| Summary: | Using the case study of Habsburg trans-European wedding alliances between 1450 to 1550, and drawing upon a significant reservoir of sources, this thesis shows that transfers of princely brides(grooms) were not an inconsequential side effect of weddings but were an ideal channel through which to negotiate the social status of dynasties, serve monarchical splendour and memory, prepare elite individuals for their new role and integrate them into their new environment, interact with foreign individuals and form relationships with them. Chapter One looks into logistical aspects and finds that planning and execution expressed the dynastic-political expectations of splendour and social standing of both wedding parties. Chapter Two examines the massive group of people accompanying the prince(ss), that was to serve her/his everyday needs but also to ameliorate the prince(ss)’s transition and project her/his and the dynasty’s social standing. Chapter Three addresses the staging of ceremonies, growing over time, which was an occasion to prolong the wedding festivities and to connect with the sacred sphere. Chapter Four looks into the marital transition and dissects the acts of separation and incorporation. Their phased progress and volatility points to the fact that the journey exceeds the anthropological concept of rites of passage. Drawing upon the empowering effect of liminality, Chapters Five and Six argue that the princesses engaged in preparation for their future role, participated in decision-making on the way, and used the journey to build relationships via gift-giving. Chapter Seven deals with the afterlife of the transfer in panegyric literary compositions and, by pinpointing the recurrent motifs of triumphalism and travel danger, it asserts that the voyages were an ideal instrument for dynastic memorialisation and propaganda. In general, this thesis questions the scholarly categories of ritual, festival, and ceremony, since these fall short of precisely defining the complex phenomenon of bridal journeys.
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