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83-886: Liu Zhi ( Liu Chih in Wade–Giles) may refer to: Liu Zhi (prince) (劉祉), Eastern Han dynasty prince Liu Zhi (Boxian) (劉植; died 26), style name Boxian (伯先), Eastern Han dynasty general Emperor Huan of Han (132–168), name Liu Zhi (劉志), Eastern Han dynasty emperor Liu Zhi (historian) (劉秩), style name Zuoqing (柞卿), Tang dynasty historian Liu Yan (emperor) (889–942), emperor of Southern Han, also known as Liu Zhi Liu Zhi (poet) (劉植), style name Chengdao (成道), Song dynasty poet Liu Zhi (scholar) (劉智; 1660–1739), style name Jielian (介廉), Qing dynasty Hui Islamic scholar Liu Zhi (ROC) (劉峙; 1892–1971), Kuomintang military and political leader Liu Zhi (minister) , CPC member and early minister of education [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

166-421: A bad precedent and would become even more prevalent and problematic under Emperor Huan's successor, Emperor Ling . While Emperor Huan actually was able to find competent generals to suppress the rebellions or to persuade the rebels to surrender, the rampant corruption came to cause new rebellions as soon as the old ones are quelled. In 165, perhaps finally fed up with the eunuchs' excess, Emperor Huan demoted Ju,

249-620: A chain of events that led to Liang Ji's downfall later that year. Liang, in order to continue to control Emperor Huan, had adopted his wife's beautiful cousin (the stepdaughter of her uncle Liang Ji (梁紀—note different characters despite the same pronunciation)), Deng Mengnü ( 鄧猛女 ), as his own daughter, changing her family name to Liang. He and Sun gave Liang Mengnü to Emperor Huan as an imperial consort. After Empress Liang's death, they hoped that she would eventually be made empress. To completely control her, Liang Ji planned to have her mother, Lady Xuan ( 宣 ), killed: he sent assassins against her but

332-482: A cohabiting male may also be called a concubine. 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). The English terms "concubine" and "concubinage" appeared in the 14th century, deriving from Latin terms in Roman society and law . The term concubine ( c.  1300 ), meaning "a paramour,

415-410: A concubine to wife, if the original wife had died and the concubine was the mother of the only surviving sons. Moreover, the prohibition against forcing a widow to remarry was extended to widowed concubines. During this period tablets for concubine-mothers seem to have been more commonly placed in family ancestral altars, and genealogies of some lineages listed concubine-mothers. Many of the concubines of

498-554: A grudge against the eight-year-old Emperor Zhi for calling him an "arrogant general," murdered the young emperor by poison. The officials largely favored Emperor Zhi's first cousin Liu Suan ( 劉蒜 ) the Prince of Qinghe, who was described as a solemn and proper man. Prince Suan's age was not given in history, though he appeared to be an adult by this time. However, Liang Ji was hesitant to yield authority to an able emperor. Because Marquess Zhi

581-583: A long-term sexual relationship between a man and a woman who are not legally married. In pre-modern to modern law, concubinage has been used in certain jurisdictions to describe cohabitation, and in France, was formalized in 1999 as the French equivalent of a civil union . The US legal system also used to use the term in reference to cohabitation, but the term never evolved further and is now considered outdated. Forms of concubinage have existed in all cultures, though

664-399: A major incident. The governor of the capital province (modern western Henan and central Shaanxi ), Li Ying, had arrested and executed a fortuneteller named Zhang Cheng ( 張成 ), who had had his son kill a man, having predicted that a general pardon was coming. Li was arrested and 200 some university students signed a petition requesting his release. This further angered Emperor Huan, who had

747-451: A man and were expected to bear children for him. Unofficial concubines ( Chinese : 婢妾 ; pinyin : bì qiè ) were of lower status, and their children were considered illegitimate. The English term concubine is also used for what the Chinese refer to as pínfēi ( Chinese : 嬪妃 ), or "consorts of emperors", an official position often carrying a very high rank. In premodern China it

