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MORGANATIC MARRIAGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 835 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MORGANATIC See also:

MARRIAGE , a See also:form of marriage properly See also:peculiar to the See also:German peoples, but also found in the royal families of other See also:European countries. It is one in which the contracting parties are not by See also:birth of equal status or See also:rank (ebenburtig), and under which the wife, if not ebenbilrtig, does not take the rank of her See also:husband, and the See also:children, whether it be the wife or husband that is of See also:lower rank, have no right of See also:succession to the dignities, fiefs or entailed See also:property of the See also:parent of higher rank. This equality by birth was formerly throughout See also:Germany the necessary See also:condition to a See also:complete and perfect marriage, but it is now only applicable to members of reigning houses or of the higher See also:nobility (hoher Adel), and it is thus of force among the " mediatized " princes of the German See also:Empire. In the constitution of the various states, and in the " See also:house See also:laws " (Hausgesetze) of the reigning families, the rules are laid down as to what constitutes ebenburtigkeit. Generally it may be said that members of a See also:present or former reigning house, either in Germany or See also:Europe, would be recognized as ebenburtig, but a former morganatic marriage would be taken as destroying the qualification. In See also:Great See also:Britain the regulations as to the marriages of members of the royal See also:family are contained in the Royal Marriage See also:Act 1772 (see MARRIAGE). The See also:term " morganatic marriage " is applied generally to any marriage of a See also:person of royal See also:blood with one of inferior rank. The origin of the term, in See also:medieval Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam, is usually taken to refer to the Morgengabe, i.e. the See also:morning See also:gift, made by a husband. to his wife on marriage. The German name is Ehe zur linken See also:Hand (marriage by the See also:left hand, whence the phrase a " left-handed marriage "), the husband of such marriage cercmonies giving the left instead of the right hand to the See also:bride. Such marriages are recognized as fully binding by the See also:Church, and the children are legitimate, and no other marriage can take See also:place during the lifetime of the contracting parties.

End of Article: MORGANATIC MARRIAGE

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