Editing Levirate marriage (section)

===Central Asia and Xiongnu===
The levirate custom survived in the society of Northeastern Caucasus [[Huns]] until the 7th century [[Common Era|CE]]. The [[Armenia]]n historian [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi|Movses Kalankatuatsi]] states that the [[Sabir people|Savirs]], one of Hunnish tribes in the area, were usually [[monogamous]], but sometimes a married man would take his brother's widow as a [[polygynous]] wife. Ludmila Gmyrya, a [[Dagestan]]i historian, asserts that the levirate survived into "[[ethnographic]] modernity" (from the context, probably 1950s). Kalankatuatsi describes the form of levirate marriage practised by the Huns. As women had a high [[social status]], the widow had a choice whether to remarry or not. Her new husband might be a brother or a son (by another woman) of her first husband, so she could end up marrying her brother-in-law or stepson; the difference in age did not matter.<ref>Gmyrya L. ''Hun Country At The Caspian Gate'', Dagestan, Makhachkala 1995, p.212 (no ISBN, but the book is available in US libraries, Russian title ''Strana Gunnov u Kaspiyskix vorot'', Dagestan, Makhachkala, 1995)</ref> Hungarians also practiced levirate marriages. [[Koppány]]'s rebellion against the Christian king [[Stephen I of Hungary|Stephen I]] and claim to marry [[Sarolt]], the widow of his relative [[Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians|Géza]], was qualified as an incestuous attempt by 14th-century Hungarian chronicles, but was fully in line with the pagan custom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Engel |first=Pál |title=The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526 |publisher=I.B. Tauris Publishers |year=2001 |isbn=1-86064-061-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kristó |first=Gyula |title=Saint Stephen and His Country: A Newborn Kingdom in Central Europe – Hungary |publisher=Lucidus Kiadó |isbn=963-86163-9-3 |editor-last=Zsoldos |editor-first=Attila |pages=15–36 |chapter=The Life of King Stephen the Saint|year=2001 }}</ref>