The Washington herald., 1914-07-06
MORGANATIC MARRIAGES NOT
UNCOMMON ON. CONTINENT
Such Unions Are Not Recognized in England but Are Ap-
proved in Europe, Especially in Austria Of
Assassinated Heir to the Throne and
Twelve-Year-Od Son.

Morganatic marriages have become q
topic Of general interest these days.
Barely a month ago the report came from
Germany that the Kaiser had given his
consent to the marriage Of his fifth son.
Prince Oscar Of HohenZollern. and the
young. well-born and wealthy Ina Ma
rie, Countess BassewitZ. The assassina-
ton Of the heir to the throne Of Austria.
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his
morEanatic wife, the Duchess of Hohen-
berg. is still fresh in the public mind.
Some people think that the word NOR
ganstic' hides some hideous. unavowable
contract, sanctioned by neither law nor
church. Others actually believe that it
signifies q financial operation, vaguely
connected with Morgan. The fact Is that
morganatic marriages existed in the Mid
die Ages. They are essentially a German
institution dating from feudal times.l
when every little lord of a castle or vii
lage and a few hundred acres Of forest
was his own supreme master and deemed
himself the equal of the highest; the
time when class distinction was severely
observed. when Europe was populated by
two categories Of humans. masters and
serfs. the nobility and the people. In or
der to preserve this rigid distinction II
was uTBGnl ludl bSN"CCh
the two classes be made impossible So
the famous convention of "Ebenburtig-
keit''-that is, equality Of rank and
standlng-was agreed upon as basis for
marriages. But. as every one knows, love
IL little concerned with social barriers,
and so n happened now and again that
a noblemad wanted to take unto himself
a wife Of inferior condition. They were
duly welded according to the law. but
the wife was not raised to the husbands
rank and was not permitted to take his
name, and their children, though quite
legitimate. were not entitled to their IA
Tiers name and succession.
EtymoIogy of the Term.
II was an ancient custom in Germany
that on the morning after nobleman
was married all his serfs came to the
castle to swear allegiance to their lord
and lady and to their prospective de-
scendants, When the bride was Of in
ferior rank this ceremony was omitted.
because the descendants would be no
better than their mother, and eonse-
quently no better than the serfs them
selves.
II was a ceremony performed In the
morning-"Morgen'' in German; hence the
word .morganatic," as is explained by
some etymoiogists. Others base their
contention upon another custom, as an
cient as the first As the wife Of In
ferior rank had no claim for either her
self or her children upon her husbands
estate shoud he die before her. II was
the usage for him to present his bride
with an endowment the morning after
the wedding. This was called ''Morgen-
gabe," or rather ''morgincap," In the
language of the old Longo bards. Nor
ganatic'' was evolved from "morgincap,"
they say.
Stin others claim. taking the Gothic
word for morning. "murgjan," as q root,
that morgunatic marriages originally
were concluded in the morning. surrepti-i
tiously.
In France It Is said that morEanaticl