1999/10/01 by Fiona Downie · 3 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Scottish History and National Identity #Historical Studies of British Isles #Politics #Alliance #Marriage market #Brother #Power (physics) #Fifteenth #History #Political science #Law #Economic history #Ancient history #Economics
paper · doi:10.3366/shr.1999.78.2.170
published in Scottish historical review/The Scottish historical review 78(2), 170-191 (Edinburgh University Press)
openalex publication_date 1999/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Annabella Stewart, youngest daughter of James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort, was betrothed to Louis, Count of Geneva and second son of the duke of Savoy, on 14 December 1444. Unlike the other European marital alliances contracted by the Stewarts between 1428 and 1449, the Savoy betrothal did not result in marriage and was formally dissolved in 1456. Later in the same year, the duke of Savoy wrote of the difficulties he faced in persuading Annabella to return to Scotland, referring obliquely and ominously to the limitations imposed upon him by Ta voie quelle menace tenir' the course Annabella threatened to take. Annabella's protest at the decline in her marital value was ineffectual in the face of the changes that had taken place within Scotland and on the Continent in the decade since 1444. Her story illustrates both the vulnerable nature of Scotland's attractions on the European marriage market and the paradox at the heart of diplomatic marital policy in fifteenth-century Europe. The understanding that a foreign marriage symbolised the conclusion of a necessary political alliance meant that marital policy was too important to be derailed by the wishes of the proposed brides. But while girls were vir tual pawns in the political games of their families, the very importance of diplomatic marriage endowed young brides with considerable potential power. Annabella's threat did not so much question the rights of her brother and continental princes to choose her husband as protest at the change in their plans and her future. The currently accepted details of Annabella's continental marital career are contained in Dunlop's biography of Bishop Kennedy.1 Dunlop's source for the date of Annabella's betrothal Guichenon's Histoire Genealogique de la Royale Maison de Savoye, first published in 1660 does not cite its source, and although the work gives correct details of the date and place of issue of the marriage contract, it also contains two