Re: Heortling Marriage, Courtship, Bridewealth

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 21:18:25 -0800


John wrote

> actual bridewealth and dowry payments will obviously vary quite a bit from
> campaign to campaign, clan to clan and marriage to marriage. I like the idea
> of tying payments to weregild, but personally would use the *full* weregild
> as a starting point in negotiations - what, after all, are your wife and
> children worth?

Except that wergild is supposed to be set high enough to discourage killings (and require your kin to help pay, to further help discourage killings). You want to *encourage* marriage, so bride-price/dowry should be a bit lower. (I'm not as big a believer in service as you are, I think. The new couple are supposed to be productive members of the husband's bloodline; if he's spending all his time serving his wife's kin he can't be supporting his wife very well.)
>
> I don't know of any real world social structure that practices
> both bridewealth *and* dowry - if they cancel out then the exchange becomes
> purely ritual.

Not at all. You still need to have the cows in hand (and the girl has to have the dowry in hand). The exchange, even if even, proves that both individuals/families are of means.

> Patrons are never called such, but everybody in the clan
> knows that Kierston Two Worlds helped you set up your personal herd,
> and that she expects your support in her law case

We didn't use the term "patron" either, as I recall. The term "cattle loan" was bandied about a lot, however. Kierston can always call in the loan, so you'd better support her...

Jeff

> At least one of my PC's threatened his kids
> with the Bad Wind would get them if they didn't behave. (The kid
> replied "You can't make me do anything!" -- I forsee trouble there...)

Hmm, sounds like Grettir the Strong, who has to rate as one of the most troublesome teens in history. Maybe you can foster out the kid to a strong chieftain...

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

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