Remember when I posted about Regency-era marriage proposals? I had wondered whether gentlemen in the Regency went down on one knee to propose marriage. Many romance novels set during the Regency describe this, but I didn’t know if it was historically accurate. (I don’t believe Austen describes any of her characters kneeling for a proposal.)

I could not find a good answer to the question. Some sources said that kneeling during a proposal originated in the Middle Ages; others said it was a more recent innovation. Those online articles didn’t cite their own sources, and they didn’t seem that trustworthy. (I’m an academic; give me footnotes or go home!) Although I found artwork depicting nineteenth-century proposals in which the gentlemen went down on one knee, none of this art had been painted or drawn during the Regency. It was all much later Victorian art, which means it probably reflected Victorian ideas and expectations rather than actual Regency culture.

But during a discussion on the Regency Fiction Writers‘ forum, author Gail Eastwood provided the smoking gun I’d been looking for. Here is a German print from 1815 depicting a marriage proposal:

Finally, an image from the Regency era that includes a man kneeling to propose! True, it’s German rather than English art, but the characters are wearing clothing similar to what people wore in England.

One of the rules of writing historical romance is that if you don’t know for sure that something wasn’t done, you can have your characters do it. Nothing prevents a romance author from having a character (whether gentleman or not!) kneel while proposing marriage. But it’s nice to see some evidence that people in this era might have actually done so.

In general, though, it’s good to remember that the rituals we use in proposals today weren’t necessarily common in the Regency. For example, an engagement ring is a basic element of a proposal today, with the groom (or sometimes the couple) choosing a ring ahead of time. In the early nineteenth century, however, there was no expectation of a woman being given or choosing to wear an engagement ring. Many suitors gave their prospective brides an engagement gift, which could include jewelry, but the gift wasn’t necessarily a ring. Engagements were often shorter than they are now, so maybe there wasn’t a perceived need for a ring that marked a woman as betrothed.

I suspect the down-on-one-knee gesture was similar. Some Regency-era grooms may have knelt to propose, but it wasn’t an expected part of an engagement ritual. When you’re writing a proposal scene, it would be perfectly reasonable to have the proposing half of the couple go down on one knee, but it’s also perfectly reasonable to omit the gesture. Despite what I’ve read in some historical romance novels, I doubt any prospective bride would have complained because her suitor didn’t kneel for her.