Re: Marie Antoinette's mother
Elk wrote:
Only those who did not need to climb social ranks or make a political alliance could choose someone from the community around them who they felt a true affection for to settle down with.
I wouldn't even assume that. If a poor farmer knew another farmer who was just a bit better off, I'd guess there was pressure on his daughter to snag one of the latter's sons.
Certainly in the trades over and over one sees an apprentice marrying his master's widow. Which is to say, marrying the business she now owned.
If anything, people living at bare subsistence were probably less concerned with luxuries like "romance".
