EUROPE’S POLYGAMISTS

Throughout history, with very few exceptions, in almost all human societies it was considered legitimate for men to marry more than one woman. In this, the higher number of male deaths due to war and similar causes played an important role. In addition, the desire to increase the population, the concern to protect women, and certain particular conditions of women were also among the reasons.

The Harem of Prophet Solomon

In the religion of the previous prophets, marriage to multiple women was legitimate. The Torah permits men to take more than one wife on the condition that they provide maintenance and act justly among them. The Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) had married three wives named Sara, Hajar, and Ketura. The Prophet Yaqub (Jacob) had four wives, two free women and two concubines; his brother Esav also had three wives. The Torah mentions that the Prophet Dawud (David) had nine wives. Since it is reported that the Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, there was no numerical restriction in this regard either.

The belief that Christianity does not permit marriage to multiple women is widespread. In fact, Paulus, who is regarded as the founder of this religion, recommends celibacy in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. He permits marriage due to the danger of falling into fornication. However, he says that a man may marry only one woman.

Leaving aside these words of Paulus, which are open to various interpretations, there is no ruling in the early Christian texts requiring marriage to only one woman. On the contrary, among the first Christians there were even priests who married multiple women. In the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of a man who married ten virgins, moreover on the same night, is narrated. From this it is understood that in the religion of the Prophet Isa (Jesus), marriage to multiple women was permitted. In a period when Christianity was applied most strictly, the Byzantine emperors always had several wives.

You Don’t Even Have to Divorce the First One

The German emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, whom we know from the Crusades, had four wives. The Irish king Diarmait, who lived in the sixth century, had two wives and also two concubines. The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, although married to the German countess Berthe von Sulzbach, also married his niece Theodora. Among the kings belonging to the Merovingian dynasty in France, marriage to multiple women was widespread. The famous Charlemagne had two wives and a large number of concubines.

The Duke of Hesse, Philippe, and the Prussian Frederick Wilhelm each took two wives with the explicit approval of Martin Luther himself. It is even reported that Luther expressed the opinion to the English king Henry VIII that he could take a second wife without divorcing the first. The king did not listen. For the sake of the principle of monogamy, he had two of his wives executed and divorced several others. He founded a new sect that regarded divorce as permissible.

After the Thirty Years’ War (1648), in order to increase the diminished population, the Franconian parliament adopted decisions facilitating marriage to multiple women. Among the Christian sects, the Anabaptists encouraged marriage to multiple women in Munich with the slogan, “True Christians should have multiple wives.” The Christian sect called the Mormons, founded in America in 1830, considers it necessary for a man to marry more than one woman.

Islam Limited It

The religion of Islam limited the number of women one may marry to four. It required observing the condition of justice among them in every respect. For those who cannot fulfill this, it regarded marriage to a single woman as ideal. According to what is understood from old records, the proportion of Ottoman men married to more than one woman did not on average exceed ten percent. In almost every society, even the rate of fornication is not lower than this. Moreover, due to the worsening of livelihood conditions, marrying several women had almost disappeared in Muslim countries. Taaddud al-zawjat (plural marriage) was prohibited in Türkiye in 1926 and in Tunisia in 1956. In most of the other countries inhabited by Muslims, it was made subject to the permission of the court or of the first wife.

What If You Kept a Mistress?

At the Darulfunun (Istanbul University), the professor of international law, Ali Şahbaz Efendi, of Armenian origin, had a tumor form in his wife’s womb at a young age, and it could not be treated. Şahbaz Efendi attempted to enter into a second marriage. For this, he applied to the patriarchate. Although he told the patriarch, who said that this was absolutely impermissible, “I love my wife. If I divorce her, she will not be able to remarry and will fall into destitution,” he could not obtain a positive response. As he was leaving there in sorrow, a priest who caught up with him from behind said, “My friend, are you stupid? Why don’t you keep a mistress?” Upon this, Şahbaz Efendi shouted angrily, “I am a religious man. You are advising me to commit fornication. What kind of priest are you?”

On 22 June 1887, the Armenian Church excommunicated Şahbazyan Karabet Efendi because he married a widowed woman named Osedyan Bedrosyan in addition to his wife. Following the excommunication, rumors spread far and wide. Allegedly, the Armenian students at the law school where he taught did not attend his lectures; those sitting next to him on the ferry spat in his face; the coachman taking people to Kadikoy did not take him into his carriage. Finally, in 1887, he chose Islam and took the name Ali. The court chronicler, kazasker Lutfi Efendi, recorded this with the following poem:

The true religion is Islam in the sight of God;
Every mature person of reason is bound by this secret.
Behold, Şahbaz Efendi was aware of this secret;
What great fortune it was, adorned with faith.
When the gate of guidance was opened, the date was written:
Şahbaz Efendi was honored with Islam (1304).

The sultan of the time, Sultan Abdulhamid II, rejoiced greatly at this and invited him to the palace, showing him favor. Ali Şahbaz died in 1898.