page_title: Concubinage
hierarchical_section_title: Concubinage
context_page_description: Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple are not or cannot be married. The inability to marry may be due to multiple factors such as differences in social rank status, an existing marriage, religious or professional prohibitions, or a lack of recognition by appropriate authorities. The woman in such a relationship is referred to as a concubine. A concubine among polygynyous peoples is a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank.
  Concubines have existed in all cultures, though the prevalence of concubinage and the status of rights and expectations of a concubine have varied somewhat, as have the rights of children of a concubine. Whatever the status and rights of the concubine, they were always inferior to those of the wife, and typically neither she nor her children had rights of inheritance. Especially among royalty and nobility, the woman in such relationships was commonly described as a mistress. The children of such relationships were counted as illegitimate and in some societies were barred from inheriting the father's title or estates, even in the absence of legitimate heirs.
context_section_description: Concubinage (/kənˈkjuːbɪnɪdʒ/ kəng-KYOO-bih-nij) is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple are not or cannot be married. The inability to marry may be due to multiple factors such as differences in social rank status, an existing marriage, religious or professional prohibitions, or a lack of recognition by appropriate authorities. The woman in such a relationship is referred to as a concubine (/ˈkɒŋkjʊˌbaɪn/ KONG-kyoo-bine). A concubine among polygynyous peoples is a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank.
  Concubines have existed in all cultures, though the prevalence of concubinage and the status of rights and expectations of a concubine have varied somewhat, as have the rights of children of a concubine. Whatever the status and rights of the concubine, they were always inferior to those of the wife, and typically neither she nor her children had rights of inheritance. Especially among royalty and nobility, the woman in such relationships was commonly described as a mistress. The children of such relationships were counted as illegitimate and in some societies were barred from inheriting the father's title or estates, even in the absence of legitimate heirs.
caption: Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert by François-Joseph Navez, 1820. Hagar was Abraham's Egyptian concubine. Ishmael was their first-born son according to the Bible.
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