QUEEN
838
QUEEN
narrative of the interview of Solomon and Bathsheba, as given in 1 Kings ii. 19 sq. The term is applied to Blaachah, Asa's mother, who was deposed from her dig- nity in c | '<•< r idolatry (1 Kings xv, 13; -J
Chron. xv, 16 - mtrasted with Joram (2
!. . 13, •• the children of the king and the children
tnd to the mother of Jehoiachin or Jec- oniah(Jer. riii, 18; comp. 2 Kings xxiv, 12 ; Jer.xxix, ■>). In i Kingsxi, 19, the text perhaps requires emen- dation, the reading followed in the Sept, rivt".", "the elder," according better with the context. The limited use which is made even of the restricted term gebirah is somewhal remarkable. It is only employed twice with to th irij'i ofaking; in one of these two cases il is applied to the wife of the king of Egypt, where the condition of the royal consort was more queenly than in Palestine I 1 Kings xi, 19; comp. Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. ii. 59; in. 64; \. 28); and in the other to Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who, as the daughter of a powerful king, appears to have enjoyed peculiar privileges in her matri- monial siate (2 Kings \. 13). In two other places it is not clear whether the king's wife or mother is intended (.ler. xiii, 18; xxix, - ) : and in the remaining passages ii U pointedly rehired to the king's mother in such terms as clearly show that the state which she held was one of positive dignity and rank (1 Kings xv, 13; "2 Chron. XV, 1''". Si e WlFE.
The result of all inquiry into the subject seems to show thai amon- the Jewish kings the usages bearing on this point were nol different from those which are still exhibited in Western Asiatic courts. Where wom- an never becomes the head of lie- State, there can he no queen regnant ; and where polygamy is allowed or practiced, there can he no queen consort. There will. however, be a chief wife in the harem; and this is no doubt the rank indicated in the Bible by the words which we render " queen." This rank may be various- ly acquired. The first wife of the king, or the first whom he took nfitr hi* accession, usually obtained it; ami if -he i< hoth of high birth and becomes the mother of the first son, her position is tolerably secure: but if she possesses neither of these .advantages, she may be superseded in her position as head of the harem by a wife of higher birth and connections subsequent^ espoused, or by one who becomes the mother of the heir apparent. The king, however, will sometimes act according to his own pleasure in this matter, promote any favorite lady to this dignity, and also remove her from il at his pleasure: but more generally he finds il convenient to follow the established routine. The daugh- ter oi the king of Egypt was, doubtless, from her high rank, the chiet wife of Solomon ; as was Jezebel, for the same reason, the chief wife of Ahab. In like manner the high-born mot her of Absalom was probably the chief wile of David, although it is possible that the mother of the eldest son, An n. at lirst enjoyed that distinc- tion, which, we may safely presume, ei entually devolved on l'.athshi ha. after her son Solomon had been recog- nised as the heir. In one of Mr. Morier's amusing books (JTajji Baba in England) there is a passage which striking]} illustrates this matter. The court of Persia is there represented a- being perplexed how to answer a letter which, in ignorance of Eastern customs, had been addressed by the queen consort of England -to the queen of Persia." The cause of the dilemma thus created was that "Although the shah's principal wife is call, ,1 i lie I. anon harem, or head of I he 91 rsglio, yet her situation in the State bears as little affinity to that ol I lie queen oi England as one may say the she buffalo kepi in i he enclosure for food and milk has to the cow fed and worshipped by the Hindu as his god. < >ur
shah can kill and i n ate bat - at pleasure, w hereas the
queen of I n rland maintains her post till the hand of fate lays her in the grave" (comp. Chardin, Voyages [ed. [jangles], vol. \ i. cb. xii : Thornton's Turkey, ii, 264 286), Verj different was, and is to this day, in
Western Asia, the position of the king's mother, whose state is much the nearest to that of a European queen of any with whhh the East is acquainted. It is found- ed on that essential principle oft triental manners which in all cases considers the mother oi the husband as a far superior person to his wife, and as entitled to more re- spect and attention. This principle should be clearly understood; tor it extends throughout the Bible, and is yet entirely different from our own social arrangi menrs, under which the mother, as soon as she becomes wid- owed, abandons her place as lead of the family to the daughter-in-law. -Mr. I rqubarl has admirably illus- trated and developed this principle in his Spirit of the 387 sq.); and his remark-, although primarily illustrative of Turkish manners, ate. with some unessen- tial limitations, applicable to the ancient and modern East In p. 389 there is an anecdote of the late Ibra- him Pasha, who is represented as staying a whole week in I he harem of his mother, wailing to find a fa- vorable opportunity of pressing a request upon her : and when admitted, kissing her feet, refusing to be seated, and standing an hour and a half before her with his arms crossed, without, aftt r all. succeeding in the suit which he— the conqueror of Syria and the victor of Konieh— preferred to an aged woman. The arrange- ment in the seraglios of the more magnificent Hebrew liionarchs was probably similar to that of Turkey, with this difference, that the chief women in the harems of the Jewish sovereigns entered il as wives, and not as sla\es. The grand signior, from an indeterminate number of female slaves, selects bis favorites, who are distinguished by the title of cadun, which, as ii means -lady of the house," seems nearly equivalent to the Hebrew gebirah. The number of these is said to be limited to seven, and their raid, seems to correspond to that of the "wives" of the Hebrew seraglio, whose num- ber was unlimited. The mother of a boy i- called has- seJsy, unless the boy die, in which ease she descends to her former rank. The caduns, or wives, of a deceased or deposed sultan are all removed from the imperial harem to a separate palace, with the single exception of the valide sultan, the mother of the reigning sultan, who has her liberty, a palace, and revenues to support a suit- able establishment. But