Agnatic succession?or?male-preference primogeniture
?It been a defining feature of European legal, dynastic, and social systems for centuries. Here's a detailed overview of how this principle shaped European history:
In medieval and early modern Europe, landed inheritance was central to power, especially among the nobility:
- Primogeniture (eldest son inherits everything) ensured that estates remained intact rather than being divided among children. This preserved the wealth and power of noble families.
- In England, after the Norman Conquest (1066), primogeniture became formalized under common law.
- In France, particularly under Salic Law, inheritance by women was completely prohibited in many noble and royal successions.
The Salic Law (originating with the Salian Franks) strictly barred women and their descendants through the female line from inheriting thrones or titles:
- Used to justify exclusion of women from royal succession in France (e.g., the Hundred Years’ War, when England’s Edward III claimed the French crown through his mother).
- This was a key part of French succession law up until the fall of the monarchy.
- Many German principalities and noble houses followed semi-Salic or strict agnatic succession.
- The Salic tradition also influenced succession in the Habsburg domains, until the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 (which allowed Maria Theresa to inherit).
- Historically followed male-preference primogeniture until recently:
- A younger male child would precede an older female sibling in the line of succession.
- Changed only in 2013 under the Succession to the Crown Act, which established absolute primogeniture (firstborn inherits, regardless of gender).
- In church inheritance and clerical celibacy, male inheritance did not apply directly, but landed patronage often passed only through male lines to maintain family control of church appointments.
- Civil law systems (e.g., Napoleonic Code) initially maintained male priority, though they began reforming in the 19th–20th centuries.
- Over time, dynastic crises and political shifts forced changes:
- Spain altered its succession laws multiple times (e.g., Carlist Wars stemmed from disputes over male vs. female succession).
- Modern constitutional monarchies in Europe (e.g., Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway) have now adopted gender-equal succession.
- Ensured patrilineal consolidation of power.
- Led to dynastic wars and succession crises.
- Delayed the rise of women to positions of sovereignty.
- Embedded gender inequality in aristocratic and royal laws for centuries.
