Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of rulingdynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy fornational interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requirement on persons of royal birth, more often it has been a matter of political policy or tradition in monarchies.
In Europe, the practice was most prevalent from themedieval era until the outbreak ofWorld War I, but evidence of intermarriage between royal dynasties in other parts of the world can be found as far back as theBronze Age.[1] Monarchs were often in pursuit of national and international aggrandisement on behalf of themselves and their dynasties,[2] thus bonds of kinship tended to promote or restrain aggression.[3] Marriage between dynasties could serve to initiate, reinforce or guarantee peace between nations. Alternatively, kinship by marriage could secure an alliance between two dynasties which sought to reduce the sense of threat from or to initiate aggression against the realm of a third dynasty.[3] It could also enhance the prospect of territorial acquisition for a dynasty by procuring legal claim to a foreign throne, or portions of its realm (e.g., colonies), through inheritance from an heiress whenever a monarch failed to leave an undisputed male heir.
In parts of Europe, royalty continued to regularly marry into the families of their greatestvassals as late as the 16th century. More recently, they have tended to marry internationally. In other parts of the world royal intermarriage was less prevalent and the number of instances varied over time, depending on the culture and foreign policy of the era.
While the contemporary Western ideal sees marriage as a unique bond between two people who arein love, families in which heredity is central to power or inheritance (such as royal families) have often seen marriage in a different light. There are often political or other non-romantic functions that must be served and the relative wealth and power of the potential spouses may be considered. Marriage for political, economic, or diplomatic reasons, themarriage of state, was a pattern seen for centuries among European rulers.[4]
At times, marriage between members of the same dynasty has been common in Central Africa.[5]
In West Africa, the sons and daughters ofYoruba kings were traditionally given in marriage to their fellow royals as a matter of dynastic policy. Sometimes these marriages would involve members of other tribes. Erinwinde of Benin, for example, was taken as a wife by theObaỌranyan ofOyo during his time as governor of Benin. Their son Eweka went on to found the dynasty that rules theKingdom of Benin.
Marriages between theSwazi,Zulu andThembu royal houses of southern Africa are common.[6] For example, the daughter of South African president and Thembu royalNelson Mandela,Zenani Mandela, married Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, a brother ofMswati III, King of Eswatini.[7] Elsewhere in the region, Princess Semane Khama of theBamangwato tribe ofBotswana marriedKgosi Lebone Edward Molotlegi of theBafokeng tribe of South Africa.[8]
Other examples of historical,mythical and contemporary royal intermarriages throughout Africa include:
Several Egyptian pharaohs married the daughters of neighbouring kings to secure peace and form alliances. The Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty, the earliest known surviving peace treaty in the world, was sealed by a marriage between the pharaohRamesses II and aHittite princess. PharaohAmasis II married a Greek princess namedLadice daughter of KingBattus III of Cyrene.Not to mention thePtolemaic Kingdom, the last (and longest) dynasty to rule all of Egypt before its incorporation into the Roman Republic, who were infamous for their inbreeding in the form of sibling marriages. This was to keep their bloodline pure, and to prevent external forces from potentially taking power through a connection to the royal line.
