What Is the Difference Between a Wife & a Concubine?

Some priests were known to take concubines, despite their vows of celibacy.

The chief difference between a wife and a concubine is that a man is not married to a concubine, and the concubine is not afforded the same legal rights and protections of a wife. The children of a concubine, for example, were sometimes not entitled to any inheritance. A woman who became the concubine of a powerful man, however, might use her position to advance either her own social standing or the social standing of her family.

History

It is likely that the idea of a concubine has been around as long as the idea of marriage has. The Roman civilization, for example, tolerated concubinage, which is the practice of keeping a concubine. Concubines and the practice of keeping a concubine is also referenced in the Bible, and was, by all appearances, a legitimate and common practice of that time and place. Concubines might have lived domestically with a man, and would have been considered a secondary wife of inferior rank.

Class Differences

In some cases, class differences may have prevented a man from taking a woman as his wife, and so she would have been deemed a concubine instead. Marrying a slave, for example, has been illegal in various times throughout history, and so a man and a slave woman who might otherwise be married would define their relationship as concubinage.

An Arrangement

The practice of concubinage in the Bible is often referenced to with respect to powerful, upper class men. A woman might actually desire to be the concubine of a powerful man. Her status within society might improve, depending on her social standing before becoming a concubine, and she might also enjoy a large improvement in the quality of her day to day life. Emperors of ancient China, for example, were known to keep thousands of concubines.

The Church

Despite the popularity of concubinage throughout history, it was the Catholic Church that took the lead in ending the practice. In the 16th century, the Catholic Church took a hard stance on concubinage, which up until then had been tolerated. Protestants followed the lead of the Catholic Church in this regard, and began to crack down on the practice as well. Both churches favored marriage over concubinage, believing that concubines represented a moral failing. States followed suit, and the practice of keeping a concubine became a crime in some areas.

References

• "Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World"; Concubinage; Emlyn Eisenach; 2004
• University of Minnesota; Kinship and Family in the Bible: Concubine; Jim Belote; May 2008
• Vanderbilt University; The Status of Concubinage in Imperial and Ecclesial Law; Patout Burns; December 2000
• Western Kentucky University; The Favored Imperial Concubine; Haiwang Yuan; March 2006