bachelor

A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married (see single). A man who was formerly married is not a bachelor but rather is a divorcé or a widower (except in cases where the marriage was legally annulled, in which case there was legally no marriage—especially if it was never consummated).

The term is sometimes restricted to men who do not have and are not actively seeking a spouse or other personal partner.^{[citation needed]} For example, men who are in a committed relationship with a personal partner (female or male) to whom they are not married are no longer generally considered "bachelors,"^{[citation needed]} but neither are they considered married - because they aren't. Thus, a broad grey, unnamed status has emerged between the concepts of "bachelor" and "married man."

During the Victorian Era, the term confirmed bachelor often was used as a euphemism for a gay man^{[citation needed]}. But the wider acceptance of gay people and same-sex relationships in recent years has made this historic usage obsolete. Meanwhile, the term "confirmed bachelor" now refers just as much to heterosexual men who show no interest in marriage or classes of committed relationship as it does to homosexual or bisexual men^{[citation needed]}. The reasons for men choosing to be bachelors vary. In recent years more men in North America are deciding that they are happier to remain single and prefer never to marry. See the marriage strike.

Etymology and historical meanings

• The word is from Old French bacheler "knight bachelor", a young squire in training, ultimately from Latin baccalarius, a vassal farmer.
• The Old French term crossed into English around 1300, referring to one belonging to the lowest stage of knighthood. Knights bachelor were either poor vassals who could not afford to take the field under their own banner, or knights too young to support the responsibility and dignity of knights banneret.
• from the 14th century, the term was also used for a junior member of a guild, otherwise known as "yeomen", or university.
• Hence, an ecclesiastic of an inferior grade, e.g. a young monk or even recently appointed canon (Severtius, de episcopis Lugdunen-sibus, p. 377, in du Cange).
• Those holding the preliminary degree of a university (or of a four-year college, in the American system of higher education). In this sense the word baccalarius or baccalaureus first appears at the University of Paris in the 13th century, in the system of degrees established under the auspices of Pope Gregory IX, as applied to scholars still in statu pupillari. Thus there were two classes of baccalarii: the baccalarii cursores, i.e. theological candidates passed for admission to the divinity course, and the baccalarii dispositi, who, having completed this course, were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees. The term baccalaureus is a pun combining the prosaic baccalarius with bacca lauri "laurel berry" -- per the American Heritage Dictionary, "bacca" is the Old Irish word for "farmer" + laureus, "laurel berry," the idea being that a "baccalaureate" had farmed (cultivated) his mind.
• Modernly, in Anglophone academia, the Bachelor's Degree is part of a distinct hierarchical ranking of six degrees. From lowest to highest, they are: Associate's Degree, a two-year degree most typically conferred in the United States by junior and community colleges; Bachelor's Degree, a three-, four- or five-year undergraduate degree conferred by universities and, in the United States, also by senior (four-year) colleges; Master's Degree, the first graduate degree above the baccalaureate; Specialist Degree, a degree that ranks above the Master's but below the Doctorate; Doctoral degree, the highest degree awarded in most fields of study, the doctorate may be a research degree (i.e., Ph.D. or D.Phil) or a professional degree (e.g., J.D./D.Jur., D.Min., Ed.D., M.D., D.M.A./A.Mus.D., etc.); and the Post-Doctoral Degree, which is a doctoral degree that requires the conferee to have previously earned another doctoral degree. For example, the S.J.D./D.J.S. is conferred upon people who already possess the J.D./D.Jur. degree.
• At Oxford and Cambridge the bachelor can proceed to his mastership by simply retaining his name on the books and paying certain fees; but generally, further studies are necessary. But in no case is the bachelor a full member of the university, meaning that he does not have the right to teach. With the admission of women to universities from the late 19th century, the term in its academic sense could also apply to women.
• The sense of "unmarried man" dates to 1385. The feminine bachelorette is from 1935, replacing earlier bachelor-girl. In 19th century American slang to bach was used as a verb meaning "to live as an unmarried man".

Penal laws and customs

Bachelors, in the sense of unmarried men, have in many countries been subjected to ridicule and draconian penal laws. At Sparta, citizens who remained unmarried after a certain age suffered various penalties. They were not allowed to witness the gymnastic exercises of the maidens; and during winter they were compelled to march naked round the marketplace, singing a song composed against themselves and expressing the justice of their punishment. The usual respect of the young to the old was not paid to bachelors.

At Athens there was no definite legislation on this matter; but certain minor laws are evidently dictated by a spirit akin to the Spartan doctrine. At Rome, though there appear traces of some earlier legislation in the matter, the first clearly known law is that called the Lex Julia, passed about 18 BC. It does not appear to have ever come into full operation; and in AD 9 it was incorporated with the Lex Papia et Poppaea, the two laws being frequently cited as one, Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea. This law, while restricting marriages between the several classes of the people, laid heavy penalties on unmarried persons, gave certain privileges to those citizens who had several children, and finally imposed lighter penalties on married persons who were childless.