There are a few recorded cases of intermarriage between Assyrian and Babylonian royals. According to legend, theBabylonian[14][15][16]Semiramis was married to the Assyrian generalOnnes and then to the Assyrian kingNinus, the legendary founder ofNineveh according to the Ancient Greeks.[17][18] She has been equated with the historicalShammuramat, wife ofShamshi-Adad V. In turn, Shammuramat has been claimed to be of Babylonian descent.[19][20] In the early 9th century BC, the Babylonian kingNabu-shuma-ukin I (Dynasty of E) exchanged daughters in marriage with the contemporary Assyrian monarch.[21] The Assyrian princessMuballitat-Sherua, daughter ofAshur-uballit I, was given in marriage to the contemporary Babylonian monarch. She was the mother of the future Babylonian kingKara-hardash.[22] Additionally,Kurigalzu II was either the son or grandson of Muballitat.[23] Other consorts of Assyrian monarchs, such asNaqiʾa,Ešarra-ḫammat,[24]Banitu (who was perhaps brought to Assyria as a hostage afterTiglath-Pileser's conquest of Babylon)[25] might also have been of Babylonian origin.[26]
Babylonians and Elamites engaged many times in royal intermarriage, especially in theKassite period. It is probable that Elamites and Kassites had close ties long before the first attested royal intermarriages between them.[27] Babylonian Kassites and Elamites intensively intermarried for a period of about 120 years, from c. 1290 to 1170 BC.[27] The royal intermarriages in this period were: Pahir-ishshan to eldest daughter (princess) ofKurigalzu II (1290);Untash-Napirisha to daughter of princeBurnaburiash (1250);Kidin-Hutran to daughter of prince [...]-duniash (1230);Shutruk-Nakhunte to the eldest daughter ofMelishihu.[27] Also Napirisha-Untash (c. 1210 BC) and Hutelutush-Inshushinak (c. 1190) are thought to have married Babylonian Kassite princesses.[27] A man of Elamite origin,Mar-biti-apla-usur, the founder of the so-calledElamite dynasty, reigned in Babylon from around 980 to 975 BC, though the identity and origin of his consort are unknown. He might not have been himself from Elam but a Babylonian partially of Elamite origin.[28]
TheChakri dynasty ofThailand has included marriages between royal relatives,[29] but marriages between dynasties and foreigners, including foreign royals, are rare. This is in part due to Section 11 of1924 Palace Law of Succession which excludes members of the royal family from the line of succession if they marry a non-Thai national.[30]
TheLý dynasty which ruledDai Viet (Vietnam) married its princesses off to regional rivals to establish alliances with them. One of these marriages was between a Lý empress regnant (Lý Chiêu Hoàng) and a member of fishermen-turned-warlords Trần clan (Trần Thái Tông) fromNam Định, which enabled the Trần to then topple the Lý and established their ownTrần dynasty.[33][34]
A Lý princess also married into the Hồ clan faction, which later usurped power and established theHồ dynasty after having a Tran princess marry their leader,Hồ Quý Ly.[35][36]
In theChola dynasty in southern India, Madhurantaki the daughter of EmperorRajendra II marriedKulottunga I the son ofEastern Chalukya rulerRajaraja Narendra. This was to improve the relationship between the two royal houses and to straighten Chola influence inVengai.[41] Kulottunga and Madhurantaki were first cousins as Kulottunga's mother Amangai Devi was the sister of Rajendra II making them both the grandchildren of EmperorRajendra I.
Marriage policy in imperial China differed from dynasty to dynasty. Several dynasties practicedHeqin, which involved marrying off princesses to other royal families.
The Xiongnu practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side. The older sister of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) was married to the Xiongnu generalZhao Xin, the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of the Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese generalLi Ling after he surrendered and defected.[42][43][44][45] TheYenisei Kirghiz Khagans claimed descent from Li Ling.[46][47] Another Han Chinese general who defected to the Xiongnu wasLi Guangli who also married a daughter of the Chanyu.[48]
