Concubinage

Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage.^[1] Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive.^[2]

In China, until the 20th century, concubinage was a formal and institutionalized practice that upheld concubines' rights and obligations.^[3] A concubine could be freeborn or of slave origin, and her experience could vary tremendously according to her master's whim.^[3] During the Mongol conquests, both foreign royals^[4] and captured women were taken as concubines.^[5] Concubinage was also common in Meiji Japan as a status symbol.^[6]

Many Middle Eastern societies used concubinage for reproduction.^[7] The practice of a barren wife giving her husband a slave as a concubine is recorded in the Code of Hammurabi.^[7] The children of such relationships would be regarded as legitimate.^[7] Such concubinage was also widely practiced in the premodern Muslim world, and many of the rulers of the Abbasid caliphate and the Ottoman Empire were born out of such relationships.^[8] Throughout Africa, from Egypt to South Africa, slave concubinage resulted in racially mixed populations.^[9] The practice declined as a result of the abolition of slavery.^[8]

In ancient Rome, the practice of concubinatus was a monogamous relationship that was an alternative to marriage, usually because of the woman's lesser social status. Widowed or divorced men often took a concubina, the Latin term from which the English "concubine" is derived, rather than remarrying, so as to avoid complications of inheritance. After the Christianization of the Roman Empire, Christian emperors improved the status of the concubine by granting concubines and their children the sorts of property and inheritance rights usually reserved for wives.^[10] In European colonies and American slave plantations, single and married men entered into long-term sexual relationships with local women.^[11] In the Dutch East Indies, concubinage created mixed-race Indo-European communities.^[12]

Within the Byzantine Empire concubinage was present, shown in the famous example of Heraclius with the Church’s approval gifting Khosrow II a thousand Christian virgins in exchange for a truce in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628.^[13]

In the Judeo-Christian world, the term concubine has almost exclusively been applied to women, although a cohabiting male may also be called a concubine.^[14] In the 21st century, concubinage is used in some Western countries as a gender-neutral legal term to refer to cohabitation (including cohabitation between same-sex partners).^[15]^[16]^[17]

^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008.
^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 467.
^ ^a ^b Rodriguez 2011, p. 203.
^ Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Peter Jackson (May 2014). The Mongols and the West 1221-1410. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317878988.
^ Cite error: The named reference a05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 469.
^ ^a ^b Cortese 2013.
^ "slave labor/slavery". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations: S-Z. p. 1530.
^ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 471.
^ Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition 2014, p. 122-123.
^ Hagemann, Rose & Dudink 2020, p. 320.
^ Gibbon 1994, chap. 46, ii.914a.
^ "Concubinage". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
^ Long, Scott (2006). Family, unvalued : discrimination, denial, and the fate of binational same-sex couples under U.S. law. New York: Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564323361. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
^ Halho, H.R. (1972). "The Law of Concubinage". South African Law Journal. 89: 321–332.
^ Soles III, Donald E. (2016). "Truisms & Tautologies: Ambivalent Conclusions regarding Same-Sex Marriage in Chapin v. France". Global Justice & Public Policy. 3: 149.

[FOOTNOTEThe_Oxford_Encyclopedia_of_Women_in_World_History2008-1] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008.

[FOOTNOTEThe_Oxford_Encyclopedia_of_Women_in_World_History2008467-2] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 467.

[FOOTNOTERodriguez2011203-3] Rodriguez 2011, p. 203.

[:02-4] Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[5] Peter Jackson (May 2014). The Mongols and the West 1221-1410. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317878988.

[a05-6] Cite error: The named reference a05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEThe_Oxford_Encyclopedia_of_Women_in_World_History2008469-7] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 469.

[FOOTNOTECortese2013-8] Cortese 2013.

[9] "slave labor/slavery". The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations: S-Z. p. 1530.

[FOOTNOTEThe_Oxford_Encyclopedia_of_Women_in_World_History2008471-10] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History 2008, p. 471.

[FOOTNOTEHistorical_Dictionary_of_Slavery_and_Abolition2014122-123-11] Historical Dictionary of Slavery and Abolition 2014, p. 122-123.

[FOOTNOTEHagemannRoseDudink2020320-12] Hagemann, Rose & Dudink 2020, p. 320.

[FOOTNOTEGibbon1994chap.&nbsp;46,_ii.914a-13] Gibbon 1994, chap. 46, ii.914a.

[14] "Concubinage". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 October 2021.

[15] Long, Scott (2006). Family, unvalued : discrimination, denial, and the fate of binational same-sex couples under U.S. law. New York: Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564323361. Retrieved 29 November 2021.

[16] Halho, H.R. (1972). "The Law of Concubinage". South African Law Journal. 89: 321–332.

[17] Soles III, Donald E. (2016). "Truisms & Tautologies: Ambivalent Conclusions regarding Same-Sex Marriage in Chapin v. France". Global Justice & Public Policy. 3: 149.

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