Think dowries are a thing of the past? Think again! When you’re a big fancy rich person you gotta have a big fancy rich wedding, and a bride that brings big fancy rich stuff with her. That's where dowries come in. What's a dowry, you ask? Well, a dowry is any gift or monetary contribution that a bride's family provides to the newly wedded couple at their wedding. From historical figures to your average joe-millionaire; here are the most insane dowries in history: 5) To start, Eleanor of Aquitaine brought half of France with her. We need a blender, a kegerator, and half of France. It’s on our Williams Sonoma registry. Medieval France wasn't a united country; it was divided into a bunch little pieces ruled by dukes who answered to the king. One of those pieces was Aquitaine, which was most of southwestern France… SO, when Duke William X of Aquitaine named his eldest daughter Eleanor as his heiress, King Louis VI (AKA "Louis the Fat") said “you’ll be my son’s wife! Deal with it!” So th