830-455: A man could kill another man caught attempting a relationship with his concubine. By the mid fourth century, concubines could inherit property, but, like wives, they were treated as sexual property. While references to the sexual exploitation of maidservants appear in literature, it was considered disgraceful for a man to keep such women under the same roof as his wife. Apollodorus of Acharnae said that hetaera were concubines when they had

913-655: A monogamous relationship that was an alternative to marriage, usually because of the woman's lesser social status. Widowed or divorced men often took a concubina , the Latin term from which the English "concubine" is derived, rather than remarrying, so as to avoid complications of inheritance. After the Christianization of the Roman Empire , Christian emperors improved the status of the concubine by granting concubines and their children

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996-470: A permanent relationship with a single man, but nonetheless used the two terms interchangeably. Concubinatus was a monogamous union recognized socially and to some extent legally as an alternative to marriage in the Roman Empire . Concubinage was practiced most often in couples when one partner, almost always the man, belonged to a higher social rank, especially the senatorial order , who were penalized for marrying below their class. The female partner

1079-508: A plot element, the children of concubines are depicted with a status much inferior to that in actual history. The zhai dou ( Chinese : 宅斗 ，residential intrigue) and gong dou ( Chinese : 宫斗 ，harem intrigue) genres show concubines and wives, as well as their children, scheming secretly to gain power. Empresses in the Palace , a gong dou type novel and TV drama, has had great success in 21st-century China. Hong Kong officially abolished

1162-660: A son, the son could inherit his father's social status. Concubines sometimes wielded significant influence. Nene , wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times and Yodo-dono , his concubine, became the de facto master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death. Joseon monarchs had a harem which contained concubines of different ranks. Empress Myeongseong managed to have sons, preventing sons of concubines from getting power. Children of concubines often had lower value in account of marriage. A daughter of concubine could not marry

1245-449: A survey among the members of the imperial clan and decided on the 11-year-old Liu Hong ( 劉宏 ), the Marquess of Jieduting, who then ascended the throne as Emperor Ling. On 9 March 168, Emperor Huan was buried and given the temple name " Weizong ", but this temple name was later revoked in 190 during the reign of Emperor Xian of Han . Consorts and Issue: Concubine Concubinage

1328-466: A viable alternative to marriage. In polygynous situations, the number of concubines there were permitted within an individual concubinage arrangement has varied greatly. In Roman law , where monogamy was expected, the relationship was identical (and alternative) to marriage except for the lack of marital affection from both or one of the parties, which conferred rights related to property, inheritance and social rank. By contrast, in parts of Asia and

1411-420: A wife-born son of the same class. For example, Jang Nok-su was a concubine-born daughter of a mayor, who was initially married to a slave-servant, and later became a high-ranking concubine of Yeonsangun . The Joseon dynasty established in 1392 debated whether the children of a free parent and a slave parent should be considered free or slave. The child of a scholar-official father and a slave-concubine mother

1494-488: A woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him", comes from the Latin concubina ( f. ) and concubinus ( m. ), terms that in Roman law meant "one who lives unmarried with a married man or woman". The Latin terms are derived from the verb from concumbere "to lie with, to lie together, to cohabit," an assimilation of " com ", a prefix meaning "with, together" and " cubare ", meaning "to lie down". Concubine

1577-401: Is a term used widely in historical and academic literature, and which varies considerably depending on the context. In the twenty-first century, it typically refers explicitly to extramarital affection, "either to a mistress or to a sex slave ", without the same emphasis on the cohabiting aspect of the original meaning. Concubinage emerged as an English term in the late 14th century to mean

1660-501: Is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive. In China , until the 20th century, concubinage was a formal and institutionalized practice that upheld concubines' rights and obligations. A concubine could be freeborn or of slave origin, and her experience could vary tremendously according to her master's whim. During

