POLIGINIA. – From the Greek πολύς = much and γυνή = wife, it is the simultaneous marital cohabitation of one man with several women.
I. MORAL THEOLOGY AND CANON LAW
P. is first of all contrary to divine-positive law, proclaimed by God to the progenitors Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:23) and subsequently recalled and confirmed by Jesus Christ (Mt. 5:31 ff.; 19:4-9; cf. also St. Paul: I Cor. 10:11). Therefore, the Council of Trent, also drawing on the traditions of the holy Fathers and theologians, declared anathema anyone who asserted that p. is not prohibited by any divine law (sess. XXIV, Canones de sacramento Matrimonii, 2: Denz-U, no. 972); and the CIC lists unity as an essential property of marriage (can. 1013 § 2 and the sources cited there).As regards natural law, it must be said that p. is not contrary to the primary end of marriage (the procreation and education of offspring), as polyandry is, and therefore does not undermine the established order or substantially pervert it; but it is contrary to the secondary end, to such an extent that it makes even the attainment of the primary end difficult. Indeed, it contradicts the equality between husband and wife (while in this case the woman gives herself completely and exclusively to one man for conjugal communion, the man gives himself to several women, thereby preventing the complete gift of self, at least on the part of the husband, with the consequent weakening of the mutuum adiutorium, which is a duty of spouses); it opposes the dignity of the wife, who easily ceases to be a consort and becomes a slave; it makes the husband’s preferences for one woman or another inevitable, resulting in jealousies, envy, and quarrels; and this may also occur among the half-siblings, creating considerable obstacles to the education of the entire family.
P., because it is not opposed to the primary end of marriage, can exist by explicit divine dispensation, as occurred in the Old Testament (cf. Gen. 16:2; 21:12; Deut. 21:15). The Bible provides no definite and certain information concerning the time at which this dispensation began; the common opinion is that monogamy remained in force, at least in law, until the Flood, and that the concession was made after the Flood to repopulate the earth more rapidly. Similarly, it cannot be established from the Bible whether the concession concerned only the Jewish people or also the Gentiles, the latter being the more probable opinion. In any event, the dispensation was revoked by Jesus Christ, who wished to restore the institution of marriage to its original condition (Mt. 19:9; Mk. 10:11; Lk. 16:18) and declared that the dispensation had been granted «proper duritiam cordis», whereas in the beginning it was not so (Mt. 9:8); the revocation also applies to pagans (cf. Collectanea S. Congr. de Prop. Fide, Rome 1907, no. 1354).
For the penalties imposed on bigamists, V. BIGAMIA.
Vincenzo Fagiolo
II. ETHNOLOGY
Modern ethnology has demonstrated that p. does not exist except as an exception among the ethnologically oldest peoples, known as gatherers (v. primitivi; MONOGAMIA), nor is it possible among strictly matriarchal peoples, since from the intermingling of these with strictly patriarchal peoples polyandry arose (v.); nor is it customary among nomadic pastoral peoples, who take a second wife when the first is sterile, or when levirate or inheritance is involved. Among other peoples, even those of mixed culture resulting from the encounter of two peoples, p. exists in practice only for chiefs.The missionary C. Salerio noted this in the last century (1855) among the inhabitants of the Woodlark Islands (east of New Guinea), whose culture was mixed (totemistic-agricultural-matriarchal), saying that p. was not customary there; only chiefs and those aspiring to become chiefs had two wives. Elsewhere, however, he added, there was no limit; the chief of Trobriant, who had also been on Muju (one of the Woodlark Islands), had 17 women in his regular service and a harem of girls at his future disposal. Concerning these same inhabitants of the Trobriant Islands, Malinowski, a modern explorer of theirs, wrote that p. (vilayana) was permitted by custom to people of high rank, to chiefs, or to persons of great importance, such as famous magicians, so as to obtain greater wealth through the labor of women. But he also wrote of the Trobrianders that monogamy was so customary among them that he was obliged to discuss their matrimonial usages and customs as though they involved only one wife. The same may be said of other primitive peoples of ethnologically secondary civilizations in other parts of the world, especially in Africa, wherever marriage by purchase is practiced, whereby woman is reduced to an instrument of pleasure or a profitable beast of burden.
P. is widely practiced, insofar as wealth permits it, among peoples belonging to the civilizations called tertiary in ethnology: the Medes, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Egyptians, ancient Mexicans, etc. Among the latter, a distinction was made between the principal wife, the secondary wife, and the concubine. Wedding ceremonies were performed only with the principal bride; with the secondary wife, only the ceremony of tying together the garments of the bride and groom was performed. Concubines had a de facto relationship with the man, but there was no legal status governing II. The children of secondary wives were legally in an inferior position. The principal wife held a special position in relation to the secondary wives and the concubines. Among the Chinese, p. is forbidden, but concubinage is permitted without any limitation, except that of giving the concubine the position of legitimate wife, which is prohibited by law under penalty of flogging. The concubine is regarded as a vile creature: she lives with her master’s wife, serves her as a domestic servant, or assists her in managing the household. The children of concubines are regarded as the children of the wife. The children call the wife “mother” and the concubine “aunt.” The latter is compared to the star and the wife to the moon.
