ABSTRACT
“Conclusions” quickly sums up the major points of the entire book and caps the study with a final word about the nature of concubinage. The chapter reminds us that the ideal, especially for women, was the long-term relationship formalized legally as marriage; concubinage was often the place people settled who could not marry at all or could not marry who they wished. Many people wanted to live together in a long-term, sexual union but were unable to contract a legitimate marriage. Some people were unable to marry their chosen partner because they were already married to someone else. Others were prohibited from marrying the person with whom they cohabitated because their chosen partner was not of an appropriate class. And certainly, some people wanted to marry their partners but found them unwilling. Excluded from matrimony by choice or circumstance, they entered into concubinal unions that would meet their needs. And this is the heart of the concubinal union: it was extremely useful.