1743-461: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Emperor Huan of Han After Emperor Zhi was poisoned to death by the powerful official Liang Ji in July 146, Liang Ji persuaded his sister, the regent Empress Dowager Liang to make the 14-year-old Liu Zhi, the Marquess of Liwu, who was betrothed to their sister Liang Nüying ( 梁女瑩 ), emperor. As

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1826-402: Is forty of silver. Therefore, send very beautiful concubines without blemish." – (Lewis, 146) Concubines would be kept in the pharaoh's harem . Amenhotep III kept his concubines in his palace at Malkata , which was one of the most opulent in the history of Egypt. The king was considered to be deserving of many women as long as he cared for his Great Royal Wife as well. In Ancient Greece ,

1909-530: The Eastern Han period (AD 25–220) onward, the number of concubines a man could have was limited by law. The higher rank and the more noble identity a man possessed, the more concubines he was permitted to have. A concubine's treatment and situation was variable and was influenced by the social status of the male to whom she was attached, as well as the attitude of his wife. In the Book of Rites chapter on "The Pattern of

1992-790: The Great Qing Legal Code in 1971, thereby making concubinage illegal. Casino magnate Stanley Ho of Macau took his "second wife" as his official concubine in 1957, while his "third and fourth wives" retain no official status. Polygyny and concubinage were very common in Mongol society, especially for powerful Mongol men. Genghis Khan , Ögedei Khan , Jochi , Tolui , and Kublai Khan (among others) all had many wives and concubines. Genghis Khan frequently acquired wives and concubines from empires and societies that he had conquered, these women were often princesses or queens that were taken captive or gifted to him. Genghis Khan's most famous concubine

2075-574: The Mongol conquests , both foreign royals and captured women were taken as concubines. Concubinage was also common in Meiji Japan as a status symbol . Many Middle Eastern societies used concubinage for reproduction. The practice of a barren wife giving her husband a slave as a concubine is recorded in the Code of Hammurabi . The children of such relationships would be regarded as legitimate . Such concubinage

2158-470: The legal personhood to marry under Roman law or to contract concubinatus , but the heterosexual union of two slaves, or a freedperson and a slave, might be recognized as an intention to marry when both partners gained the legal status that permitted them to do so. In this quasi-marital union, called contubernium , children seem often to have been desired, in contrast to concubinatus , in which children more often were viewed as complications and there

2241-411: The "state of being a concubine; act or practice of cohabiting in intimacy without legal marriage", and was derived from Latin by means of Old French, where the term may in turn have been derived from the Latin concubinatus , an institution in ancient Rome that meant "a permanent cohabitation between persons to whose marriage there were no legal obstacles". It has also been described more plainly as

2324-498: The Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was greeted by Emperor Huan. Emperor Huan died in January 168 after reigning for more than 21 years; he was 36. He was succeeded by Emperor Ling of Han . Liu Zhi was born in 132, to Liu Yi ( 劉翼 ), the Marquess of Liwu, and his concubine Yan Ming ( 匽明 ). Liu Yi was the son of Liu Kai ( 劉開 ), Prince Xiao of Hejian (and therefore a grandson of Emperor Zhang ), and he had initially been made

2407-554: The Family" ( Chinese : 內則 ) it says, "If there were betrothal rites, she became a wife; and if she went without these, a concubine." Wives brought a dowry to a relationship, but concubines did not. A concubinage relationship could be entered into without the ceremonies used in marriages, and neither remarriage nor a return to her natal home in widowhood were allowed to a concubine. There are early records of concubines allegedly being buried alive with their masters to "keep them company in

2490-496: The Jia family are supported by one notable concubine of the emperor, Jia Yuanchun , the full elder sister of the male protagonist Jia Baoyu . In contrast, their younger half-siblings by concubine Zhao, Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan, develop distorted personalities because they are the children of a concubine. Emperors' concubines and harems are emphasized in 21st-century romantic novels written for female readers and set in ancient times. As

