Loretta and List,
Actually, brides giving the groom a ring is a pretty new development, definitely 20th century. And, as John posited in his initial post, the trend of the groom wearing a wedding ring may have been begun and fostered by the "wedding-industrial complex," because, traditionally, men did not wear wedding rings.
Obviously the ring has come to symbolize various ideas in the last millenium. During the Early Modern period, the early meaning could have been lost, and brides, grooms and their families may well have thought that the wedding ring symbolized the bride's being legally "covered" by her husband, i.e. "femme couvert." From the Early Modern period through the nineteenth century various European countries held wives to be legal minors under their husbands' care and tutuelege, so perhaps they saw the ring as a symbol of the husband's protection of his prop...er, I mean, his spouse:) During the Victorian period the ring was invested with many sentimental ideas, as uxoriousness triumphed as a bourgeois value. Personally I'm crazy about my wedding ring, which we have personally invested with value.
Ain't history fun?
Pat Watkinson
Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history on behalf of Loretta Kelldorf
Sent: Fri 3/25/2005 11:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: wedding rings
Pat:
What a wonderful explanation of the custom of the groom giving the bride a
wedding ring. Was the custom of the bride giving a ring to the groom a
much later custom and did it have a different significance? or was it
observed early on to represent some agreement on her part regarding the
dower?
Loretta
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patricia Watkinson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: wedding rings
> John,
>
> I can't say for sure that Virginians followed the standard European
> traditions, but I would imagine they did. A wedding ring from the groom
> for the bride is an ancient practice. Wedding rings began to be routinely
> exchanged in Britain and the continent at least by the 9th century.
>
> I teach European Women's History at Randolph-Macon, and one of the points
> I drill into my students is that the wedding band may be a symbol of
> eternal (without end) love NOW, but originally, it was a pledge of a
> marriage jointure, or dower, by the groom to the bride in case of his
> early death( land, goods, tools, whatever). Whether she had sole control
> over the dower fluctuated by time period and nation, but the ring was the
> pledge of economic support (the dower), and the exchange was the official
> ceremony, usually held at the outer door of the church. Afterwards they
> may have gone into church and had a mass.
>
> It was not until a century or two later that the mass became the official
> part of the wedding, and the ceremony was moved inside the church. So, it
> would be odd if wedding rings, routinely exchanged back in Britain, would
> not have been exchanged here. As far as diamond engagement rings go, I
> believe that tradition is relatively recent and still not universal, even
> in the U.S.
>
> Pat Watkinson
> Library of Virginia / Randolph-Macon College
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history on behalf
> of [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Fri 3/25/2005 10:06 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Cc:
> Subject: wedding rings
>
>
>
> One of our docents asked an interesting question:
> In general, when did the modern practice* of wedding rings (left hand,
> engagement and wedding bands, etc) develop?
> Specifically, were wedding rings used in late 18th-century Virginia? If
> so, how common were they?
>
> Jon Kukla
>
> *20th-c skillful marketing practices by DeBoors in South Africa certainly
> helped create expectations and a market.....
>
>
>
> Dr. Jon Kukla, Executive Vice-President
> Red Hill - The Patrick Henry National Memorial
> 1250 Red Hill Road
> Brookneal, Virginia 24528
> www.redhill.org
> Phone 434-376-2044 or 800-514-7463
>
> Fax 434-376-2647
>
> - M. Lynn Davis, Office Manager
> - Karen Gorham-Smith, Associate Curator
> - Edith Poindexter, Curator
>
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