Isolated instances of such penalties occur during the Middle Ages, e.g. by a charter of liberties granted by Matilda I, countess of Nevers, to Auxerre in 1223, an annual tax of five solidi is imposed on any man qui non habet uxorem et est bache-larius. In Great Britain there has been no direct legislation bearing on bachelors; but, occasionally, taxes have been made to bear more heavily on them than on others. Instances of this are an Act passed in 1695; the tax on servants, 1785; and the income tax, 1798.

In some cultures, the "punishment" of bachelors is no more than a teasing game. In small towns in Germany, for example, men who were still unmarried on their 30th birthday were made to sweep the stairs of the town hall until kissed by a virgin. This "punishment" is still practiced today in parts of Northern Germany [1].

Famous lifetime bachelors

• Samuel J. Tilden, Told a friend he never slept with a woman in his life.
• André the Giant, wrestler (had a daughter and at least two serious girlfriends though)
• Arthur Balfour, British Prime Minister
• Benjamin Banneker, scientist
• Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
• Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada
• Pierre Boulle, French author
• Johannes Brahms, Composer
• Henry Brandon, Actor
• James Buchanan, 15th U.S. President, only President who was never married (Though he was engaged, but his fiance died before they got married)
• Archibald Butt, Military Aide to and close friend of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Died in the sinking of the Titanic.
• Billy Campbell, Actor
• Drew Carey, comedian
• George Washington Carver, scientist
• Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player, athlete
• Eugène Delacroix, painter
• Matt Dillon, Actor
• George Eastman, founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream.
• Paul Erdos, legendary Mathematician; died as a celibate
• Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
• Leonardo da Vinci, Inventor, Artist, Scientist from Italy
• Anthony Michael Hall, actor
• George Frideric Handel, Composer
• Edward Heath, British Prime Minister
• Christopher Hewett, actor
• J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director(rumored to be gay)
• Langston Hughes, poet
• Billy Idol, musician
• Ron Jeremy, porn star
• Richard Mentor Johnson, U.S. Vice President
• Jarosław Kaczyński, Current Prime Minister of Poland
• APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India
• Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Herb Kohl, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
• Mark Kzeski, College Instructor
• Ed Koch, Mayor of New York
• Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer
• Carl Lewis, Olympic athlete
• Meriwether Lewis, explorer
• Matthew McConaughey, actor
• Patrick Moore, astronomer (was engaged but his fiancee was killed in the Second World)
• Shemar Moore, actor
• Ralph Nader, Environmentalist, consumer advocate, corporate watchdog, presidential candidate
• Isaac Newton, Scientist
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Al Pacino, Actor (had three children from two separate mothers)
• Tyler Perry, entertainer
• Plato, Greek philosopher
• Władysław Raczkiewicz, President of Poland during World War II
• Maurice Ravel, composer
• Cliff Richard, English pop singer
• Cesar Romero, actor
• Rick Rubin, music producer
• Gianni Russo, entertainer
• Nipsey Russell, comedian
• Chris Bartlett, conflicted bachelor
• Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher
• Jimmy Savile, Radio personality
• Franz Schubert, Composer
• Robert Schuman, French Prime Minister, regarded as a founder of the European Union
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, actor
• Gene Simmons, rock musician with Kiss
• Adam Smith, Economist
• Baruch de Spinoza, Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin
• David Souter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• Kevin Spacey, Actor
• Herbert Spencer, English philosopher and political theorist
• Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation
• Jason Statham, Actor
• Quentin Tarantino, film director, screenwriter and actor
• Nicola Tesla, Inventor
• George Tobias, Actor
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painter
• Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India
• Vincent van Gogh, painter
• Luther Vandross, Singer/Songwriter
• Antonio Vivaldi, Composer
• Voltaire, Author
• Vin Diesel, Actor
• Armstrong Williams, conservative activist
• The Wright Brothers, Aviation pioneers

Longtime bachelors

• Max Baucus, current Senior U.S. Senator from Montana - until 42
• Warren Beatty, Actor — bachelor until marriage to Annette Bening as a 55 year-old
• Gordon Brown, Current British Prime Minister - until 49
• Grover Cleveland, 22nd & 24th U.S. President — married in the White House during his first term of office
• Hugh Hefner, legendary Playboy, "bachelor" between first and second wives from 1959 to 1989
• Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator — bachelor until marriage as a 44 year old
• Adolf Hitler Dictator of Germany, married Eva Braun at 56, committed suicide the next day.
• Bao Xishun Tallest living man, married at 56
• Brian Lamb, founder and current CEO of the C-SPAN television network, married at 64
• Jason S. Steward, Famous Actor, 1983 to present.

See also

• Bachelor's degree
• Marriage strike
• Bachelor group
• Erotophobia
• Bachelor party

Further reading

• Why Men Won't Commit: Exploring Young Men's Attitudes About Sex, Dating and Marriage by Drs. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe - An essay on young, not-yet married men’s attitudes on the timing of marriage finds that men experience few social pressures to marry, gain many of the benefits of marriage by cohabiting with a romantic partner, and are ever more reluctant to commit to marriage in their early adult years.
• The Marriage No-Shows by Carey Roberts - When almost one-quarter of single men are in their prime courting years (that’s two million potential husbands).
• Eternal Bachelor blog - Duncan Idaho provides insights as to why so many men are refusing to tie the knot these days.

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