Random Cruelest, Most Unfair Weddings In The History of Western Culture (10 items)

• 

  (#10) Maria Fitzherbert

  • Person

  The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King George III, was a pleasure-loving patron of the arts. Though he kept numerous mistresses and fell in and out of affairs, he lost his heart in 1784 to Maria Fitzherbert. She was a widow twice over and a Catholic.

  Though it was perfectly reasonable to keep Mrs. Fitzherbert as his mistress, there was no possibility of the prince ever marrying her. According to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, members of the royal family would need approval before marrying. Considering Mrs. Fitzherbert's religious affiliation, there was no way she would be accepted as the wife of a future king, since the monarch was also head of the Protestant Church of England. But these obstacles didn't stop the lovers. On December 15, 1785, the couple went through a secret - though legally invalid - wedding ceremony in London. 

  The relationship did not end well. As the future king, the Prince of Wales was under increasing pressure to legally marry and produce his own heir. So in 1794, he ended his relationship with Mrs. Fitzherbert. 

  Though they never had a public marriage, she probably remained the love of his life. He was even buried with a miniature portrait of his secret wife.
• 

  (#5) William Corder Ended Maria Marten's Life Rather Than Elope With Her

  The so-called Red Barn Murder of 1827 was one of the most publicized crimes of the 19th century. In 1826, 24-year-old Maria Marten started an affair with 22-year-old William Corder. The relationship even produced a child. Corder agreed to elope with Marten: per his proposal, they would meet at a red barn and then proceed to Ipswich to marry. Instead of eloping with her, Corder killed Marten and buried her in the barn. When he was finally caught, Corder was found guilty and hanged on August 11, 1828.

  The morbid episode has inspired a number of folk songs and pieces of art.
• 

  (#2) Andrew Stoney Tricked Mary Bowes Into Marrying Him As His Last Wish - And Then Didn't Kick The Bucket

  Andrew Robinson Stoney - the self-styled "Captain Stoney" - was a dashing Irish rake who landed a marriage with one of the wealthiest women in Great Britain. Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore, was a young widow with five children. Being a widow allowed her to take charge of her life - and to marry whomever she wanted. 

  After making the acquaintance of the Countess, Stoney staged a duel to defend her honor. In the course of the fake duel, he claimed that he had been mortally wounded. In what appeared to be his final wish, Stoney asked to see the Countess. She agreed to a hasty marriage to soothe someone she believed to be a dying man. 

  But Stoney quickly recovered from his supposed injuries, and the Countess was stuck with him. Things got even worse for the poor Countess. Stoney began burning through the Countess's money and routinely abusing her. He kept her virtually under house arrest, and even assaulted maids and fathered illegitimate children.

  Aided by sympathetic maids, the Countess pulled off an escape from Stoney. But she didn't stop there: in an era when divorce was as rare as it was scandalous, the Countess sued Stoney for divorce in 1789 - and actually won. Britain was riveted and shocked with the all she suffered at the hands of her oppressor-husband.
• 

  (#1) Héloïse And Abelard Had A Romance That Ended In Castration

  An especially tragic story from the Middle Ages is that of the doomed romance between Peter Abelard, a French scholar, and his brilliant student, Héloïse d'Argenteuil. Over time, their intellectual relationship developed into a physical relationship. Héloïse even became pregnant, and the couple secretly married in the early 13th century. News spread of the marriage, and their story turned bad: Héloïse's own uncle hired men to forcibly castrate Abelard in the middle of the night.

  Humiliated, he committed both his wife and himself to celibacy in religious orders. Though the couple lived apart, they continued to write one another love letters.
• 

  (#7) Walter Raleigh Was Imprisoned In The Tower Of London After His Secret Marriage

  Sir Walter Raleigh is known to schoolchildren across America for being an early architect of English colonization in the so-called New World. He established the ill-fated colony at Roanoke and has a handful of cities and town named after him. But, he was not just a famous explorer - he was also a noted figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth I.

  Thanks to his exploits in the Americas, Raleigh was a favorite of the aging queen. But the naval hero got into hot water in 1591: he impregnated Bess Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, and secretly married the young woman without first asking the queen's permission. When Good Queen Bess found out about the secret marriage, she raged at the couple, banished them from court, and imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower of London for a time. It would take him years to restore the royal favor he had lost.
• 

  (#3) James Coyle

  • Person

  Secret marriages and elopements could also be disastrous for family members and accomplices, not just the couples. For proof, look no further than the case of James Coyle, an Irish-born priest who immigrated to Birmingham, Alabama.

  In 1921, deep in the Jim Crow era-South, Father Coyle officiated a secret wedding between Ruth Stephenson, whose father was daughter of a Methodist minister and member of the Ku Klux Klan, and Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican. When news broke of their marriage, Stephenson's father raced to Coyle's house and shot the priest on his own porch. He then proceeded on to the court house and turned himself in. He was ultimately acquitted of the murder.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking