Slaves, Concubines and the Legitimacy of Children

[Michael Kerr]

Thanks for replying,
My second question is if the Centurion's family were citizens, and one of his grandchildren fought the Romans as a British warrior when they invaded Britain and was captured along with other Briton warriors has he any rights compared to his companions in being dealt with by Roman authorities? Sorry for the sketchy scenario as I am making this stuff up as I write.

Regards
Michael Kerr

[Nathan Ross]

the children would be citizens, as long as the centurion's wife was a citizen.

Yes, the daughter of the centurion and his citizen wife would be a citizen. But if the daughter then married a non-citizen Briton, I think it's extremely unlikely that her children would have any claims to citizenship.

[Epictetus]

Yes, the daughter of the centurion and his citizen wife would be a citizen. But if the daughter then married a non-citizen Briton, I think it's extremely unlikely that her children would have any claims to citizenship.

Yes, Nathan's correct. I'm sorry, I forgot we had another generation in your example.

This reminds me of a similar situation, where a Roman citizen was in a society surrounded by non-citizens. I just read an article from Maud Gleason about the famous lawyer Herodes Atticus. His father was one of the very first Roman citizens in Greece, and he had this precise problem. He had to go to great lengths to marry his Roman citizen children to other citizens, so his grandchildren would be citizens.

Apparently in one case they came rather dangerously close to an illegal marriage - a man married his niece - in an attempt to preserve the citizenship of the next generation. But this shows the scarcity of choices they had available, and how far they would go to keep their citizenship.

[Renatus]

the children would be citizens, as long as the centurion's wife was a citizen.

Yes, the daughter of the centurion and his citizen wife would be a citizen. But if the daughter then married a non-citizen Briton, I think it's extremely unlikely that her children would have any claims to citizenship.

It is a long time since I looked into this but my recollection goes along these lines. A marriage between a citizen and a non-citizen would not be recognised in Roman law. The father, therefore, would have no rights with regard to the children and they would take their mother's status. So, the children of our centurion's citizen daughter married to a Briton would be Roman citizens. On the other hand, if his citizen son married a non-citizen British woman, their children would be non-citizens.