TheXianbeiTuoba royal family ofNorthern Wei started to arrange for Han Chinese elites to marry daughters of the royal family in the 480s.[49] Some Han Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to the Xianbei. Several daughters of the XianbeiEmperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei were married to Han Chinese elites, the Han ChineseLiu Song royal Liu Hui 劉輝, married Princess Lanling 蘭陵公主 of the Northern Wei,[50][51] Princess Huayang 華陽公主 to Sima Fei 司馬朏, a descendant ofJin dynasty royalty, Princess Jinan 濟南公主 to Lu Daoqian 盧道虔, Princess Nanyang 南陽長公主 toXiao Baoyin 蕭寶夤, a member ofSouthern Qi royalty.[52]Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei's sister the Shouyang Princess was wedded to TheLiang dynasty rulerEmperor Wu of Liang's son Xiao Zong蕭綜.[53]
When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended Northern Wei received the Jin prince Sima Chuzhi司馬楚之 as a refugee. A Northern Wei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth toSima Jinlong.Northern Liang KingJuqu Mujian's daughter married Sima Jinlong.[54]
The Kingdom ofGaochang was made out of Han Chinese colonists and ruled by the Han Chinese[57][58] Qu family which originated from Gansu.[59] Jincheng commandery 金城 (Lanzhou), district of Yuzhong 榆中 was the home of the Qu Jia.[60] The Qu family was linked by marriage alliances to the Turks, with a Turk being the grandmother of King Qu Boya.[61][62]
Tang dynasty (618–907) emperors exchanged and the rulers of theUyghur Khaganate exchanged princesses in marriage to consolidate the special trade and military relationship that developed after the Khaganate supported the Chinese during theAn Lushan Rebellion.[63] The Uyghur Khaganate exchanged princesses in marriage with Tang dynasty China in 756 to seal the alliance against An Lushan. The Uyghur KhaganBayanchur Khan had his daughter Uyghur Princess Pijia (毗伽公主) married to Chinese prince Li Chengcai (李承采) of the Tang dynasty, Prince of Dunhuang (敦煌王), son ofLi Shouli, Prince of Bin, while Chinese princess Ninguo of the Tang dynasty married Uyghur Khagan Bayanchur. At least three Tang imperial princesses are known to have marriedkhagans between 758 and 821. These unions temporarily stopped in 788, partly because stability within China meant that they were politically unnecessary. However, threats fromTibet in the west, and a renewed need for Uyghur support, precipitated the marriage ofPrincess Taihe toBilge Khagan.[63]
The ethnically Chinese Cao family rulingGuiyi Circuit established marriage alliances with the Uighurs of the Ganzhou Kingdom, with both the Cao rulers marrying Uighur princesses and with Cao princesses marrying Uighur rulers. The Ganzhou Uighur Khagan's daughter was married to Cao Yijin in 916.[64][65][66]
The Chinese Cao family rulingGuiyi Circuit established marriage alliances with the SakaKingdom of Khotan, with both the Cao rulers marrying Khotanese princesses and with Cao princesses marrying Khotanese rulers. A Khotanese princess who was the daughter of the King of Khotan married Cao Yanlu.[67]
TheKhitanLiao dynasty arranged for women from the Khitan royal consort Xiao clan to marry members of the Han Chinese Han 韓 clan, which originated in Jizhou 冀州 before being abducted by the Khitan and becoming part of the Han Chinese elite of the Liao.[68][69][70]
Han Chinese Geng family intermarried with the Khitan and the Han 韓 clan provided two of their women as wives to Geng Yanyi and the second one was the mother of Geng Zhixin.[71] Empress Rende's sister, a member of the Xiao clan, was the mother of Han Chinese General Geng Yanyi.[72]
Han Durang (Yelu Longyun) was the father of Queen dowager of State Chen, who was the wife of General Geng Yanyi and buried with him in his tomb in Zhaoyang in Liaoning.[73] His wife was also known as "Madame Han".[74] The Geng's tomb is located in Liaoning at Guyingzi in Chaoying.[75][76]
