The bride-show (; ; zh, 后妃選納) was a custom of

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

s and Russian tsars to choose a wife from among the most beautiful maidens of the country. A similar practice also existed in Imperial China.

Byzantine Empire

The method to select a bride for the emperor through the method of bride-show is known to have been used at least from the 8th century onward.

Irene of Athens Irene of Athens (, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaena (, ), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 unti ...

was likely chosen for Leo IV the Khazar by this method, though it has not been confirmed. The first recorded bridal show in Byzantine was however the one in 788, in which Maria of Amnia was selected for emperor Constantine. The method was regularly used in the 8th and 9th centuries. Among notable bride-shows was the one in which Theodora was selected by Theophilos and Kassia rejected. None of the empresses of the 10th century onward, however, are confirmed to have been selected this way, and the custom was surely dead by the 13th century.

Imperial China

Imperial China practiced a similar method in which to choose wives for the emperor at least from the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

(960–1279) onward; in this case not just one empress, but also the various consorts and concubines of lower ranks for the emperor. During the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

(1644–1912), daughters of the elite families were summoned to the imperial palace prior to marriage for inspection, and selected by the emperor to become his empress, secondary imperial consorts or concubines before the rest of them were released and allowed to marry.

Muscovite Russia

The Byzantine method was imported to Muscovite Russia, where it became the traditional method to select a bride from the boyar nobility for the tsar in a culture where the '' terem'' otherwise secluded women of the aristocracy from men. The method was regularly used in the 16th and 17th centuries. This was the case with the three wives of Ivan IV. The first time this method was securely recorded was in 1505, when Solomoniya Saburova was selected for Vasily III this way. The method was introduced by Vasily's Byzantine mother, Sophia Paleologue. The last bride-show for a Russian tsar was that of Ivan V in which he chose Praskovia Saltykova in 1684. After this, the practice was abandoned, pursuant to the Westernizing reforms of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

Byzantine Empire

Imperial China

Muscovite Russia

See also

References

Further reading