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).
It was quite common for a poor father to sell a daughter to a rich man to be a concubine, to get money to take care of the rest of the family. There was also many women who were forced into being concubines simply because a rich man or ruler liked the way they looked. Concubinage still exists today in various forms.
In modern usage, the term concubine often denotes the status of a quasi-wife who is not legally married to a man with whom she lives.
a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not legally married, especially one regarded as socially or sexually subservient; mistress. (among polygamous peoples) a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank.
Adultery is committed by a wife and should be charged together with another man, not her husband. The other man that the wife is having an affair with is also called the paramour. On the other hand, concubinage is committed by a husband and should be charged together with his mistress or concubine.
Further, the penalty on the wife under adultery is heavier than on the husband under concubinage. Worse, the marital indiscretion of the husband is not treated as a felony unless attended by the circumstances enumerated in Article 334.
Concubinus. A masculine of concubine, concubinus, "man in a concubinage", "male-lover", was also regularly used in Latin, although it is attested less often than concubina.
Although a concubine could produce heirs, her children would be inferior in social status to a wife's children, although they were of higher status than illegitimate children. The child of a concubine had to show filial duty to two women, their biological mother and their legal mother—the wife of their father.
Male concubinage, the practice of keeping young boys and men as sexual companions in the court, was a longstanding tradition in many ancient cultures.
In the Old Testament, it was not considered adultery for a man to have multiple sexual partners—he could have multiple wives, concubines or casual sex, all within the rules.
After the death of a concubine, her sons would make an offering to her, but these offerings were not continued by the concubine's grandsons, who only made offerings to their grandfather's wife. There are early records of concubines allegedly being buried alive with their masters to "keep them company in the afterlife".
A man could obtain as many concubines as he could afford and terminate the relationship at will. The concubine was owed basic obligations and was to be treated humanely. If the concubine had children, she became umm al-walad, and any children from concubinage were considered equal to those from a marriage.
concubinage, the state of cohabitation of a man and a woman without the full sanctions of legal marriage. The word is derived from the Latin con (“with”) and cubare (“to lie”). The Judeo-Christian term concubine has generally been applied exclusively to women, although a cohabiting male may also be called a concubine.
Polygamy in Australia is illegal. Polygamy refers to a person having more than one marriage at the same time. It comes from ancient Greece where the word meant "married to many" or "often married". Legislation has been enacted that makes it a criminal offence to marry more than one person.
woman who did not live under the authority of a man, either her fa- ther/brother or husband – in any case she was unmarried. As can be noted LL states that the children of a concubine could inherit only when the first wife could not provide descendants.
In ancient China, concubines are thought to have used a drink of lead and mercury in order to prevent pregnancy. (Possible side effects: sterility, brain damage, kidney failure and death.)
Most women in the Forbidden City were employed as maids and servants, but there was also a select group of concubines whose task was to bear children for the emperor – as many as he could father. Those who gave birth to male offspring were elevated to imperial consorts, with the empress at the top of the pecking order.
Having concubines was often a way to let the ruler satisfy his personal needs, not only sexual but also emotional. And in many cultures a concubine was in fact an unofficial wife of the ruler.
Ying Zheng also known Qin Shi Huang had numerous concubines. The Qin Dynasty, he founded (pronounced 'Chin') changed its name to China and it was he who first initiated the building of the Great Wall and construction of the Grand Canal.
As nouns the difference between consort and concubine is that consort is the spouse of a monarch while concubine is a woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife. As a verb consort is to associate or keep company. As a proper noun Consort is a village in Alberta, Canada.
A similar term is concubine, though it has a slightly different meaning. Concubines date from earlier times, to the Biblical era and beyond, and refer to women who were generally kept far more closeted socially, unlike courtesans, who often had great independence and freedom.
Usually when the queens or empress are married they don't have any other men expect their husband ( it all because of the baby thing), if the queens rules solo and not married, they had lovers or male concubine like empress in the example above, catharine the great had many lovers too.
It is usually translated into English as “concubine” and understood to refer to a wife or sexual partner of secondary status. Although certain men in the Hebrew Bible have both wives and concubines, no wives or additional concubines are referred to in Judges 19.