Dynastic Marriage Spheres in Early Modern Europe: A Comparison of the Danish Oldenburgs and Three Houses of the Empire

Princely marriages are here seen as a key component in dynasty formation and dynasty securing. The marriages of the Danish royal house and three houses of the Empire are studied for the period c. 1530–1700. Most of them took place within what can be labelled a Scandinavian-German-Lutheran marriage sphere. It was a highly hierarchized sphere with little contact between top (royal and electoral houses) and bottom (comital houses). The will of a princely couple to let their of fspring continue to lead their lives at an appropriate status level, or a higher if possible, together with confessional considerations, seems to explain more of the marriage pattern than purely political considerations.