[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 6 Mary Caring for the Dowry

After William I established the Norman dynasty on the land of England, he declared that the king was the ultimate owner of the land in the country.The land of many former feudal lords who were defeated and wiped out was confiscated by the king and turned into royal territory. This part of the territory accounted for about 1/7~1/5 of England's cultivated land, and the king directly sent royal stewards to manage it. More confiscated land was used by the king to reward his ministers.But these fiefdoms are still owned by the king. The vassals and nobles are the king's tenants. The condition for them to keep the land is to serve the king: each fiefdom must provide the king with at least one fully armed knight every year. Serve the king for 40 days, and provide soldiers, war horses, weapons, labor, etc. during the war; and also contribute to the king's wedding and funeral—called "help money", which was later converted into the lords' annual Pay a fixed amount of coins; after the death of a vassal, if the heir wants to inherit the fief, he has to pay an inheritance tax to the king, which is later fixed as the income of the fief for two years.

The king also allowed each vassal to entrust his fiefs to the nobles and knights at the next level. When enfeoffing, the obligations to the king should be transferred with the land. The fiefdoms in the country are divided into 4~5 levels of enfeoffment, and the complexity of the obligations attached to the land can be imagined. In 1086, in order to implement the royal power to every inch of real estate in the whole of England, after a year-long detailed inventory of the land in the whole of England, William I registered all the real estate in the book, and at the same time registered the responsibility for the king. The obligation of the estate, this notorious inventory, is called by the name that is hated and hated by the people of England-the Doomsday Book.

For a long time thereafter, the land was inevitably transferred, inherited, and bought and sold, and the obligation of attachment to the land was always attached to the land, and each new owner must strictly perform the attachment obligations on the land he acquired.

There are three types of land property rights: unrestricted inheritance rights, limited inheritance rights and lifetime land rights.

Among them, the non-limited inheritance property right is also called absolute ownership. The land lord has the complete right to dispose of the land. He can pass the land to his wife or children at will, sell it or give it away, unless the heirs owned by the lord All dead, the land will return to its upper lord or abroad.

Limited inheritance real estate rights are also called heir-limited inheritance real estate rights. For land of this nature, an inheritance agreement is usually signed when the heir is confirmed. It can be passed down from generation to generation in the family. If there is no direct heir after the death of the lord, the land will return to the upper lord or king.

The land with lifetime real estate rights cannot be inherited. When the lord dies, no matter whether he has an heir or not, the land must be returned to the upper lord or king.

According to the conversation between Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Cook, combined with the actual situation of the Bennet family, Mary deduced the following facts:

Most of the income of the Bennet family comes from a piece of land handed down by the ancestors. When Mr. Bennet inherited this land, he must have signed an inheritance agreement like his father and grandfather. The land can only be inherited to his own son, and if he has no son, then the land must be inherited by his closest older male relatives, so that the new heir can bear the responsibility of the land that can only be borne by men. Although the various military and labor services served by the king have been abolished for more than 700 years, the legal provisions on the land still exist, and the limited inheritance land with such service obligations cannot be passed on to daughters , and trading is not allowed.And Mr. Bennet obviously did not have the good fortune of his grandfather and father, he has no son!

sky!Mary can't wait to dig up Bennet's ancestors from their ancestral graves, or flog the people who made this land system three hundred times. Why is their family's real estate property so deceitful!This is really killing all Miss Bennets.

If Mr. Bennet has a son, even if Miss Bennet can’t get married in the future and chooses to stay at home as an old girl, I believe his brothers will take good care of his mother and sisters, but now Lydia is 7 years old, The Bennet sisters were born a year or two apart, and now Mary had reason to believe that her parents should not be able to produce a brother for them.In the future, after Mr. Bennet's death, the heirs can completely let the Bennet mother and daughter leave the house, because legally speaking, the land and real estate do not belong to them. After Mr. Bennet's death, they have no right to live in the There.

Of course, Mary thinks about the good, Mr. Bennet can live a long life, and even if the sisters are married after his unfortunate death, he doesn't have to stay in Longbourne, but this is not acceptable!Mary always thought that Jane could inherit the family property. An heiress with an annual income of [-] pounds was a hot commodity in the marriage market. With such a biological sister, it didn't matter if the dowries of the younger sisters were less. Mary could never marry for the rest of her life. Jane would definitely not have any objections if someone gnawed on her sister at home.But now Jane will have nothing, her charm will be greatly reduced, and the situation of the younger sisters will only be worse than that of the elder sister.

