Margaret Ross Concubines Summary

Article Summary
The research article by Margaret Ross analyzes the existing evidence on the topic of concubinage and the status of concubines and their children during the Anglo-Saxon and early Christian period in England. Though the author provides references related to the life and household of other Germanic peoples on areas of continental Europe and the British Isles, it focuses on available English sources from the 7th century till the Norman conquest. Ross argues that “a concubine was a member of a man's household, at least in the early period, and that her children were able to inherit from their father if he so wished it” (6) and that it was the privilege of the Anglo-Saxon church to be radically removed from societal norms. The article
First, the author provides an overview of the situation in the Anglo-Saxon world in regards to marriage and concubines. According to Ross, the concubine was a member of a family and though her privileges were not equal to that of a wife, her children could pretend for inheritance. There was no evidence that marriage existed as a social model. A woman was able to leave her husband and live with her lover and become his wife after paying the sum equivalent to bride payment she was bought for. Her will was counted. There were also cases when she left her husband and was taken by force. In this case, she could be returned. The laws of Ethelberht refer to several types of sexual union between men and women but do not mention concubinage (13), however, it does not mean that concubinage did not exist rather that it had semi-public recognition and concubines did not have same privileges. The other Germanic sources suggest the same. In Anglo-Saxon England, there was a separate category of kin for acknowledged sons of concubines. The church made the concubinage