marquess Vmar-kw3s\ or marquis \mar-'ke\ European title of nobil¬ ity, ranking in modern times immediately below a duke and above a count or earl. The wife of a marquess is a marchioness or marquise. The term originally denoted a count holding a march, or mark (frontier district).
Marquess of Queensberry rules See Queensberry rules
marquetry \'mar-ko-tre\ Decorative work in which thin pieces of wood, metal, or organic material, such as shell or mother-of-pearl, are affixed in intricate patterns to the flat surfaces of furniture. Marquetry became popular in late 16th-century France and spread throughout Europe as the demand for luxurious home furnishings rose in the next two cen¬ turies. See also Andre-Charles Boulle.
Marquette \mar-'ket\, Jacques known as Pere Marquette (b.
June 1, 1637, Laon, France—d. May 18, 1675, Ludington, Mich.) French missionary and explorer. Ordained a Jesuit priest, he arrived in Quebec in 1666 to preach among the Ottawa. He helped found missions at Sault Ste. Marie in 1668 and St. Ignace in 1671 (both now in Michigan). In 1673 he accompanied Louis Jolliet on his exploration of the Mississippi River, traveling south to the mouth of the Arkansas River. They returned via the Illinois River to Green Bay on Lake Michigan, where Marquette remained. In 1674 he set out to found a mission among the Illinois Indi¬ ans, reaching the site of present-day Chicago. His journal of his voyage with Jolliet was published in 1681.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia See Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Marr, Nikolay (Yakovlevich) (b. Jan. 6, 1865, Kutaisi, Georgia, Russian Empire—d. Dec. 20, 1934, Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian linguist, archaeologist, and ethnographer. A specialist in Caucasian lan¬ guages, he published collections of literature in the Georgian and Arme¬ nian languages and tried to prove a relationship between the Caucasian and Afroasiatic languages and the Basque language. His theory that all languages evolved from one original language and that the creation of language was a class-related phenomenon was adopted as official Soviet linguistic doctrine until 1950, when Stalin denounced it.
Marrakech or Marrakesh Xmo-'ra-kish, ,mar-3-'kesh\ City (pop., 2004: 823,154), west-central Morocco. One of the four imperial cities, it lies in the centre of the Haouz plain. It was founded in the mid-11th cen¬ tury by Yusuf ibn Tashufm as the capital of the Almoravid dynasty. It fell to the Almohad dynasty in 1147, passed to the Marinid dynasty in 1269, and was the capital under the Sa'did dynasty in the 16th century. In the pre¬ modern era, it was one of Islam’s great cities. In 1912 it was captured by the French, who dominated the city until 1956. Now a popular tourist destination, it has many historical buildings and a well-known souk within its ancient city centre (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985).
Marrano \ma-'ra-no\ Spanish Jew who converted to Christianity to escape persecution but continued to practice Judaism secretly. During fierce persecutions in the late 14th century, many Jews died rather than renounce their faith, but at least 100,000 converted to Christianity in order to survive. In time the Marranos came to form a compact society within Spain, growing rich and gaining political power. They were viewed with suspicion, and the name Marrano was originally a term of abuse. Resent¬ ment against them led to riots and massacres in 1473. In 1480 the Inqui¬ sition intensified the persecution, and thousands of Marranos lost their lives. In 1492 a royal edict ordered the expulsion of all Jews who refused to renounce their faith. Many Marranos settled in North Africa and West¬ ern Europe. By the 18th century, emigration and assimilation had led to the disappearance of the Marranos in Spain.
marriage Legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners and accords status to their offspring (if any). The universality of marriage is attributed to the many basic social and personal functions it performs, such as pro¬ creation, regulation of sexual behaviour, care of children and their edu¬ cation and socialization, regulation of lines of descent, division of labour between the sexes, economic production and consumption, and satisfac¬ tion of personal needs for social status, affection, and companionship. Until modern times marriage was rarely a matter of free choice, and it
was rarely motivated by romantic love. In most eras and most societies, permissible marriage partners have been carefully regulated. In societies in which the extended family remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners comes after marriage, and much thought is given to the socioeconomic advantages accruing to the larger family from the match. Some form of dowry or bridewealth is almost universal in societies that use arranged marriages. The rituals and ceremonies surrounding marriage are associ¬ ated primarily with religion and fertility and validate the importance of marriage for the continuation of a family, clan, tribe, or society. In recent years the definition of marriage as a union between members of opposite sexes has been challenged, and in 2000 The Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. See also bridewealth; divorce; dowry; exogamy and endogamy; polygamy.
marriage chest See cassone
marriage law Body of legal specifications and requirements and other laws that regulate the initiation, continuation, and validity of marriages. In western Europe most marriage law derives from Roman Catholic canon law. Although the church regards marriage as a sacred, indissoluble union, modern western European and U.S. marriage law treats it as a civil trans¬ action. Marriage law allows only monogamous unions; partners must be above a certain age and not within prohibited degrees of blood relation¬ ship; and they must be free to marry and give consent to the marriage. Divorce is now almost universally allowed. Although Islamic law regards marriage as a contract between the two spouses for the “legalization of intercourse and the procreation of children,” it is also considered a gift from God or a kind of service to God; the Islamic practice of polygamy was always limited and has waned. Polygamous marriages are permitted under customary laws in many African countries, though there has been a growing trend toward monogamy. Marriage law in present-day China and Japan resembles that in the West. Although most jurisdictions restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman, same-sex marriages have been legalized in The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada. Civil unions or domestic partnerships between persons of the same sex, which entail many of the rights and obligations assumed by married couples, are recognized in numerous other jurisdictions, including several European countries and some U.S. states. Other U.S. jurisdictions, while not recognizing civil unions or domestic partnerships, grant a range of legal rights to same-sex couples.
Marriott Vmar-e-.atX, J(ohn) Willard (b. Sept. 17, 1900, Marriott, Utah, U.S.—d. Aug. 13, 1985, Wolfeboro, N.H.) U.S. businessman who founded one of the largest U.S. hotel and restaurant organizations. The son of a Mormon rancher, he opened a rootbeer and barbecue stand in Washington, D.C., in 1927. By the end of World War II his chain of Hot Shoppe family restaurants extended over the entire East Coast, and in 1957 he opened his first hotel. His son J. Willard Marriott, Jr., succeeded him as president of the Marriott Corp. in 1964. At the time of the elder Marriott’s death, the Marriott Corp. had 140,000 employees in 26 coun¬ tries and total annual sales of $3.5 billion. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988.
Marryat \'mar-e-3t\, Frederick (b. July 10, 1792, London, Eng.—d. Aug. 9, 1848, Langham, Norfolk) English naval officer and novelist. He served in the Royal Navy from age 14 until he retired in 1830 as a cap¬ tain. He then began a series of adventure novels—including The King’s Own (1830), Peter Simple (1834), and Poor Jack (1840)—marked by a lucid, direct narrative style, humour, and incidents drawn from his varied experience at sea. His Children of the New Forest (1847), set during the English Civil Wars, is a classic of children’s literature.