Concubinage
The English terms concubine and concubinage appeared in the 14th century. They derived from Latin terms used in Roman society and law. The word concubine means a paramour or a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him. This definition comes from the Latin verb meaning to lie together or to cohabit. It combines the prefix com for with or together with the root for lying down. In ancient Rome, these terms described one who lives unmarried with a married man or woman. By the 21st century, the term typically refers explicitly to extramarital affection. It can mean either a mistress or a sex slave. The original emphasis on cohabitation has faded in modern usage. Some Western countries now use it as a gender-neutral legal term for cohabitation. France formalized this equivalent of a civil union in 1999. Switzerland still uses the term as of 2025 for a legal status of cohabitation without marriage. The US legal system once used the term but it is now considered outdated.
Mesopotamian societies used concubinage primarily for reproduction. A barren wife would give her husband a slave as a concubine to bear children. The Code of Hammurabi records this practice. Children from such relationships were regarded as legitimate. In the Old Assyrian period between the 20th and 18th centuries BC, if a wife had not given birth after two or three years, the husband could buy a slave chosen by the wife. This woman remained a slave and never gained the status of a second wife. During the Middle Assyrian Period from the 14th to 11th centuries BC, a man veiling his concubine in public declared her his wife. If he did so, she became his wife legally. Children of a concubine were lower in rank than descendants of a wife but could inherit if the main marriage remained childless. Ancient Egypt saw pharaohs keep concubines alongside their Great Royal Wife. Amenhotep III requested forty concubines around 1386 BC. He sent merchandise worth 160 deben to obtain them. Each concubine cost forty pieces of silver. These women were kept in the palace at Malkata. They served as diplomatic tools allowing the pharaoh to enter into alliances through marriage with allies' daughters.
In China, successful men often had concubines until the practice was outlawed when the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. The standard term qiè has been used since ancient times. Unofficial concubines held lower status and their children were considered illegitimate. From the Eastern Han period between AD 25 and 220 onward, laws limited how many concubines a man could have. Higher rank allowed more concubines. Wives brought dowries while concubines did not. A concubinage relationship required no ceremonies like marriages. Remarriage or return to her natal home were forbidden for widowed concubines. Until the Song dynasty from 960 to 1276, promoting a concubine to wife was a serious breach of ethics. During the Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1911, the status improved. It became permissible to promote a concubine if the original wife died and the concubine bore surviving sons. Lady Yehenara entered the court as a concubine to Xianfeng Emperor. She gave birth to his only surviving son who became Tongzhi Emperor. She ruled de facto for 47 years after her husband's death. In Ming China between 1368 and 1644, an official system selected imperial concubines aged 14 to 16. Before monogamy was legally imposed in Meiji Japan, concubinage ensured male heirs. Yanagihara Naruko gave birth to Emperor Taishō. Nene overruled Toyotomi Hideyoshi's decisions while his concubine Yodo-dono became master of Osaka castle after his death.
Concubinatus served as a monogamous union recognized socially and partially legally in the Roman Empire. It functioned as an alternative to marriage when one partner belonged to a higher social rank. Senatorial men were penalized for marrying below their class. The female partner was called a concubina. A man could not have both a concubina and a wife at the same time. However, single tombstones listed multiple wives or concubinae serially. Roman emperors often took a concubina rather than remarrying after their wife died. Caenis was Vespasian's wife in all but name until her death in AD 74. Augustan moral legislation criminalized some forms of adultery among freeborn people outside marriage. This prompted the evolution of concubinatus. Christian emperors improved the status of concubines by granting property rights usually reserved for wives. Justinian's sixth-century code Corpus Iuris Civilis brought concubinatus closer to marriage. He required that concubinage be permanent and monogamous. By the 14th and 15th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church outlawed concubinage in territories under its control. The Digest compiled in the 6th century contained a fragmentary chapter on concubines.
