Women, Rank, and Marriage in the British Aristocracy, 1485-2000: An Open Elite?

In: Studies in Modern History

In: Studies in Modern History Ser.

Abstract

Through an analysis of the marriage patterns of thousands of aristocratic women as well as an examination of diaries, letters, and memoirs, this book demonstrates that the sense of rank identity as manifested in these women's marriages remained remarkably stable for centuries, until it was finally shattered by the First World War.