Marriage, dowry and inheritance are rightly seen as linked because major transfers of property to both men and women occur at marriage and at death.
However, these functional arguments do not explain why parents choose to give their daughters a dowry and not an inheritance.
Above all, the entire patriarchal structure had an interest in safeguarding women's dowries and ensuring that the system was working smoothly.
Even if divorced by her husband for good reason, she never lost her legal right to a dowry.
The analogy between domain and dowry and the image of the king as husband is familiar territory.
Paying a dowry for marriage does not lead to a complete commodification of women, but it differs significantly from giving mere ritual gifts.
But what did happen to their dowry and levirate after the early fourteenth century?
Although formally the dowry remained in the complete control of wives, husbands apparently relied on these dowries as available credit.