2573-570: The Middle East, powerful men kept as many concubines as they could financially support. Some royal households had thousands of concubines. In such cases concubinage served as a status symbol and for the production of sons. In societies that accepted polygyny, there were advantages to having a concubine over a mistress, as children from a concubine were legitimate, while children from a mistress would be considered "bastards". Scholars have made attempts to categorize patterns of concubinage practiced in

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2656-568: The Prince of Pingyuan as the heir of his cousin Liu Sheng ( 劉勝 ) by Empress Dowager Deng Sui , the regent for Emperor An , who was impressed with his abilities. That led to rumors that Empress Deng was looking to replace Emperor An, Prince Yi's cousin, with Prince Yi. After Empress Dowager Deng died in April 121, Emperor An, bearing a grudge against Prince Yi, demoted him to the rank of Marquess of Duxiang and exiled him to his father's principality. During

2739-413: The afterlife". The position of the concubine was generally inferior to that of the wife. 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. After

2822-448: The assassination was foiled by the powerful eunuch Yuan She ( 袁赦 ), a neighbor of Lady Xuan. Lady Xuan reported the assassination attempt to Emperor Huan, who was greatly angered. He entered into a conspiracy with eunuchs Tang Heng, Zuo Guan, Shan Chao ( 單超 ), Xu Huang ( 徐璜 ), and Ju Yuan ( 具瑗 ) to overthrow Liang—sealing the oath by biting open Dan's arm and swearing by his blood. Liang Ji had some suspicions about what Emperor Huan and

2905-515: The basis that she was of lowly birth. They recommended that he make Consort Dou Miao ( 竇妙 ), the daughter of Dou Wu ( 竇武 ), a Confucian scholar and a descendant of Dou Rong ( 竇融 ), who had contributed much to the establishment of the Eastern Han dynasty, empress. Even though he did not favor Consort Dou, Emperor Huan gave in to pressure and made her empress. In 166, a major public confrontation between university students and eunuchs evolved into

2988-493: The concubine of a king could achieve power, especially if her son also became a monarch. In China, successful men often had concubines until the practice was outlawed when the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. The standard Chinese term translated as "concubine" was qiè 妾 , a term that has been used since ancient times. Concubinage resembled marriage in that concubines were recognized sexual partners of

3071-573: The court as a concubine to Xianfeng Emperor and gave birth to his only surviving son, who later became Tongzhi Emperor . She eventually became the de facto ruler of Qing China for 47 years after her husband's death. An examination of concubinage features in one of the Four Great Classical Novels , Dream of the Red Chamber (believed to be a semi-autobiographical account of author Cao Xueqin 's family life). Three generations of

3154-581: The daughters of allies, as was the custom of ancient kings. Concubinage was a common occupation for women in ancient Egypt, especially for talented women. A request for forty concubines by Amenhotep III (c. 1386–1353 BC) to a man named Milkilu , Prince of Gezer states: "Behold, I have sent you Hanya, the commissioner of the archers, with merchandise in order to have beautiful concubines, i.e. weavers. Silver, gold, garments, all sort of precious stones, chairs of ebony, as well as all good things, worth 160 deben. In total: forty concubines—the price of every concubine

3237-513: 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. Until the Song dynasty (960–1276), it was considered a serious breach of social ethics to promote a concubine to a wife. During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the status of concubines improved. It became permissible to promote

3320-543: The emperor of the Qing dynasty were freeborn women from prominent families. Concubines of men of lower social status could be either freeborn or slave. Imperial concubines, kept by emperors in the Forbidden City , had different ranks and were traditionally guarded by eunuchs to ensure that they could not be impregnated by anyone but the emperor. In Ming China (1368–1644) there was an official system to select concubines for

3403-460: The emperor. The age of the candidates ranged mainly from 14 to 16. Virtues, behavior, character, appearance and body condition were the selection criteria. Despite the limitations imposed on Chinese concubines, there are several examples in history and literature of concubines who achieved great power and influence. Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as Empress Dowager Cixi , was one of the most successful concubines in Chinese history. Cixi first entered

