Zardnaar
Legend
D&D has usually been set in a pseudo ye olde medieval world with magic and Dragons. Who the rightful monarch is is also an old trope with stories like the Sword in the Stone through to A Game of Thrones. Due to Hollywood and popular fantasy people also have a lot of misconceptions about what a monarch can and can't do as their power was often constrained by the law, social mores, the church or more likely other nobles. Generally monarchs have a lot less power than a modern dictator with only a few being absolute monarchs in places like Russia, Louis the Sun King (I am the state) and in countries like Saudi Arabia. Another misconception is if you marry the King or Queen you become a king or queen, strictly speaking a Queen rules under her own power, while Elizabeth II and Victoria's husbands were not the King of England.
So who gets the throne? This has varied by time and place, each kingdom or even family would have their own laws on the succession. This thread will look at some of the more common forms of succession, and this can be worked into your campaign if a PC is a lost scion or pretender to a throne or perhaps has the right back ground.
Prmiogeniture
This is a fancy word that basically means a relative by blood ascends to the throne on the monarchs death or abdication. A monarch in ill health/incapcitated generally has a regent often the heir. There are various type of primogeniture.
Absolute Primogeniture
Under this succession law the Monarchs oldest child ascends the throne regardless of gender. This is a modern concept and generally limited to the few Monarchies in western Europe that are liberal democracies since 1980. The UK royal family has recently adopted this, s side effect of such a law is that it will entrench a dynasty on a throne even more than the normal succession laws do. House Targeryan in Game of Thrones at least in the books uses this method, so Jon being the Crown Prince (son of Rhaegar) out ranks Dany who is the daughter of the previous king. This is why George and Charlotte are ahead of Harry in the UK royal succession.
Agnatic Primogeniture
This basically means only males can inherit the throne. There are various types of this law. The Imperial House of Japan uses this law.
Salic Law
Salic Law is a type of only males can inherit the throne based on seniority. For example if a King dies without issue the throne might pass to his brother or oldest family dynast. This means they might go back several generation to find a heir. A variation of Salic law let the sons of women inherit but not the women themselves. While unfair in modern terms it was introduced to prevent sons on foreign thrones trying to claim the throne in this case in France with Edawrd III of England claiming the French throne via his mother,. This contributed to the 100 years war.
Semi Salic Law
A more pragmatic version of Salic law where women can claim the throne but only in the event of the extinction of the male lines.
Male Preference Primogeniture
This used to be the succession law for the UK. Women are allowed to inherit if there are no males. This is how the UK/England had Queen Victoria, and Elizabeth I and II. A female has a weaker claim than her younger brother for example but a stronger claim than her uncles, cousins etc.
Elective Monarchy.
Exactly as it sounds, the monarch is elected but unlike a Democracy the electors are usually nobles. Who gets to vote is important as in Poland for example any noble could vote while in the Holy Roman Empire only the electors could vote and by default the Hapsburgs won in the later years. While not really a traditional monarch any more the Pope is another example as the electors are the cardinals of the catholic church.
Matrilineal Primogeniture
This means the throne will pass to a women. It is rare in the real world limited to a few cultures in Africa and Asia generally. In D&D the Drow are such an example but in effect its the early Ottoman succession (to the strongest female). Not sure what it would be called if males can inherit if the female line is extinct.
Female Preference Primogeniture
Not a real system as far as I can tell but I added it for purposes of completion. The throne passes to the eldest female, but a male can inherit if there are no females.
This is not a 100% comprehensive list. Elective monarchies for example resemble hereditary ones (House of Saud Saudi Arabia) or primogeniture might have elections on occasion. The laws/traditions also did get violated along with things like invasion. Bastards generally did not inherit a throne (I can't think of an example), but one did seize a throne (William the Conqueror). From the 14th/15th century Primogeniture became the norm in some form although wars were fought to prevent it in some cases (War of Spanish Succession). Thrones could be united in a persoanl union, although sometimes the union was broken due to different succession laws/wars/extinction of a line or a new throne was created (Spain via PU between Castille and Aragon).
So who gets the throne? This has varied by time and place, each kingdom or even family would have their own laws on the succession. This thread will look at some of the more common forms of succession, and this can be worked into your campaign if a PC is a lost scion or pretender to a throne or perhaps has the right back ground.
Prmiogeniture
This is a fancy word that basically means a relative by blood ascends to the throne on the monarchs death or abdication. A monarch in ill health/incapcitated generally has a regent often the heir. There are various type of primogeniture.
Absolute Primogeniture
Under this succession law the Monarchs oldest child ascends the throne regardless of gender. This is a modern concept and generally limited to the few Monarchies in western Europe that are liberal democracies since 1980. The UK royal family has recently adopted this, s side effect of such a law is that it will entrench a dynasty on a throne even more than the normal succession laws do. House Targeryan in Game of Thrones at least in the books uses this method, so Jon being the Crown Prince (son of Rhaegar) out ranks Dany who is the daughter of the previous king. This is why George and Charlotte are ahead of Harry in the UK royal succession.
Agnatic Primogeniture
This basically means only males can inherit the throne. There are various types of this law. The Imperial House of Japan uses this law.
Salic Law
Salic Law is a type of only males can inherit the throne based on seniority. For example if a King dies without issue the throne might pass to his brother or oldest family dynast. This means they might go back several generation to find a heir. A variation of Salic law let the sons of women inherit but not the women themselves. While unfair in modern terms it was introduced to prevent sons on foreign thrones trying to claim the throne in this case in France with Edawrd III of England claiming the French throne via his mother,. This contributed to the 100 years war.
Semi Salic Law
A more pragmatic version of Salic law where women can claim the throne but only in the event of the extinction of the male lines.
Male Preference Primogeniture
This used to be the succession law for the UK. Women are allowed to inherit if there are no males. This is how the UK/England had Queen Victoria, and Elizabeth I and II. A female has a weaker claim than her younger brother for example but a stronger claim than her uncles, cousins etc.
Elective Monarchy.
Exactly as it sounds, the monarch is elected but unlike a Democracy the electors are usually nobles. Who gets to vote is important as in Poland for example any noble could vote while in the Holy Roman Empire only the electors could vote and by default the Hapsburgs won in the later years. While not really a traditional monarch any more the Pope is another example as the electors are the cardinals of the catholic church.
Matrilineal Primogeniture
This means the throne will pass to a women. It is rare in the real world limited to a few cultures in Africa and Asia generally. In D&D the Drow are such an example but in effect its the early Ottoman succession (to the strongest female). Not sure what it would be called if males can inherit if the female line is extinct.
Female Preference Primogeniture
Not a real system as far as I can tell but I added it for purposes of completion. The throne passes to the eldest female, but a male can inherit if there are no females.
This is not a 100% comprehensive list. Elective monarchies for example resemble hereditary ones (House of Saud Saudi Arabia) or primogeniture might have elections on occasion. The laws/traditions also did get violated along with things like invasion. Bastards generally did not inherit a throne (I can't think of an example), but one did seize a throne (William the Conqueror). From the 14th/15th century Primogeniture became the norm in some form although wars were fought to prevent it in some cases (War of Spanish Succession). Thrones could be united in a persoanl union, although sometimes the union was broken due to different succession laws/wars/extinction of a line or a new throne was created (Spain via PU between Castille and Aragon).
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