Mary doesn't know how much money Mr. Bennet has saved for his daughters over the years. Their family is not a big family, but their expenses are not small all the year round. If Mr. Bennet only prepares a few thousand pounds for each daughter As for the dowry, it is considered shabby for a young lady from a gentry family.And their family has five daughters, which is even more a disadvantage, because the limited movable property will be divided even thinner, and their family's movable property is so small-almost none!

sky!sky!sky!Mary almost screamed to the sky: God - did you bring me here to suffer?This is not as good as in my previous life. At any rate, I was able to have a car and a house with my own efforts in my previous life.But I'd be thankful if I could find a job as a governess in my life, but that's just a little nicer than being a housemaid, and not even as high as being a housekeeper!The only decent way out for women in this world is to marry!If I don't get married, I will be driven out to sleep on the street in the future.But if I marry, with my meager charm and even more meager dowry, can I marry someone good?

In this world, do I have to pray for a person who doesn't care about my meager dowry but falls in love with my ordinary face to marry me?

On the way back, Jane and Elizabeth kept whispering. Mary was thinking chaotically and felt sorry for Jane on the other side. Jane is 14 years old this year, and she has already begun to look like a beautiful girl. It's a pity... Mary sighed deeply. In a daze, she returned to Langborn. After a simple wash, she thought she would not be able to sleep, but she did not expect that it would be dawn when she opened her eyes.

People generally don't get up early the day after the dance.It was past ten o'clock when Mary sat down with her family to enjoy a breakfast, and Kitty and Lydia had gone to play somewhere long ago.Mary was still yawning in her chair, and Mrs. Bennet was already commenting on yesterday's ball.

Mrs. Bennet said affirmatively: "I don't think Charlotte's marriage will go well. Although many young people invited her to dance at the ball last night, I have to be honest, Miss Charlotte Lucas is not A good one to marry, as she has hardly any dowry, and that Mr Lawrence will certainly not marry her."

As Charlotte's good friend, Elizabeth felt that she had to defend Miss Charlotte Lucas: "Although Charlotte is not outstanding in appearance, she is gentle and not weak, obedient and assertive. Besides, she has many talents and interests, and she is a very lovable girl. I believe she will win the love of many gentlemen."

Jane also echoed: "Many people invited her to dance yesterday."

Mr. Bennet looked at Jane and said, "If you take that as an admiration, my silly daughter, you have to be sober and don't dazzle your eyes at your coming-of-age ball."

"Those people only invited her out of politeness. Who asked her to the second dance?" Mrs. Bennet sneered softly.

"That's because there are too many people who invite Charlotte to dance. Even if each of them dances one dance, Charlotte will dance until dawn." Elizabeth explained.

Mr. Bennet nodded to Elizabeth: "My dear Lizzie, you are always so kind. I hope your kindness will not deceive your eyes."

"Yes, Lizzie," said Mrs. Bennet, "you don't have to be so kind. Compassion and pity will do Charlotte no real good. In any case, her marriage is a real worry to her parents." , not being pretty is fine, but not having money is a huge problem."

Mr. Bennet nodded and echoed, "My wife, you are always so insightful, and now that Miss Lucas has sounded the alarm for our daughter, we are going to start saving for our daughter's dowry."

Mary felt refreshed when she heard this. She was going to disturb Mr. Bennet in the study after dinner and ask him about the inheritance of the family property, but now is also a good opportunity. Mary quickly asked Mr. Bennet : "Dad, how much is our dowry?"

"Mary—" Elizabeth immediately reminded in a low voice.

Mr. Bennet smiled happily: "Mary's question is very good, Liqi, don't feel embarrassed, in fact, I am very relieved to hear that my daughter knows how to care about her dowry at such a young age, at least she One more thing to think about than those girls who just giggle."

"Father, how much dowry have you prepared for us? What about Jane's? Is it the same as ours?"

"So far I have only four thousand pounds in the bank, Mary. I don't think that's enough, so I'm thinking of other ways."

"Four thousand pounds? Everyone, or everyone?" Mary demanded.

"It's all the savings. I will try my best to ensure that each of you will have two thousand pounds when you get married." Mr. Bennet's voice was a little low.

Four thousand pounds was definitely a figure beyond Mary's expectations. Yesterday, I was thinking that the dowry would be a bit shabby if there were only a few thousand pounds, but I didn't expect that there were not even a few thousand pounds!That's so little!

The atmosphere at the dinner table was somewhat gloomy, and Mrs. Bennet hurriedly said, "I still have a dowry of £[-], which will be left to you after my death."