There is a common belief that marriage in the past had nothing to do with love. That marriage was more about alliances and property than individual happiness. Added to this is the idea that marriage was something in which the individual had little say, and that the family was in charge of choosing a marriage partner. The higher the status, the greater the role of property and birth, and the less influence the individual had over the choice. But is this true?

In 2014 I defended my thesis "The language of love: nobility, love and marriage 1750-1900" which showed that pragmatism was by no means the guiding principle in marriage. On the contrary, it was love that took center stage when marriage was discussed. But the results led to another question: did they mean what we mean when they talked about love? In a further examination of two correspondences between engaged couples, I was able to show that the one from the 18th century focused on feelings, while the letters from the 19th century were more concerned with relationship building.

My thesis has attracted a lot of attention (among other things, it was awarded the Per Nyström Science Prize by the Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg) and the subject seems to interest a wider public. Since the edition of theses is small, and these contain a lot of scientific reasoning of little interest to non-historians, it will now be published in a popular science version.