From the ethnological study, p. emerges as a disruptive phenomenon in true married life and a destroyer of family harmony. The husband often displays his preference for one or another of his wives, thereby giving rise to jealousy among the women of the household. In ancient Chinese literature it is reported that the Empress was advised not to be jealous, since the Emperor had several ranks of concubines. The polygamous father, also under the influence of his favorite woman, favors certain children over others. This occurs especially when the issue is inheriting the father’s authority as head of the clan or tribe, because in such cases the father’s preference for the son of his favorite woman can easily arise, thereby endangering even the right of the firstborn majority. Family scandals also occur. The aforementioned Malinowski observed, for example, that among the numerous wives, divided into three classes, of a chief of the Trobriant Islands, it was the youngest who were unfaithful to their lord. He also relates that the men who committed adultery with the chief’s wives were his own sons. Nor need we speak of the deleterious effects that p. has on a man’s character and of the consequent degradation of woman. It is clear, moreover, that these effects acquire a broader significance, because they involve the political life of an entire people in the p. of the harems of Sovereigns and Princes, as appears, for example, in the dynastic histories of China. The custom of eunuchs is associated with the harem; these unhappy people often exerted a sinister influence on the courts.
Great importance has been attached in ethnology to the use of the pirraurà among the Dieri and Arabana (Urabunna) of Australia and among certain peoples of the extreme north-eastern regions of Asia, a practice that is a kind of p. connected with polyandry. Wundt, in his Psychology of Peoples, regarded it as an effect of marriage by capture. Among these Australians, the abducted woman was said to become the regular wife (tippa-malcu) of her abductor and the secondary wife (pirraurà) of the companions who had helped the abductor. The latter, by rendering the same assistance to his companions, would have acquired the right to have as secondary wives the regular wives of his companions.
The same practice was regarded by the evolutionists as a survival or example of group marriage, one of the customary stages in the evolution of human marriage. Now, from Thomas’s investigations in Australia, it clearly emerges that the use of the pirraurù cannot be regarded as group marriage. For: 1) it is not an entire group of men that has access to all the women of another group, but only certain men and certain women; 2) this free access is conditional upon the husband’s consent and may be exercised only in his absence; 3) a distinction exists between married and unmarried women, so that a woman cannot be pirraurù unless she has first been joined in marriage to a man, that is, unless she is already tippa-malcu. For this last reason, the use of the pirraurù cannot even be regarded as a survival of the group marriage of former times. This practice arose from the intermingling of a monogamous culture with a polygamous one, the latter prevailing and imposing the unusual practice of having secondary wives within the clan, subject to the limitations mentioned above.
THE ORIGIN OF P. — According to Wundt, the first determining motive is evidently man’s material instinct, directed toward satisfying himself more fully than is possible in monogamy. But it is not the only one, and as a rule other subsidiary circumstances also intervene. The right of ownership and the factor of authority constitute, in particular, two essential elements. P. flourishes especially where the idea of ownership and of authority—and, with regard to the latter, the idea of authority within the family—are predominant. Through the combined action of these motives, woman becomes the absolute property of man and therefore, among barbarian peoples in which p. prevails, she may even be given away or exchanged. It follows that among the higher classes the wealthy and distinguished man possesses several women. Since the concubine ordinarily has to be purchased and then supported, only the rich can have one. Thus concubinage also becomes a sign of prestige.
Are these motives sufficient to explain the origin of p.? Historically, one must distinguish from people to people. Among peoples in which the cult of the dead has developed, a cult that cannot be performed by woman but only by man, there is a perceived need to take a second wife when the first is sterile or has no male children. Here p. arises from religious reasons. Among nomadic pastoral peoples with large herds, there is a perceived need to have many children, especially male children, to tend and increase the herd. Therefore, if the wife is sterile, another is taken: here p. derives from an economic reason. Among those peoples where levirate is practiced and the father’s wives are inherited, p. is generated by the duty imposed by the clan or tribe to assist and protect a relative and his family, or by the duty to support the father’s wives, whose authority is inherited. The origin of p. resulting from the assignment of the conquered women to the victorious warriors is different again. A much more particular reason, although now difficult to find, lies at the origin of sororate p. in the marriage of a prince or emperor in China, to whom respectively 12 or 9 women had to be given, one of whom had to be the bride’s younger sister, another the daughter of the bride’s brother, and all the others bearing the same family name: they thus automatically became part of the emperor’s or prince’s harem.
To the particular causes of p. one may naturally add the general causes indicated by Wundt, which can be reduced to Bastian’s elementary idea. It should be noted, however, that these general causes could also operate among peoples that do not admit p. It therefore seems that the ultimate cause of p. should be sought above all in a lowering or blunting of a people’s religious and moral sentiment.