Whence the expression "before the wedding will heal"

 Parents  at every sore or wound at the child usually sentence: "before the  wedding will heal." Today it sounds silly, and in Russia the wedding  could be canceled for excessive thinness, scars or pallor of the bride.  Therefore, by the time of the wedding, all sores and any sickness should  be healed. A child of a young child, even though his legs break: "Do  not worry - the main thing, before the wedding heals!"

Particular  attention was paid to the health of the bride, as in the Middle Ages  the woman almost continuously went pregnant, gave birth and fed numerous  offspring. These circumstances combined with anti-sanitation and lack  of medicine inevitably shortened the life expectancy of women, which in  the Middle Ages was shorter than that of men.

Preparations for  the wedding went to three stages - matchmaking, bridesmanship and  hand-knitting. In time, the girl was released from heavy and traumatic  work, so that she would be in perfect shape to the bridegrooms. During  the inspection, the groom's relatives could demand a survey of the bride  without a dress, and to make it less embarrassing for a young girl,  they usually inspected under the pretext of bathing procedures. 

 In ordinary peasant families, the virginity of the bride was of little concern to anyone. Moreover, the bride's presence of her child was rather a plus, as it guaranteed the ability to procreate. The most important defect was considered leanness. After all, if, with good economy, relatives could not fatten the girl, thinness could be an indirect sign of the disease. For the scars, bruises, or pimples, the groom's relatives could demand an increase in the dowry.

The  higher the status of the groom's family relative to the social level of  the bride, the higher the requirements and the health of the latter. The ability of the queens to procreate was fundamental, since the lack of a prerogative increased the likelihood of trouble. For this reason, the health of the royal bride was often a victim of intrigue.

When  Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich was 20, his mother, the queen Marfa, arranged a  bride's bridegroom, but she had already chosen a girl from the rich  Saltykov family for her son. However, Mikhail Fedorovich liked a girl from a poor family Maria Khlopova. Shortly before the wedding, Mary fell ill - "vomited and fractured the interior and was swollen, and then there was vomiting." 

 Referring  to the doctors sent to them, Saltykovs convinced the king that the  disease was incurable, persuaded to cancel the wedding and send Maria to  Tobolsk. The link was justified by the need to hide Mary from the eyes of the  common people, to whom she was already represented in the status of the  royal bride.

The  second attempt at marriage for Mikhail Fedorovich also ended in failure  - Dolgorukova Maria fell ill the day after the wedding and died in a  few weeks. Chroniclers do not rule out that both cases are a consequence of  poisoning in order to disrupt the wedding of the Saltykovs and the  mother of the tsar.

As  a result, Mikhail Fedorovich married Evdokia Streshneva - the daughter  of a small landowner, which again did not suit the mother. Considering  the experience of previous failures, this time the bride was placed in  the royal chambers and declared a queen just three days before the  wedding. Only the next day the tsar ordered the guests to be let out, but he did not accept any gifts or treats. 

 Evdokia gave birth to the son of Alexei, the second tsar of the Romanov dynasty. But his own wedding Alexey Mikhailovich was also upset because of the state of health of the bride. Of the 200 applicants, 18 girls were selected to watch the 18-year-old king. 

 Alexei  liked Evfimia Vsevolozhskaya, who was so heavily reined in her hat that  she fell into a swoon during the official performance before the tsar. The boyar boy Boris Morozov, the boy's teacher, rushed to spread the rumor that the bride was sick with epilepsy. As a result, Evfimiy and his parents were exiled to Tyumen. 

 Then the  tutor took care of acquaintance of the tsar with the daughter of the  courtier Ilya Miloslavsky, who belonged to the supporters of Morozov. As a result, Alexei Mikhailovich married Marie Miloslavskaya. 

 Moreover,  ten days after the royal wedding, Morozov himself married the second  daughter of Miloslavsky, thus linking himself to the tsar with related  ties. Given these circumstances, the chroniclers rightly suspect Morozov of  organizing the failure of the wedding of the Tsar with Vsevolozhskaya.

By  infecting the 13 children, Maria Miloslavskaia died after 13 births  from maternity fever - postpartum infection of blood in the Middle Ages  was the main cause of death in women of reproductive age. Bride-seeing was again organized, on which the king liked Avdotya Belyaeva. Morozov  died at that time, but the Miloslavskys did not miss the opportunity to  upset the tsar's marriage to preserve his influence at court. After all, the tsar still had children from Maria Miloslavskaya, who could claim the throne. A  specially called Dutch doctor during the examination of the bride found  a protruding toe on his leg, which served as the basis for the  cancellation of the wedding and the link of Avdotya to Siberia. And Alexey Mikhailovich soon married Natalia Naryshkina - the future mother of Peter I. 

"Before the wedding he will begin to live," my grandmother told me in my childhood, and I imagined for many years, which is more than enough to heal any sores. However, there are such sores that do not go to the wedding, much later than her. Now I'm preparing an article about acne, which in some people is preserved after puberty and difficult to treat.