Famous Affinities of History

Famous Affinities of History is a unique classic in the literature of history. This is the complete four volume edition. It has many romantic stories to tell of the part which women have played in determining the destinies of nations. Sometimes it is a woman's beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again it is another woman's rich possessions that incite invasion and lead to bloody wars. Marriages or dowries, or the refusal of marriages and the lack of dowries, inheritance through an heiress, the failure of a male succession—in these and in many other ways women have set their mark indelibly upon the trend of history. However, if we look over these different events we shall find that it is not so much the mere longing for a woman—the desire to have her as a queen— that has seriously affected the annals of any nation. Most royal marriages are made either to secure the succession to a throne by a legitimate line of heirs or else to unite adjoining states and make a more powerful kingdom.