Jure uxoris

Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife".^[1] It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. Similarly, the husband of an heiress could become the possessor of her lands jure uxoris, "by right of [his] wife". Jure uxoris monarchs are not to be confused with kings consort, who were merely consorts of their wives, not co-rulers.

Middle Ages

Jure uxoris was standard in the Middle Ages, even for queens regnant and princesses regnant. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Fulk, King of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, Conrad of Montferrat, Henry II, Count of Champagne and Amalric II of Jerusalem all received their titles as a result of marriage.

Sigismund of Luxembourg married Queen Mary of Hungary and obtained the crown through her, retaining it after her death. After the death of Sigismund, Albert II of Austria inherited the throne of Hungary by marrying the king's daughter Elizabeth of Luxembourg.

The king thus ascended could remain king even after the death or divorce of the wife. When Marie I of Boulogne and Matthew of Boulogne were divorced in 1170, Marie ceased to be countess, while Matthew I continued to reign until 1173. In some cases, the kingdom could even pass to the husband's heirs, even when they were not issue of the wife in question (cf. Jogaila, who became king by marrying Jadwiga).

Renaissance

By the Renaissance, the woman sometimes remained the monarch and only some power transferred to her husband. This was usually the case where multiple kingdoms were being consolidated, such as when Isabella and Ferdinand and William and Mary shared crowns. The precedent of jure uxoris complicated the lives of Henry VIII's daughters, both of whom inherited the throne in their own right. The marriage of Mary I to King Philip was commonly seen as an attempt to bring England under the influence of Catholic Spain, with the Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain being designed specifically to prevent Phillip from seizing power jure uxoris. This strategy in the end ensured Elizabeth I's ascension; she resolved concerns over jure uxoris by never marrying.

Partial transferance of power

In Great Britain, husbands acted on their wives' behalfs in the House of Lords, from which women were once barred. These offices were exercised jure uxoris.

When Lady Priscilla Bertie inherited the title Baroness Willougby de Eresby in 1780, she also held the position of Lord Great Chamberlain. However, her husband Sir Peter Gwydyr acted on her behalf in that office instead.

Conditions of jure uxoris

In Portugal, a male consort could not become a king jure uxoris until the queen regnant had a child and royal heir. Although Queen Maria II married her second husband in 1836, Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha did not become King Ferdinand II until 1837, when their first child was born. Queen Maria's first husband, Auguste of Beauharnais, never became monarch, because he died before he could father an heir.

The child did not have to be born after the queen's ascension. Queen Maria I already had children by her husband when she ascended, so he became King Peter III at the moment of his wife's ascension.

See also

• Jure matris
• List of Latin phrases
• Suo jure

References