Emperors of the proceedingSong dynasty (960–1279) tended to marry from within their own borders. Tang emperors, mainly took their wives from high-ranking bureaucratic families, but the Song dynasty did not consider rank important when it came to selecting their consorts.[77] It has been estimated that only a quarter of Song consorts were from such families, with the rest being from lower status backgrounds. For example, Liu, consort of EmperorZhenzong, had been a street performer and consort Miao, wife of EmperorRenzong was the daughter of his ownwet nurse.[77]
During theQing dynasty (1644–1912), emperors chose their consorts primarily from one of the eightBanner families, administrative divisions that divide all native Manchu families.[78] To maintain the ethnic purity of the ruling dynasty, after the Kangxi Period (1662–1722), emperors and princes were forbidden to marry non-Manchu and non-Mongol wives.[79] Imperial daughters however were not covered by this ban, and as with their preceding dynasties, were often married to Mongol princes to gain political or military support, especially in the early years of the Qing dynasty; three of the nine daughters of EmperorNurhaci and twelve of EmperorHongtaiji's daughters were married to Mongol princes.[79]
TheManchu imperialAisin Gioro clan practiced marriage alliances with Han Chinese Ming generals and Mongol princes. Aisin Gioro women were married to Han Chinese generals who defected to the Manchu side during theManchu conquest of China. The Manchu leaderNurhaci married one of his granddaughters to the Ming generalLi Yongfang (李永芳) after he surrenderedFushun inLiaoning to the Manchu in 1618 and a mass marriage of Han Chinese officers and officials to Manchu women numbering 1,000 couples was arranged by Prince Yoto岳托 (Prince Keqin) andHongtaiji in 1632 to promote harmony between the two ethnic groups.[80][81] Aisin Gioro women were married to the sons of the Han Chinese generals Sun Sike (Sun Ssu-k'o)孫思克,Geng Jimao (Keng Chi-mao),Shang Kexi (Shang K'o-hsi), andWu Sangui (Wu San-kuei).[82]
Nurhaci's sonAbatai's daughter was married to Li Yongfang.[83][84][85][86] The offspring of Li received the "Third Class Viscount" (三等子爵;sān děng zǐjué) title.[87] Li Yongfang was the great-great-great-grandfather of Li Shiyao李侍堯.[88][89]
The "efu" 額駙 rank was given to husbands of Qing princesses.Geng Zhongming, a Han bannerman, was awarded the title of Prince Jingnan, and his son Geng Jinmao managed to have both his sonsGeng Jingzhong and Geng Zhaozhong 耿昭忠 become court attendants under theShunzhi Emperor and married Aisin Gioro women, with PrinceAbatai's granddaughter marrying Geng Zhaozhong 耿昭忠 andHaoge's (a son of Hong Taiji) daughter marrying Geng Jingzhong.[90] A daughter和硕柔嘉公主 of the Manchu Aisin Gioro Prince Yolo岳樂 (Prince An) was wedded to Geng Juzhong耿聚忠 who was another son of Geng Jingmao.[91]
The fourteenth daughter of Kangxi (和硕悫靖公主) was wedded to Sun Chengen, the son (孫承恩) of Sun Sike (Sun Ssu-k'o)孫思克, a Han bannerman.[92]
The wedding photo of Crown Prince Yi Un of Korea and Japanese Princess Masako of Nashimoto
The Silla Kingdom had apractice that limited the succession to the throne to members of theseonggol, or "sacred bone", rank. To maintain their "sacred bone" rank, members of this caste often intermarried with one another in the same fashion that European royals intermarried to maintain a "pure" royal pedigree.[93]
TheGoryeo dynasty had a history of incestuous marriage within the royal family in its early years, starting fromGwangjong, the fourth king, who married his half-sisterQueen Daemok. To avoid scandals, the female members of the dynasty would be ceremonially adopted by their maternal families after birth. This practice of dynastic incest ended with the overthrow ofQueen Heonae, the mother ofMokjong, the seventh king, after she attempted to seize the throne for herself and her illegitimate sons by placing these sons as Mokjong's heir, only to be foiled by a coup masterminded by the Goryeo generalKang Cho.
