Levirate

Levirate marriage is the custom whereby the widow of a deceased man typically marries his brother. This form of marriage has been practiced in various societies around the world in different forms and for diverse reasons.

Etimology and Terminology

The term “levirate” derives from the Latin word “levir,” meaning “brother-in-law” or “husband’s brother.” In Turkic languages, this type of marriage is referred to by terms such as “Amengerlik” in Kazakh and Kyrgyz, “Omonatgirlik” (emanetgirlik) in Uzbek, and “Daklma” in Turkmen. Western languages also use similar terms of Latin origin, while in Hebrew the term “yibbum” denotes this custom.

Geographical and Cultural Prevalence

Levirate marriage has been widely practiced among certain tribes in Africa, Australia, and the Americas, as well as particularly in Middle Eastern societies (Jews, pre-Islamic Arabs), among Hindus, and among nomadic Turkic and Mongolic peoples of Central Asia.

Differences and Rules in Practice

The rules governing levirate marriage vary from society to society:

• In Jewish and Hindu societies, levirate marriage is generally permitted only if the deceased brother had no children. Among Hindus, the widow marries her deceased husband’s youngest unmarried brother; among Jews, the first male child born from the levirate union is named after the deceased brother and recognized as his heir.
• In early Turkic societies, levirate marriage typically involved a man marrying the widow of his deceased elder brother (yenge). Before the advent of Islam, another form of levirate among Turks allowed sons to marry their stepmother after their father’s death. Practices involving marriage to the widow of an uncle or cousin were also observed. Among the Göktürks, it was expected that a man would marry the widow of his deceased elder brother or uncle, but it was considered inappropriate for the elder brother to marry the widow of his younger brother. Among the Nogais, the younger brother could marry the widow of his deceased elder brother, but the elder brother was not permitted to marry the widow of his deceased younger brother. Among the Kazakh Turks, in the practice known as “amengerlik,” after a one-year mourning period following the husband’s death, the elders of the community select a suitable “amenger” (the man to marry the widow); if the deceased husband had both an elder brother and a younger brother, the widow was expected to marry the elder brother.

Reasons and Purposes of Levirate Marriage

The practice of levirate marriage is grounded in various social, economic, and cultural motivations:

• Protection of the Widow and Her Children: One of the most fundamental reasons is to prevent the widow—and her children, if any—from becoming destitute and to provide them with material and emotional security. This ensured they would not fall into poverty or be excluded from the community.
• Maintenance of Family Unity: Levirate marriage is viewed as a consequence of the concept of “indivisibility of the family.” It aimed to preserve kinship ties and familial cohesion established through marriage.
• Prevention of Family Property Fragmentation: To prevent the widow from taking her own property or her children’s inheritance with her if she married outside the family, levirate marriage ensured that family assets remained within the family. This is particularly linked to the practice of paying a “kalın” (bride price), which made the wife legally regarded as part of the family property, to be inherited by the younger brother upon her husband’s death.
• Continuation of Lineage and Preservation of Alliances: Especially among ruling dynasties, levirate marriages were conducted to sustain political alliances, maintain existing power balances, and guarantee the continuation of the lineage within the family or tribe. For instance, among the Huns, levirate marriage is noted to have played a significant role in preserving dynastic unity.
• Belief Systems: Among pre-Islamic Turks, under the influence of Shamanism, the wives of khagans were regarded as sacred and could not belong to any man outside the dynasty, leading to their remarriage within the royal family. Additionally, the belief that service to the deceased’s spirit required the widow to marry either his son or brother also contributed to the practice.

Levirate in Turkish Societies Through History

The practice of levirate marriage has been documented among various Turkic states and communities since the Huns of the 3rd century BCE.

• Huns: Chinese sources indicate that among the Huns, sons married their stepmothers or the widows of their brothers. An example is Joti Yabgu, son of the Hun ruler Houhan-ya Tanhu in 31 BCE, who married his father’s widow.
• Göktürks: Chinese chronicles record that levirate marriage was common among the Göktürks. For instance, after the death of Taspar Khagan in 580, his widow married his successor, Ishbara Khagan. Similarly, the wife of Shibi Khagan (d. 619), Inchen Hatun, first married his brother Chor Khagan, and after Chor’s death, she married another brother, Il Khagan.
• Uyghurs: A discovered Uyghur will reveals a father attempting to prevent his sons from marrying their stepmother, indicating the existence of this custom among the Uyghurs.
• Oghuz: In the 10th century, Ibn Fadlan reported that among the Oghuz, when a man died, his eldest son would marry his widow, provided she was not his biological mother.
• Karahanids: It is known that after the death of Satuk Buğra Khan’s father in 915, his mother married his uncle, Oğulcak Kadir Khan.
• Seleucids: After the death of Seljuk Bey’s son Mikail, his widow married his brother-in-law Yusuf Yınal, and their son Ibrahim Yınal was born from this union. It is also known that after Çağrı Bey’s death in 1059, his brother Tuğrul Bey married one of Çağrı Bey’s widows (mother of Süleyman). Later Seljuk-era states such as the Danişmendids, Mengüceklids, and Artuqids also practiced levirate marriages among dynasty members for political and social purposes.
• Mongols: Through intense interaction with Turkic peoples, the Mongols adopted the levirate custom. European travelers such as Carpini, Rubruck, and Marco Polo recorded that Mongol men married their stepmothers (excluding their biological mother) and the widows of their brothers. Levirate practices continued in the Golden Horde and its successor khanates; for example, after the childless death of Khan Khalil of Kazan in 1467, his widow Nur Sultan married his brother Ibrahim.
• Timurids: The Timurid state, continuing the Turkic-Mongol tradition, frequently practiced levirate marriage. After the deaths of Timur’s sons Jihangir and Omar Sheikh, their widows, Sevin Beg Hanzâde and Mülket Aga, married Timur’s other sons Miran Shah and Shahrukh. These women descended from Genghis Khan, which was connected to Timur’s quest for political legitimacy. However, levirate marriage was not limited to widows of Genghisid descent; numerous examples occurred both within and outside the dynasty. An incident during Ulugh Beg’s reign demonstrates the persistence of the custom among the populace and the importance accorded to the widow’s consent according to Sharia law.
• Other Turkic Communities and the Present: The levirate custom persisted until recent times among many Central Asian Turkic peoples, including the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, and Turkmens. Levirate motifs appear in oral literary works such as the Kyrgyz epic Manas and the Kazakh epic Kız Cibek. Today, traces of levirate marriage can still be found in certain regions of Türkiye and among other Turkic communities, particularly in rural areas and specific clans, although its frequency has significantly declined.

The Impact of Islam

With the adoption of Islam by the Turks, the practice of levirate marriage involving marriage to a stepmother, which is prohibited in the Qur’an, was abandoned. However, the custom of marrying the widow of a deceased brother (yenge), which posed no religious objection in Islam, continued among Turkish communities due to reasons such as preventing the fragmentation of inheritance and ensuring the protection of the widow and her children.

In conclusion, levirate marriage is a form of marriage with deep historical roots that fulfilled significant social, economic, and political functions in Turkish culture. Although it underwent transformation over time due to major cultural shifts such as Islam, it maintained its core purposes and endured for a long period.