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3486-449: The empress dowager was regent, did not honor his mother Yan Ming as an empress dowager; rather, she was given the title of an imperial consort. His father's wife, Lady Ma, was belatedly honored as an imperial consort as well in 148. In 147, he married Empress Dowager Liang and Liang Ji's sister Liang Nüying, making her empress . It appeared that, while the Liangs were in control, Emperor Huan

3569-633: The eunuchs were up to, and began an investigation. The five eunuchs quickly reacted. They had Emperor Huan openly announce that he was taking back power from Liang Ji and mobilized the imperial guards to defend the palace against a counterattack by Liang. They surrounded Liang's house and forced him to surrender. Liang and Sun were unable to respond and committed suicide. The entire Liang and Sun clans (except for Liang Ji's brothers Liang Buyi and Liang Meng [梁蒙], who had previously already died) were arrested and slaughtered. A large number of officials were executed or deposed for close association with Liang—so many that

3652-421: The family name. A samurai could take concubines but their backgrounds were checked by higher-ranked samurai. In many cases, taking a concubine was akin to a marriage. Kidnapping a concubine, although common in fiction, would have been shameful, if not criminal. If the concubine was a commoner, a messenger was sent with betrothal money or a note for exemption of tax to ask for her parents' acceptance. Even though

3735-408: The five eunuch-marquesses openly engaged in massive corruption and became extremely wealthy with Emperor Huan's approval. A song written about the four remaining eunuch-marquesses following Dan's death described them in this way: Emperor Huan himself was also corrupt and unwilling to accept any criticism. In 159, when the honest county magistrate Li Yun ( 李雲 ) submitted a petition urging him to curb

3818-456: The freedwoman and secretary of Antonia Minor , was Vespasian 's wife "in all but name", according to Suetonius , until her death in AD 74. Roman manumission law also allowed a slave-owner to free the slave and enter into concubinatus or a regular marriage . Epitaphs indicate that both partners in concubinatus might also be freedpersons, for reasons that are not entirely clear. A slave lacked

3901-545: The government and called on Emperor Huan to eliminate all corrupt officials. Instead of listening, Emperor Huan ordered the arrest of all students involved. Emperor Huan has largely been viewed as an emperor who might have had some intelligence but lacked wisdom in governing his empire; and his reign contributed greatly to the downfall of the Eastern Han dynasty. Hou Hanshu ( Book of the Later Han ) recounts that one Roman envoy (perhaps sent by emperor Marcus Aurelius ) reached

3984-450: The government was almost unable to function for some time. Liang and Sun's properties were confiscated by the imperial treasury, which allowed the taxes to be reduced by 50% for one year. The people greatly celebrated Liang Ji's death. After Liang Ji's death, Emperor Huan made Liang Mengnü empress. However, he disliked her family name and therefore ordered her to take the family name Bo ( 薄 ). He later found out that her original family name

4067-408: The government. In May 152, Empress Dowager Yan died. Because Emperor Huan had inherited the throne through a collateral line, he was not permitted by customs to be the mourner. Instead, his brother Liu Shi ( 劉石 ) the Prince of Pingyuan served as chief mourner. In 153, the first major public confrontation between an official and a powerful eunuch occurred—foreshadowing many to come. Zhu Mu ( 朱穆 ),

4150-408: The governor of Ji Province (modern central and northern Hebei ) had found out that the father of the powerful eunuch Zhao Zhong ( 趙忠 ) had been improperly buried in a jade vest, an honor that was reserved to imperial princes. He ordered an investigation: Zhao's father was exhumed and the jade vest was stripped away, an act that angered Zhao and Emperor Huan. Zhu was not only removed from his post but

4233-431: The legal and financial complications of marriage. Practical impediments or social disincentives for a couple to marry could include differences in social rank status, an existing marriage and laws against bigamy , religious or professional prohibitions, or a lack of recognition by the appropriate authorities. The concubine in a concubinage tended to have a lower social status than the married party or home owner, and this

