Mariticide
Encyclopedia
Mariticide literally means the murder of one's married partner, but has become most associated with the murder of a husband by his wife, as the reverse is given the name uxoricide
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In England
the punishment until 1790 was to be strangled and burnt at the stake.
Uxoricide
Uxoricide is murder of one's wife. It can refer to the act itself or the man who carries it out.- Known or suspected uxoricides:...
.
In England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
the punishment until 1790 was to be strangled and burnt at the stake.
Historical
- Laodice ILaodice ILaodice I was an Anatolian noblewoman who was a close relative of the early Seleucid Dynasty and was the first wife of the Seleucid Greek King Antiochus II Theos. -Family Background:...
allegedly poisoned her husband Antiochus II TheosAntiochus II TheosAntiochus II Theos was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom who reigned 261 BC – 246 BC). He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC...
of the Seleucid dynasty around 246 BC. - The Roman emperor ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
was poisoned at the instigation of his wife Agrippina the YoungerAgrippina the YoungerJulia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
to ensure the succession of her son NeroNeroNero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death.... - Marie-Josephte CorriveauMarie-Josephte CorriveauMarie-Josephte Corriveau , better known as "la Corriveau", is one of the most popular figures in Québécois folklore. She lived in New France, and was sentenced to death by a British court martial for the murder of her second husband, was hanged for it and her body hanged in chains...
, 1763, New FranceNew FranceNew France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763... - The "Black Widows of LiverpoolBlack Widows of LiverpoolCatherine Flannigan and Margaret Higgins were Irish sisters who were convicted of poisoning and murdering two people in Liverpool and suspected of more deaths...
", Catherine Flannigan (1829–1884) and Margaret Higgins (1843–1884) were Scottish sisters who were hanged at Kirkdale Gaol in LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, for the murder of Thomas Higgins, Margaret's husband. - Florence MaybrickFlorence MaybrickFlorence Elizabeth Maybrick was an American woman convicted in Great Britain of murdering her considerably older husband, James Maybrick.-Early life:...
(1862–1941) spent fourteen years in prison in England after being convicted of murdering her considerably older English husband, James Maybrick, in 1889. - Tillie KlimekTillie KlimekOttilie "Tillie" Klimek was a Polish American serial killer, active in Chicago. She pretended to have precognitive dreams, accurately predicting the dates of death of her victims. Actually she was merely scheduling their deaths.Tillie married her original husband John Mitkiewicz, c. 1890...
claimed to have psychic powers by predicting her husbands' deaths, but was proven after the attempted murder of her fifth husband that she was poisoning them with arsenic. - Edith Thompson and Frederick BywatersEdith Thompson and Frederick BywatersEdith Jessie Thompson and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters were a British couple who were executed for the murder of Thompson’s husband Percy...
were executed in 1923 for the murder of Thompson’s husband Percy. - Heather Osland drugged and had her son kill her husband in 1991, creating a test case for the 'battered woman syndrome' defense in Australia.
- Katherine KnightKatherine KnightKatherine Mary Knight was the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She was convicted of the murder of her partner, John Charles Thomas Price in October 2001, and is currently detained in Mulawa Correctional Centre now known as Silverwater women's...
murdered her de facto husband by stabbing him, then skinned him and attempted to feed pieces of his body to his children. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole: her appeal against this sentence as too harsh was rejected. - In 1991, Pamela SmartPamela SmartPamela Ann Smart is serving a life sentence for accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering in New Hampshire...
had her husband murdered by a student of hers. Though the student committed the murder, the courts ruled that Smart had been guilty of mariticide due to her influence on the young man and her convincing manner to get him to carry out the act. - In 1999, entertainer Phil HartmanPhil HartmanPhilip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
was killed by his wife Brynn Hartman, who then killed herselfMurder-suicideA murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons before or at the same time as killing himself or herself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, including:...
. - in 2004, Jamila, Countess of ShaftesburyJamila M'BarekJamila, Countess of Shaftesbury, Baroness Ashley of Wimborne St Giles and Baroness Cooper of Pawlett is the widow of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury, and is imprisoned for having been an accomplice to the murder of her husband by her brother.-Background:Born circa 1961, she was one...