After theSecond Manchu invasion of Korea,Joseon Korea was forced to give several of their royal princesses as concubines to the Qing Manchu regent PrinceDorgon.[94][95][96][97][98] In 1650, Dorgon married the KoreanPrincess Uisun (義順).[99] She was a collateral branch of the Korean royal family, and daughter of Yi Gae-yun (李愷胤).[100] Dorgon married two Korean princesses at Lianshan.[101]
The Japanese may not have seen intermarriage between them and the royal dynasties of theKorean Empire damaging to their prestige either.[102] According to theShoku Nihongi, an imperially commissioned record of Japanese history completed in 797,Emperor Kanmu who ruled from 781 to 806 was the son of a Korean concubine, Takano no Niigasa, who was descended fromKing Muryeong ofBaekje, one of theThree Kingdoms of Korea.[102]
At the turn of the 14th century,Anatolia and the surrounding areas were a patchwork of small, independent states and marriage was seen as an important way to maintain alliances
TheGrand Komnenoi of theEmpire of Trebizond were famed for marrying their daughters to their neighbours as acts of diplomacy.[n 2]Theodora Megale Komnene, daughter ofJohn IV, was married toUzun Hassan, lord of theAq Qoyunlu, to seal an alliance between the Empire and the so-called White Sheep. Although the alliance failed to save Trebizond from its eventual defeat, and despite being a devout Christian in a Muslim state, Theodora did manage to exercise a pervasive influence both in the domestic and foreign actions of her husband.[115] Their grandsonIsmail I was the founder of theSafavid dynasty of Iran
Though usually made to strengthen the position of the empire, there are examples of interdynastic marriages destabilising the emperor's authority. When Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos married his second wife,Eirene of Montferrat, in 1284 she caused a division in the Empire over her demand that her own sons share in imperial territory with,Michael, his son from his first marriage. She resorted to leavingConstantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and setting up her own court in the second city of the Empire,Thessalonica.[111]
Careful selection of a spouse was important to maintain the royal status of a family: depending on the law of the land in question, if a prince or king was to marry a commoner who had no royal blood, even if the first-born was acknowledged as a son of a sovereign, he might not be able to claim any of the royal status of his father.[4]
Traditionally, many factors were important in arranging royal marriages. One such factor was the amount of territory that the other royal family governed or controlled.[4] Another, related factor was the stability of the control exerted over that territory: when there was territorial instability in a royal family, other royalty would be less inclined to marry into that family.[4] Another factor was political alliance: marriage was an important way to bind together royal families and their countries during peace and war and could justify many important political decisions.[4][116]
The increase in royal intermarriage often meant that lands passed into the hands of foreign houses, when the nearest heir was the son of a native dynasty and a foreign royal.[117][n 3][n 4] Given the success of the Habsburgs' territorial acquisition-via-inheritance, a motto came to be associated with their dynasty:Bella gerant alii, tu, felix Austria, nube! ("Let others wage war. You, happy Austria, marry!")[118]
Monarchs sometimes went to great lengths to prevent this. On her marriage toLouis XIV of France,Maria Theresa, daughter ofPhilip IV of Spain, was forced to renounce her claim to the Spanish throne.[119] When monarchs orheirs apparent wed other monarchs or heirs, special agreements, sometimes in the form of treaties, were negotiated to determine inheritance rights. The marriage contract ofPhilip II of Spain andMary I of England, for example, stipulated that the maternal possessions, as well asBurgundy and the Low Countries, were to pass to any future children of the couple, whereas the remaining paternal possessions (including Spain,Naples,Sicily,Milan) would first of all go to Philip's sonDon Carlos, from his previous marriage toMaria Manuela of Portugal. If Carlos were to die without any descendants, only then would they pass to the children of his second marriage.[120] On the other hand, theFranco-Scottish treaty that arranged the 1558 marriage ofMary, Queen of Scots andFrancis, the son and heir ofHenry II of France, had it that if the queen died without descendants,Kingdom of Scotland would fall to the throne ofKingdom of France.[120]
Religion has always been closely tied to European political affairs, and as such it played an important role during marriage negotiations. The 1572 wedding inParis of the French princessMargaret of Valois to the leader of France'sHuguenots,Henry III of Navarre, was ostensibly arranged to effect arapprochement between the nation's Catholics and Protestants, but proved a ruse for theSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre.[121] After theEnglish Reformation, matches between English monarchs andRoman Catholic princesses were often unpopular, especially so when the prospective queen consort was unwilling to convert, or at least practice her faith discreetly.[n 5] Passage of theAct of Settlement 1701 disinherited any heir to the throne who married a Catholic.[123] Other ruling houses, such as theRomanovs[n 6] andHabsburgs,[126] have at times also insisted on dynastic marriages only being contracted with people of a certain faith or those willing to convert. When in 1926Astrid of Sweden marriedLeopold III of Belgium, it was agreed that her children would be raised as Catholics but she was not required to give up Lutheranism, although she did eventually choose to convert in 1930.[127] Some potential matches were abandoned due to irreconcilable religious differences. For example, plans for the marriage of the CatholicWładysław IV Vasa and the LutheranElisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine proved unpopular with Poland's largely Catholic nobility and were quietly dropped.[128]