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4316-420: The only eunuch remaining of the original five. Several other corrupt eunuchs were also demoted or deposed. However, soon thereafter, the eunuchs' powers were restored again. For the rest of Emperor Huan's reign, there would be a cycle of rise and fall of power of the eunuchs after conflicts with officials, but inexorably the eunuchs would return, becoming more powerful than before. This cycle would continue until

4399-400: The pejorative paelex referred to a concubine who was a sexual rival to a wife—in early Rome, most often a war captive and hence unwillingly—and by late antiquity was loosely equivalent to " prostitute ". However, in Latin literature concubinae are often disparaged as slaves kept as sexual luxuries in the literal sense of "bedmate". The distinction is that the use of an enslaved woman

4482-485: The power of the eunuchs, Emperor Huan was deeply offended that he included the phrase, "Is the emperor turning blind?"; despite intercessions by a number of officials and even some fair-minded eunuchs, had Li and his friend Du Zhong ( 杜眾 ) both executed. In 161, apparently in reaction to spending due to renewed Qiang rebellions and new agrarian revolts, Emperor Huan issued an edict offering minor offices for sale—including imperial guard officer positions. This practice set

4565-440: The practice of keeping a concubine ( Ancient Greek : παλλακίς pallakís ) was common among the upper classes, and they were for the most part women who were slaves or foreigners, but occasional free born based on family arrangements (typically from poor families). Children produced by slaves remained slaves and those by non-slave concubines varied over time; sometimes they had the possibility of citizenship. The law prescribed that

4648-723: The prevalence of the practice and the rights and expectations of the persons involved have varied considerably, as have the rights of the offspring born from such relationships, a concubine's legal and social status, their role within a household and society's perceptions of the institution. A relationship of concubinage could take place voluntarily, with the parties involved agreeing not to enter into marriage, or involuntarily (i.e. through slavery ). In slave-owning societies, most concubines were slaves, also called "slave-concubines". This institutionalization of concubinage with female slaves dates back to Babylonian times, and has been practiced in patriarchal cultures throughout history. Whatever

4731-445: The reign of Emperor Shun , Prince Kai requested that he be allowed to give Liwu County, part of his principality, to his son, and Emperor Shun permitted it. Marquess Yi thus became the Marquess of Liwu. By 146, Liu Zhi had inherited his father's title and was betrothed to Liang Nüying , the younger sister of the regent Empress Dowager Liang Na and her violent and corrupt brother, Grand Marshal Liang Ji . That year, Liang Ji, bearing

4814-521: The reign of Emperor Ling, when an army led by the regent He Jin and the powerful noblemen Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu marched into the imperial capitol of Luoyang and massacred the eunuchs . Later that year, apparently tired of Empress Deng and sick of her disputes with a favorite consort of his, Consort Guo, Emperor Huan deposed and imprisoned her. She died in anger, and several of her family members were executed. He wanted to make another consort, Tian Sheng ( 田聖 ) empress, but officials opposed this on

4897-401: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liu_Zhi&oldid=1227243221 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

4980-400: The slave of the wife. However, in the late Babylonian period, there are reports that concubines could be sold. In general, marriage was monogamous. "If after two or three years of marriage the wife had not given birth to any children, the husband was allowed to buy a slave (who could also be chosen by the wife) in order to produce heirs. This woman, however, remained a slave and never gained

5063-549: The sorts of property and inheritance rights usually reserved for wives. In European colonies and American slave plantations , single and married men entered into long-term sexual relationships with local women. In the Dutch East Indies , concubinage created mixed-race Indian-European communities . In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world, the term concubine has almost exclusively been applied to women, although

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5146-402: The status and rights of the persons involved, they were typically inferior to those of a legitimate spouse, often with the rights of inheritance being limited or excluded. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. In the past, a couple may not have been able to marry because of differences in social class, ethnicity or religion, or a man might want to avoid

