the groom is free to appoint another person in his will

Article 11: If the groom dies without male children but with female children, maintenance and upbringing shall be regulated according to house laws; reversion of the Palatinate lands to the heir to the throne; inheritance for the female children is not possible unless there are no princes from the line of Duke Christian II: In this case, the female children may inherit their father’s movable property in accordance with §8 of the house contract of 1771.

Article 12: Marriage of the surviving female children regulated

Article 13: Maintenance of the widow’s residence regulated

Article 14: Payment of the Leibgeding and delivery of natural produce regulated

Article 15: Remarriage of the widow regulated

Article 16: If the bride dies without heirs before her husband, the dowry reverts to the bride’s family; inheritance of the remaining property regulated

Article 17: Execution of the contract in two copies; place; date; signatures; L.S.

Confessional regulations

Article 2: Freedom of religion guaranteed for the bride; maintenance of a Protestant preacher and court staff guaranteed

Article 3: Catholic education of the joint children, which, however, at the bride’s request, may not take place in monasteries

Regulations on inheritance law

Article 4: dowry of 20,000 guilders; renunciation of inheritance by the bride regulated; reversion of the dowry in the event of the groom’s childless death

Ratifications, confirmations, approvals

Article 17: Execution of the contract in two copies; place; date; signatures; L.S.

References

• Archive copy: HStAD, D 4, 498/7
• Contract language archive copy: German
• Digitalized archive copy: https://arcinsys.hessen.de/arcinsys/digitalMediaViewer.action?archivalDescriptionId=4843938

Recommended citation

Dynastische Eheverträge der frühen Neuzeit. Contract No. 380. Philipps University of Marburg. Available online at https://dynastische-ehevertraege.online.uni-marburg.de/en/vertraege/380.html.

@misc{ Dynastische Ehevertr{“a}ge der fr{”u}hen Neuzeit, 
title = {Dynastische Ehevertr{“a}ge der fr{”u}hen Neuzeit: Contract No. 380},
 url = {https://dynastische-ehevertraege.online.uni-marburg.de/en/vertraege/380.html}
}