ABSTRACT
The ideal feudal marriage in the period before the Albigensian crusades in Languedoc, and, it appears, in the Crown of Aragon as well, created a partnership. Examples abound of couples working together to promote the interests of their house or dynasty, build wealth, and administer the lands held by the family. The marriage might remain fundamentally unequal, with the wife exercising largely private authority, but sometimes both partners shared highly visible public duties. Happiness is not easily measured in feudal documents, but it is clear that the majority of medieval marriages in the area were successful. Unfortunately, most is never all, and there are plenty of counter-examples in which marriages were rent by greed or ambition. The marriage of Peter II of Aragon and Marie de Montpellier falls into this second category.
