Posted by Jane
on 10/11/2011, 4:08:04, in reply to "Re: equal treatment"
User logged in as JanEl
71.201.171.236
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: France did not want female succession to
: prevent a foreigner becoming lord and master
: in the country. That is the basic sentiment
: underlining the Salic law of succession.
But that in turn presupposes the assumption that a princess has married a foreigner. It certainly would not be an issue, if she married a native Frenchman. Of course, that usually implied that her husband was a commoner or a noble -- unthinkable.
Well: xenophobia is an understandable concern. In other countries, where females had succession rights, compromises were reached regarding the status of foreign royal males. In the first place, a princess who was close in line to the throne would typically marry a cadet prince, or a junior member of a foreign royal house -- too far down in the succession for it to matter, should a conflict of interests arise.
Secondly, a foreign royal prince sometimes would renounce his succession rights and get incorporated into the royalty of his wife's country (e.g. Bourbon Spain, which had Infantas marry Bavarian princes who got created into Infantes).
But apparently France afforded little such flexibility and compromise ...
: In Germany gender is also less determining
: in what someone can or can't do. So a female
: sovereign is not unlikely. The last male
: heir of the house of Anhalt has allready
: made it clear his oldest daughter will
: succeed him in his role as head of their
: family. Austria's most reverred and
: succesfull sovereign is Maria Theresia. So
: the reign of an Empress Maria Theresia II
: would be welcomed like the reign of
: Elisabeth II was in England.
Let's not forget that Germany was not even united until the 1870's. Prior to unification, you had various independent states with different succession laws. And you'll notice that the German monarchies were, on the whole, less discriminatory against women than the French (whether royal or imperial). Consider that Bavaria, Hanover, and Wuerttemberg all operated under the semi-Salic law (not as male-restrictive as the pure Salic).
I believe Austria and Bourbon-Two Sicilies also operated under semi-Salicism (hence, the accession of Maria Theresa, although her husband was the one who got elected as Holy Roman Emperor). Like Germany, Italy also was a set of distinct independent city-states -- each with its own set of succession rules.
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