In the historic Muslim Arab world, surriyya referred to the female slave with whom her master engaged in sexual intercourse. Such relationships were common in pre-Islamic Arabia. Islam introduced regulations encouraging manumission. If the master acknowledged children, they were generally declared legitimate. The mother of a free child became free upon the death of her male enslaver under umm walad custom. Almost all Abbasid caliphs were born to concubines. Sultans of the Ottoman Empire were often sons of concubines. Some individual concubines exercised influence over Ottoman politics. They developed social networks and accumulated personal wealth. Ottoman sultans preferred concubinage to marriage for a time. All royal children were born of concubines. Consorts were often neither Turkish nor Muslim by birth. Leslie Peirce argues this prevented political leverage from princesses or local elite daughters. Once a concubine gave birth to a son, the sultan ceased intercourse with her. This limited each son's power. The practice declined starting in the 19th century with abolition of slavery. Slavery in Saudi Arabia was banned in 1962. Slavery in Oman ended in 1970. The Arabian Peninsula finally abolished it in the 1960s.
During early European colonialism, administrators encouraged men to practice concubinage to discourage paying prostitutes. They believed intimate relationships with native women enhanced understanding of culture. It provided essential domestic labor without requiring family wages. Colonial administrators eventually discouraged the practice when liaisons produced mixed-race offspring threatening rule. Administrators then encouraged white women to travel to colonies. In the Dutch East Indies, concubinage created the mixed-race Eurasian Indo community. Anglo-Indians resulted from unions between European men and Indian women. White planters in Caribbean colonies took black and mulatto concubines due to shortages of white women. Children sometimes inherited freedom though not always. Relationships appeared socially accepted in Jamaica. In colonial Brazil, free white men outnumbered free white women. Catholic Church condemned these extra-marital sexual relationships. Council of Trent threatened excommunication for those engaging in them. Concubines constituted both female slaves and former slaves. In New France, French settlers kept native women as concubines while married to white women. This was common in Louisiana but discouraged by clergy. Free men in the United States sometimes took enslaved women in relationships called concubinary. From 1662, Virginia incorporated partus sequitur ventrem into law. Children took their mother's status leading to generations of multiracial slaves.
Polygyny occurred among Vikings allowing rich and powerful men multiple wives or concubines. Viking men competed for access to the marriage market. They captured women making them wives or concubines. Researchers suggest Vikings may have started sailing and raiding seeking foreign women. The theory expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin stated polygynous relationships created a shortage of eligible women. This increased male-male competition creating unmarried men willing to engage in risky behaviors. Annals of Ulster depicts raptio stating that in 821 Vikings plundered an Irish village carrying off many women into captivity. People taken captive during raids across Eastern Europe were sold via Dublin slave trade. They reached Moorish Spain or traveled via Volga route to Russia. Slavic slaves and furs exchanged for Arab silver dirham and silk found in Birka, Wollin and Dublin. Initially this trade passed via Khazar Kaghanate then via Volga Bulgaria to Samanid slave market in Central Asia. Finally goods went via Iran to Abbasid Caliphate where great markets existed for slave girls as concubines.
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Common questions
When did the English terms concubine and concubinage appear in history?
The English terms concubine and concubinage appeared in the 14th century. They derived from Latin terms used in Roman society and law.
What was the primary purpose of concubinage in Mesopotamian societies?
Mesopotamian societies used concubinage primarily for reproduction when a wife was barren. The Code of Hammurabi records this practice where children from such relationships were regarded as legitimate.
How many concubines did Amenhotep III request around 1386 BC and what was their cost?
Amenhotep III requested forty concubines around 1386 BC to serve as diplomatic tools. Each concubine cost forty pieces of silver and he sent merchandise worth 160 deben to obtain them.
When was concubinage outlawed in China and who ruled de facto after her husband's death?
Concubinage was outlawed in China when the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. Lady Yehenara entered the court as a concubine to Xianfeng Emperor and she ruled de facto for 47 years after her husband's death.
Which Ottoman sultans were often sons of concubines and when did slavery end in Saudi Arabia?
Almost all Abbasid caliphs were born to concubines and Sultans of the Ottoman Empire were often sons of concubines. Slavery in Saudi Arabia was banned in 1962 while slavery in Oman ended in 1970.