5229-464: The status of a second wife." In the Middle Assyrian Period, the main wife ( assatu ) wore a veil in the street, as could a concubine ( esirtu ) if she were accompanying the main wife, or if she were married. "If a man veils his concubine in public, by declaring 'she is my wife,' this woman shall be his wife." It was illegal for unmarried women, prostitutes and slave women to wear a veil in

5312-467: The street. "The children of a concubine were lower in rank than the descendants of a wife, but they could inherit if the marriage of the latter remained childless." While most Ancient Egyptians were monogamous , a male pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives and concubines in addition to the Great Royal Wife . This arrangement would allow the pharaoh to enter into diplomatic marriages with

5395-408: The students arrested. Only after about a year and Dou Wu's intercession were Li and the university students released, but all of them had their citizenship rights stripped. This incident was later known as the first Disaster of Partisan Prohibition . In January 168, Emperor Huan died without a son. Empress Dou, jealous of how he favored Consort Tian, had her immediately put to death. She conducted

5478-426: The various forms of marriage, the status of a concubina , and whether an extramarital sexual relationship was adultery or permissible pleasure-seeking with a prostitute, professional entertainer , or slave . Roman emperors not infrequently took a concubina , often a freedwoman, rather than remarrying after the death of their wife to avoid the legal complications pertaining to succession and inheritance . Caenis ,

5561-421: The woman would not be a legal wife, a situation normally considered a demotion, many wealthy merchants believed that being the concubine of a samurai was superior to being the legal wife of a commoner. When a merchant's daughter married a samurai, her family's money erased the samurai's debts, and the samurai's social status improved the standing of the merchant family. If a samurai's commoner concubine gave birth to

5644-416: The world. The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology gives four distinct forms of concubinage: Junius P. Rodriguez gives three cultural patterns of concubinage: Asian, Islamic and European. In Mesopotamia , it was customary for a sterile wife to give her husband a slave as a concubine to bear children. The status of such concubines was ambiguous; they normally could not be sold but they remained

5727-543: The years went by, Emperor Huan, offended by Liang Ji's autocratic and violent nature, became determined to eliminate the Liang family with the help of eunuchs . Emperor Huan succeeded in removing Liang Ji in September 159 but this only caused an increase in the influence of these eunuchs over all aspects of the government. Corruption during this period had reached a boiling point. In 166, university students rose up in protest against

5810-558: Was Möge Khatun , who, according to the Persian historian Ata-Malik Juvayni , was "given to Chinggis Khan by a chief of the Bakrin tribe, and he loved her very much." After Genghis Khan died, Möge Khatun became a wife of Ögedei Khan. Ögedei also favored her as a wife, and she frequently accompanied him on his hunting expeditions . Before monogamy was legally imposed in the Meiji period , concubinage

5893-442: Was a concubina ; the term concubinus is used of men mainly in a same-sex union or to deprecate a relationship in which the woman was dominant. The use of the term concubina in epitaphs for family memorials indicates that the role was socially acceptable. A man was not allowed to have both a concubina and a wife (uxor) at the same time, but a single tombstone might list multiple wives or concubinae serially. By contrast,

5976-451: Was actually Deng, and therefore had her family name restored. The people had great expectations for Emperor Huan's administration after the death of Liang Ji. However, having been unable to overthrow Liang Ji without the five eunuchs' help, Emperor Huan greatly rewarded them, making them and several other eunuchs who participated in the coup d'état marquesses and further giving them governmental posts that conferred tremendous power. Further,

6059-516: Was also widely practiced in the premodern Muslim world, and many of the rulers of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Ottoman Empire were born out of such relationships. Throughout Africa, from Egypt to South Africa, slave concubinage resulted in racially mixed populations. The practice declined as a result of the abolition of slavery. In ancient Rome , the practice of concubinatus was

6142-477: Was betrothed to his sister and relatively young, Liang Ji felt that he could control him and insisted on making him emperor. Marquess Zhi took the throne later that year as Emperor Huan. After Emperor Huan's ascension at age 14, Empress Dowager Liang continued to serve as regent. However, her brother Liang Ji came to take on more and more control, even more than the empress dowager. Emperor Huan posthumously honored his grandfather and father as emperors but, because

