From left: Joan Abela and Isabelle Camilleri at the Notarial Archives in Valletta.

Although today, many societies relate marriage to two persons falling in love and wanting to spend the rest of their life together, in the past, matters were quite different. Some of the local marriages, especially in wealthy families, were pre-arranged when the future bride and groom were just seven years old – this was done in order to ensure that the children would marry a partner at par or even one who could enhance their title and possessions.

Parents were expected to provide their daughters with a dowry as a form of marriage payment and at times, as a kind of anticipated inheritance. Generally depending on the couple’s status and on the type of marriage contract which they adopted, this dowry could either serve to assist the newlyweds to establish a new household, or else to act as a mode of protection against the possibility of the bride being ill treated by her husband and his family. In the latter cases, the dowry might have to be returned back. A dowry also offered an element of financial security in widowhood, particularly if there were small children in the family.

The Notarial Archives in Valletta possess a treasure trove of stories connected to marriages and dowries of the past. Thick manuscripts include remarkably detailed contracts.

“One of the earliest contracts of marriages which we have is dated 1467,” historian Dr Joan Abela says. “In this contract, Zullus Calleja from Naxxar lists the objects which he is forwarding to the groom as a dowry in the name of his daughter Jacoba. The form of this dowry is ‘alla Maltese’, and that means that the future husband would only be able to administer these possessions but could not sell them without his wife’s consent. However, once their children were born, this dowry would automatically be divided into three equal parts: one belonging to the husband, the other to the wife, and the rest to the offspring. Nevertheless, children were not able to use these belongings until they reached 15 years of age.”

Together with Isabelle Camilleri, who also works at the Notarial Archives, Abela shows me various manuscripts from different eras.

“While I was doing some research about historical marriage contracts, I discovered that a lot of them also included a section marked as ‘dos’ which related to the dowry being given by the father to the groom,” Abela explains. “Some of these dowries formed part of the inheritance of the bride and therefore it was declared in the contract that the amount which was being given to her during marriage would be eventually decreased once she inherits from her deceased parents. On the other hand, some contracts stated that this dowry was being donated over and above the wife’s future inheritance.”

This study also sheds light on different types of dowry contracts which were in existence at the same time during various periods.

“The most popular ones were the contracts that used the ‘alla Greca’ or the ‘alla Romana’ custom, which were practically the same thing. Basically, this type of contract stipulated that all the dowry which was forwarded by the bride’s father to the groom could only be administered by the latter but it could never be alienated without his partner’s approval.”

No matter which style was chosen, all these dowry contracts were quite formal and organised. Experts in each sector of the items being included in the dowry were called upon to evaluate these objects professionally, and their names were included in the contract as a guarantee. Ultimately, everything was described meticulously in the contract, together with their value at the time.

“Every time that I start working on a new manuscript, I’m delighted at the descriptions that I find. They are so rich in detail that I get the impression of seeing or touching the items being mentioned. I find myself in another world as I read the lists of things that brides took with them to their new home,” Camilleri says.

Dowries of affluent people could be quite impressive. One of these, which was in the ‘alla Romana’ style, is dated 1557 and includes a list of more than 60 objects.

“There is so much to ponder in this contract,” Abela says. “The one who was making the dowry was the renowned knight Marshall Fra Guglielmo Couppier who took part in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Interestingly, Victoria, the bride, had been Couppier’s slave but he had granted her freedom. Moreover, in this contract, he was also forwarding a substantial dowry in her name, worthy of a highly noble woman, to her future husband Hieronomu Debonè who worked as a bombardier and blacksmith.”

Victoria’s dowry included a 20-year-old black male slave and a 59-year-old female slave, gold jewellery, precious stones and pearls, clothes made from the most costly materials such as silk, velvet and wool, and mattresses, pillows, bed sheets and blankets of the finest luxury.

“Another type of dowry contract was known as ‘alla Latina’. I didn’t find many of these and I noticed that generally they were used by peasants or families who were not so well off. In fact, the main aim of such contracts was to help the couple initiate a new life together, since otherwise, this would have been difficult. The agreement in such contracts stated that after a year from their wedding, whatever the couple owned, including the dowry which the bride had brought with her, would belong to both of them. And once children were born, these possessions would be divided into three equal parts between the husband, wife and offspring.”

Unlike the other types of dowry contracts where the husband was bound to return all the dowry objects to his wife’s father, in the same good state, or even better, should their marriage fail for any reason or if the woman died before having any children, the couple which chose the ‘alla Latina’ contract shared both the good and bad times.

Camilleri shows me another manuscript which dates to 1860. This incorporates an inventory of the dowry of a mother of three who had died. Her husband was going to get married a second time and so it was required to specify exactly the origin and value of the deceased wife’s possessions.

“This dowry also included the gifts which she was given during her wedding,” Camilleri says. “Jewellery made the best part of it and it comprised items made of gold, precious stones, pearls and diamonds. Who gives these gifts in weddings nowadays?”

Until some years ago in Malta, it was still customary to give a dowry. In most cases, this would include practical items which would be useful in the couple’s new home. This tradition is slowly dying out. However, I tend to believe that the dowry itself has not become obsolete but has merely changed form, possibly into money which can be used by the couple to buy a property or to finance their wedding reception.