Marriages among ruling dynasties and their subjects have at times been common, with such alliances as that ofEdward the Confessor, King of England withEdith of Wessex andWładysław II Jagiełło, King of Poland withElizabeth Granowska being far from unheard of in medieval Europe. However, asdynasties approachedabsolutism and sought to preserve loyalty among competing members of the nobility, most eventually distanced themselves from kinship ties to local nobles by marrying abroad.[129][130] Marriages with subjects brought the king back down to the level of those he ruled, often stimulating the ambition of his consort's family and evoking jealousy—or disdain—from the nobility. The notion that monarchs should marry into the dynasties of other monarchs to end or prevent war was, at first, a policy driven by pragmatism. During the era ofabsolutism, this practice contributed to the notion that it was socially, as well as politically, disadvantageous for members of ruling families to intermarry with their subjects and pass over the opportunity for marriage into a foreign dynasty.[131][132]
From the time of theUmayyad conquest of Hispania and throughout theReconquista, marriage between Spanish andUmayyad royals was not uncommon. Early marriages, such as that ofAbd al-Aziz ibn Musa andEgilona at the turn of the 8th century, was thought to help establish the legitimacy of Muslim rule on theIberian Peninsula.[157] Later instances of intermarriage were often made to seal trade treaties between Christian kings and Muslim caliphs.[158]
The marriages of Ottoman sultans and their sons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tended to be with members of the ruling dynasties of neighbouring powers.[159] With little regard for religion, the sultans contracted marriages with bothChristians andMuslims; the purpose of these royal intermarriages were purely tactical. Christian consorts of Ottoman sultans includeTheodora Kantakouzene of Byzantium,Kera Tamara of Bulgaria and Olivera Despina ofSerbia. These Christian states along with Muslimbeyliks ofGermiyan,Saruhan,Karaman andDulkadir were all potential enemies, and marriage was seen as a way of securing alliances with them.[159] Marriage with foreign dynasties seems to have ceased in 1504, with the last marriage of a sultan to a foreign princess being that ofMurad II andMara Branković, daughter of the Serbian rulerĐurađ Branković, in 1435. By this time, the Ottomans had consolidated their power in the area and absorbed or subjugated many of their former rivals, and so marriage alliances were no longer seen as important to theirforeign policy.[159]
The Islamic principle ofkafa'a discourages the marriages of women to men of differingreligion or of inferiorstatus.[n 9] Neighbouring Muslim powers did not start to give their daughters in marriage to Ottoman princes until the fifteenth century, when they were seen to have grown in importance. This same principle meant that, while Ottoman men were free to marry Christian women, Muslim princesses were prevented from marrying Christian princes.[161]
FromMehmed II the Ottoman sultans stopped marrying free women. The royal line was henceforth propagated by unmarried slaveconcubines.[162]
Royal incest was extremely common in theKingdom of Hawaii and its predecessors, despite being rare in otherPolynesian societies. Among thealiʻi, the ruling class, marriage between blood relatives of the first degree was believed to produce children with the highest rank under thekapu system, equal to that of the gods. A marriage between brother and sister was considered "the most perfect and revered union". It was believed that themana of a particularaliʻi could be increased by incestuous unions. According toO. A. Bushnell, "in several accounts about Hawaiians, an ali'i who was the issue of an incestuous marriage [...] was noted for a splendid body and a superior intelligence". Writers have suggested that this preference for brother–sister incest came about as a way to protect the royal bloodline. Notable instances of incestuous relationships among Hawaiian royalty were those between KingKamehameha II and his half-sisterKamāmalu, which was a fully fledged marriage, and betweenKamehameha III and his full sisterNāhiʻenaʻena. In the latter case, the siblings had hoped to marry but their union was opposed by Christian missionaries.[167]
At one time, some dynasties adhered strictly to the concept of royal intermarriage. The Habsburgs, Sicilian and SpanishBourbons, and Romanovs, among others, introducedhouse laws which governed dynastic marriages;[168] it was considered important that dynasts marry social equals (i.e., other royalty), thereby ruling out even the highest-born non-royal nobles.[169] Those dynasts who contracted undesirable marriages often did somorganatically. Generally, this is a marriage between a man of high birth and a woman of lesser status (such as a daughter of alow-ranked noble family or a commoner).[170] Usually, neither the bride nor any children of the marriage has a claim on the bridegroom'ssuccession rights, titles, precedence, orentailed property. The children are considered legitimate for all other purposes and the prohibition againstbigamy applies.[171]
Over time, because of the relatively limited number of potential consorts, thegene pool of many ruling families grew progressively smaller, until all European royalty was related. This also resulted in many being descended from a certain person through many lines of descent, such as the numerous Europeanroyalty descended fromQueen Victoria of the United Kingdom orKing Christian IX of Denmark.[176] As a result, royal intermarriages becameconsanguine marriages, which lead to both new health issues arising and existing ones being compounded.
