When you're a ruler of a Chinese state in Spring & Autumn Period (770 to 476 BCE), it's customary that you take a wife and marry her sister too.
Let me explain Zhou Dynasty nobility marriage and succession rules. A thread:
Let me explain Zhou Dynasty nobility marriage and succession rules. A thread:
When you're a ruler of a Chinese state in Zhou Dynasty. Your marriage is affair of the state. You can only have 1 妻 (Main wife) and it's a political marriage arranged w another state for alliance. The alliance depends on producing a heir. what if your wife produce no son?
Your wife's sister (or cousin) then comes w her as an insurance policy of the political alliance. the sister who marries you is known as 媵 Ying. She ranks just below her sister and her son(s) eligible to heir.
But what if the old man croaks soon aft marriage leaving no heir? no prb! The old man's heir can inherit his father's throne along w father's wife hence preserve the political alliance. This is known as 烝. Son produced by this marriage also eligible to be heir.
Now those above marriages are for political alliance btw Chinese states. But there are other path to marriage for a feudal ruler. When you defeat another state, you can take women frm your enemy royal household. known as纳. These women rank below abv 3 and their son may be heir
Those above marriage are for preservation of dynastic lines but feudal lords want to have fun too! This is where 妾 Concubine come in. Your main wife 妻 and her sister 媵 would come w their women servants/slaves a la Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemming.
Other source of 妾 Concubine are female servants or former courtesans. 妾 basically semi slave status. their son(s) can't be heir and you can't make a 妾 your main wife 妻 no matter how much you favor her because that's strictly forbidden by Zhou Dynasty law of succession.
Ranks even below 妾Concubine is 嬖. In case of serious crime as as treason, entire clan are sentenced. Men executed/exiled/enslaved, women enslaved. These enslaved women and their female descendants are 嬖.
Unlike 妾 and their son, illegal to elevate status of 嬖.
Unlike 妾 and their son, illegal to elevate status of 嬖.
As Western Zhou Dynasty collapsed, these rules of succession increasingly broken leading to many succession crisis. I talked about the founding of Zhou order and its decline on the Silk and Steel Podcast's chronological retelling of Chinese History Series patreon.com
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