6225-453: Was common among the nobility. Its purpose was to ensure male heirs. For example, the son of an Imperial concubine often had a chance of becoming emperor. Yanagihara Naruko , a high-ranking concubine of Emperor Meiji , gave birth to Emperor Taishō , who was later legally adopted by Empress Haruko , Emperor Meiji's formal wife. Even among merchant families, concubinage was occasionally used to ensure heirs. Asako Hirooka , an entrepreneur who

6308-527: Was demoted to marquess status and committed suicide. In 150, Empress Dowager Liang announced that she was retiring and returning imperial authority to Emperor Huan. Later that year, she died. Emperor Huan then honored his mother as an empress dowager. However, without his sister to curb his power, Liang Ji came to be even more powerful than before. His violence and corruption increased and he stamped out all dissent with threats of death. He even threw his humble and peace-loving brother Liang Buyi ( 梁不疑 ) out of

6391-456: Was illegal and socially disreputable for a man to have more than one wife at a time, but it was acceptable to have concubines. From the earliest times wealthy men purchased concubines and added them to their household in addition to their wife. The purchase of concubines was similar to the purchase of slaves, but concubines had a higher social status. In the earliest records a man could have as many concubines as he could afford to purchase. From

6474-511: Was no intention to marry. Concubinage was highly popular before the early 20th century all over East Asia . The main functions of concubinage for men was for pleasure and producing additional heirs, whereas for women the relationship could provide financial security. Children of concubines had lower rights in account to inheritance, which was regulated by the Dishu system . In China and the Muslim world,

6557-693: Was not concubinatus in the legal sense, which might involve a signed document , though even an informal concubine had some legal protections that placed her among the more privileged slaves of the household. Concubines occupied an entire chapter, now fragmentary, in the 6th-century compilation of Roman law known as the Digest , but concubinatus was never a fully realized legal institution. It evolved in ad hoc response to Augustan moral legislation that criminalized some forms of adultery and other consensual sexual behaviors among freeborn people ( ingenui ) outside marriage. Even Roman legal experts had trouble parsing

6640-440: Was not a complete puppet. Instead, as a sign of bad things to come, he trusted eunuchs in his decision-making. That same year, Liang Ji, in conjunction with the eunuchs Tang Heng ( 唐衡 ) and Zuo Guan ( 左悺 ), but with Emperor Huan's clear approval, falsely accused the honest officials Li Gu ( 李固 ) and Du Qiao ( 杜喬 ) of conspiring to overthrow Emperor Huan and replace him with Prince Suan. Li and Du were executed, while Prince Suan

6723-407: Was often the reason why concubinage was preferred to marriage. A concubine could be an "alien" in a society that did not recognize marriages between foreigners and citizens. Alternatively, they might be a slave, or person from a poor family interested in a union with a man from the nobility . In other cases, some social groups were forbidden to marry, such as Roman soldiers, and concubinage served as

6806-741: Was sentenced to hard labor. As the years went by, Emperor Huan became increasingly disgruntled at Liang Ji's control of the government and was also angered by Empress Liang's behavior. Because of her position as Empress Dowager Liang and Liang Ji's sister, Empress Liang was wasteful in her luxurious living, far exceeding any past empress, and was exceedingly jealous. She did not have a son and, because she did not want any other imperial consorts to have sons, she would find some way to murder pregnant consorts. Emperor Huan did not dare to react to her due to Liang Ji's power, but rarely had sexual relations with her. In 159, angry and depressed that she had lost her husband's favor, Empress Liang died. This death started

6889-461: Was the daughter of a concubine, worked hard to help her husband's family survive after the Meiji Restoration . She lost her fertility giving birth to her only daughter, Kameko; so her husband—with whom she got along well—took Asako's maid-servant as a concubine and fathered three daughters and a son with her. Kameko, as the child of the formal wife, married a noble man and matrilineally carried on

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