Examples of incestuous marriages and the impact of inbreeding on royal families include:
Most rulers of thePtolemaic dynasty fromPtolemy II were married to their brothers and sisters, in order to keep the Ptolemaic blood "pure" and to strengthen the line of succession.[n 10]Cleopatra VII (also called Cleopatra VI) andPtolemy XIII, who married and became co-rulers ofancient Egypt following their father's death, are the most widely known example.[177]
Jean V of Armagnac was said to have formed a rare brother-sister liaison,[178] left descendants and claimed to be married. There is no evidence that this "marriage" was contracted for dynastic rather than personal reasons.[178]
TheHouse of Habsburg frequently practiced consanguine marriages as a way of consolidating the dynasty's political power, with both first cousin and uncle–niece pairings common.[179] The most visible consequence of this was an extended lower chin (mandibular prognathism), which was typical for many Habsburg relatives over a period of six centuries; the jaw deformity is so closely associated with the family that it is commonly known as the "Habsburg jaw" or "Habsburg lip".[180] The Spanish branch took this practice to an extreme: of the eleven marriages contracted by Spanish monarchs between 1450 and 1661, nine contained some element of consanguinity.[181] The last of the Spanish line,Charles II—who was severely disabled from birth and possibly impotent— possessed agenome comparable to that of a child born to a brother and sister.[182][179]
TheHouse of Wittelsbach suffered from several cases of mental illness, often attributed to their frequent intermarriages. Several family members suffered from mental and physical illnesses, as well asepilepsy.[183]
^Donald MacGillivray Nicol says inThe Last Centuries of Byzantium 1261–1453: "The daughters ofAlexios II Grand Komnenos married the emirs of Sinope and ofErzindjan, his granddaughters married the emir of Chalybia and the Turkoman chieftain of the so-calledAk-Koyunlu, or horde of the White Sheep; his great-granddaughters, the children ofAlexios III, who died in 1390, performed even greater service to the Empire."[114]
^A prime example is the marriage of the CatholicHenrietta Maria andCharles I of England. Her open practice of her faith and insistence on maintaining a Catholic retinue during a time ofreligious intolerance in English society eventually made her a deeply unpopular queen with the general public.[122]
^Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban explains in her articleIslamic Law and Society in the Sudan that"It is preferable that a non-Muslimconvert to Islam before marriage to a Muslim man, however, it is not essential – it is essential that a non-Muslim man convert to Islam before contemplating marriage with a Muslim woman"[160]
^Notable exceptions to that rule arePtolemy III andPtolemy V, who marriedBerenice II (queen ofCyrenaica, half-cousin) andCleopatra I (Seleucid princess, unrelated), respectively. The two marriages introduced non-Greek blood to the dynasty. Ptolemy II marriedArsinoe II, his sister, but later married the unrelatedArsinoe I, who borePtolemy III, his successor. Another possible exception to that rule isPtolemy XII, who marriedCleopatra V, whose parents are uncertain for lack of direct sources.
^Yamada, Keiko; Yamada, Shiego (2017)."Shalmaneser V and His Era, Revisited". In Baruchi-Unna, Amitai; Forti, Tova; Aḥituv, Shmuel; Ephʿal, Israel; Tigay, Jeffrey H. (eds.)."Now It Happened in Those Days": Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and Other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Mordechai Cogan on His 75th Birthday. Vol. 2. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. p. 393.ISBN978-1-57506-761-2.
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