, paid her brother to murder her husband, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of ShaftesburyAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of ShaftesburyAnthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury styled Lord Ashley between 1947 and 1961, and Earl of Shaftesbury from 1961 until his death, was a British peer from Wimborne St Giles, Dorset, located in South West England on the coast of the English Channel...
.
Mythological
In Greek mythologyGreek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
- ClytemnestraClytemnestraClytemnestra or Clytaemnestra , in ancient Greek legend, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess...
murders her husband AgamemnonAgamemnonIn Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
as an act of vengeance for the murder of their daughter IphigeneiaIphigeneiaIphigenia is a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology. In Attic accounts, her name means "strong-born", "born to strength", or "she who causes the birth of strong offspring."-Post-Homeric Greek myth:...
, and to retain power after his return from Troy. In AeschylusAeschylusAeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
' Oresteia the ErinyesErinyesIn Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...
consider OrestesOrestesOrestes was the son of Agamemnon in Greek mythology; Orestes may also refer to:Drama*Orestes , by Euripides*Orestes, the character in Sophocles' tragedy Electra*Orestes, the character in Aeschylus' trilogy of tragedies, Oresteia...
' matricide a greater crime than ClytemnestraClytemnestraClytemnestra or Clytaemnestra , in ancient Greek legend, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess...
's mariticide, since the killing of a spouse does not shed familial blood, but the opposite view is espoused by Aeschylus's AthenaAthenaIn Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
. - The AmazonsAmazonsThe Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
were said to kill men they partnered with after conceiving.
See also
- SuicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, the killing of one's self
- Familial killing terms:
- AvunculicideAvunculicideAvunculicide is the act of killing an uncle. The word can also refer to someone who commits such an act. The term is derived from the Latin words avunculus meaning "maternal uncle" and caedere meaning "to cut or kill". Edmunds suggests that in mythology avunculicide is a substitute for parricide...
, the killing of one's uncle - FilicideFilicideFilicide is the deliberate act of a parent killing his or her own son or daughter. The word filicide derives from the Latin words filius meaning "son" or filia meaning daughter and the suffix -cide meaning to kill, murder, or cause death...
, the killing of one's child - FratricideFratricideFratricide is the act of a person killing his or her brother....
, the killing of one's brother - MatricideMatricideMatricide is the act of killing one's mother. As for any type of killing, motives can vary significantly.- Known or suspected matricides :* Amastris, queen of Heraclea, was drowned by her two sons in 284 BC....
, the killing of one's mother - Nepoticide, the killing of one's nephew
- ParricideParricideParricide is defined as:*the act of murdering one's father , mother or other close relative, but usually not children ....
, the killing of one's parents or another close relative - PatricidePatricidePatricide is the act of killing one's father, or a person who kills his or her father. The word patricide derives from the Latin word pater and the Latin suffix -cida...
, the killing of one's father - ProlicideProlicideProlicide is the act of killing one's own offspring. It may refer to* Filicide* Feticide-See also:* Child murder* Infanticide* Suicide, the killing of one's self* Avunculicide, the killing of one's uncle* Fratricide, the killing of one's brother...
, is the killing of one's offspring - SororicideSororicideSororicide is the act of killing one's own sister.There are a number of examples of sororicide and fratricide in adolescents, even pre-adolescents, where sibling rivalry and resulting physical aggression can get out of hand and lead to the death of one of them, particularly...
, the killing of one's sister - UxoricideUxoricideUxoricide is murder of one's wife. It can refer to the act itself or the man who carries it out.- Known or suspected uxoricides:...
, the killing of one's wife
- Avunculicide
- Non-familial killing terms from the same root:
- DeicideDeicideDeicide is the killing of a god. The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from medieval Latin *deicidium, from de-us "god" and -cidium "cutting, killing")...
is the killing of a god - GenocideGenocideGenocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
is the killing of a large group of people, usually a specific and entire ethnic, racial, religious or national group - HomicideHomicideHomicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
is the killing of any human - InfanticideInfanticideInfanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...
, the killing of an infant from birth to 12 months - RegicideRegicideThe broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
is the killing of a monarch (king or ruler) - TyrannicideTyrannicideTyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant, or one who has committed the act. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good. The term "tyrannicide" does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict...
is the killing of a tyrant
- Deicide