Divorce
Posted by Apostate on 05/05/18
For commoners of the Compact, marriage and divorce is a matter of just declaring themselves one way or the other, with minimal fanfare. They have a great deal of freedom in that regard, and they can do as they like, but that is not true of the nobility. For the peerage, one of their long standing cultural traditions is that marriages are really a matter of house duty and obligation, as part and parcel of the social contract for the rights and privileges they enjoy, their freedom is more restricted in obligations to their house. Noble marriages then are a matter of treaty and formal agreements between houses, and often very transactional, with nobles setting their personal feelings aside and marrying for what benefits their families, with deep religious significance around the fidelity between spouses and their houses they represent.
For nobles, it's excellent if the couples actually like one another, or love one another, but only in a practical sense of hoping no one does anything foolish and selfish to undermine the arrangement between their families and breaks fidelity. On the outside, many commoners idolize a storybook style romantic love match between nobles and celebrate it when they see it, but the peerage often has a dim view of them. For one thing, the overwhelming majority of peers that marry for duty often see it as selfish and an abrogation of duty, though it's often seen as a minor matter if someone is very distant from succession, but even then it's not hard to see why peers that set their own happiness aside would resent others that fail to do the same. Similarly, godsworn that are faithfully keeping their own vows, and allowing nothing to come between themselves and the gods, look askance at others who wish to keep all ranks and privileges but do not embrace what is seen as their societal duty. But then there's the matter of divorce.
A problem with love matches is they often don't last. From the peers who treated their marriages as a business arrangement between their houses, there is definitely an 'I-told-you-so' element to the minority of peers that marry for love. Commoners tend to be very sympathetic (while relishing in gossip) for nobility that have a love match turn sour and end in divorce, and many of the peers in that unfortunate position can find support from the populace, particularly if they are already a beloved figure. But not so much from the peers or the faith, who might see it as the predictable result of marrying for love rather than duty. To them, a marriage and divorce comes across as an indiscretion, and someone failing to take their vows with the gravity they merited, and some degree of atonement both to their families and the faith should be called for- as well as being more responsible in the future.
For nobles, it's excellent if the couples actually like one another, or love one another, but only in a practical sense of hoping no one does anything foolish and selfish to undermine the arrangement between their families and breaks fidelity. On the outside, many commoners idolize a storybook style romantic love match between nobles and celebrate it when they see it, but the peerage often has a dim view of them. For one thing, the overwhelming majority of peers that marry for duty often see it as selfish and an abrogation of duty, though it's often seen as a minor matter if someone is very distant from succession, but even then it's not hard to see why peers that set their own happiness aside would resent others that fail to do the same. Similarly, godsworn that are faithfully keeping their own vows, and allowing nothing to come between themselves and the gods, look askance at others who wish to keep all ranks and privileges but do not embrace what is seen as their societal duty. But then there's the matter of divorce.
A problem with love matches is they often don't last. From the peers who treated their marriages as a business arrangement between their houses, there is definitely an 'I-told-you-so' element to the minority of peers that marry for love. Commoners tend to be very sympathetic (while relishing in gossip) for nobility that have a love match turn sour and end in divorce, and many of the peers in that unfortunate position can find support from the populace, particularly if they are already a beloved figure. But not so much from the peers or the faith, who might see it as the predictable result of marrying for love rather than duty. To them, a marriage and divorce comes across as an indiscretion, and someone failing to take their vows with the gravity they merited, and some degree of atonement both to their families and the faith should be called for- as well as being more responsible in the future.