Succession Rights as a Vector of Conflict: French Princes Seen through the Lens of Comparison

This article sketches patterns in the relationship between kings and princes, starting at the global level before turning to Europe and zooming in on the special case of France. A global tour d’horizon shows that royal relatives were necessary reserves for succession. This role, however, made them potentially dangerous. A long list of royal stratagems shows that kings worldwide were faced with the recurring choice between employing princes in leading positions and controlling and marginalizing them. Moving to European specificities in the relationship between kings and princes, the article unveils a Sonderweg with a tangled connection to the rise of modernity, including the norm of monogamous marriage and the presence of nobles approaching the rank of princes. The French case in most respects followed general European practice, although it was early and consistent in its adoption of the ‘double negative’ for female rule and succession through the female line. France was exceptional in the marked presence of generations of cadet lines of the royal house: elsewhere, cadet lines disappeared or ascended the throne. From the rise of the Bourbons to the demise of monarchy, cadet lines formed an important part of the body politic.