Salic patrimony
Encyclopedia
Salic patrimony
or inheritance or land property refers to clan
-based possession of real estate
property, particularly in Germanic
context. It meant partitioning the clan demesne between male agnatic heirs, and often (but not necessarily) also a succession to supreme chieftainship of the clan within an agnatic extended family only upon entrusting the common domain to one of the agnates.
) meant landed property, which was basically a farm, but may have been larger territory, even a kingdom. Royal domains in several countries were such properties. To usual medieval feudal power structure, the actual holding of royal domain manors, fortresses and arable lands was the stronghold to exercise governmental control over surrounding areas. Partitions of such properties thus meant practical sharing of areas of influence and control over territories, thus creating partitioned kingdoms and fiefs.
When a father died, all his sons were entitled to receive a share of real estate. When a holder died sonless, the clan, which means his agnatic relatives, succeeded in the possession of his lands. Share of the family demesne, share in its possession, was a birthright
of males born in male line to the "clan".
This pattern, sort of partible inheritance
but only between male heirs, was inherent in archaic societies, such as in Germanic tribes of early medieval period. It however sometimes continued in one or another form in feudal societies too, and even early modern states.
For example, in 11th and 12th centuries, the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway
was several times partitioned between males of the reigning dynasty. At the time, the Kingdom of Norway was looked upon as a property of the king. As such it would be divided among his heirs, like any other private estate under Ancient Norwegian property laws
. First such partition between brothers took place in 1067 when Olav III of Norway, returning from England, demanded his younger brother Magnus II of Norway
to cede him his portion of the kingdom. Magnus was to rule the northern half of the country and Olav the southern. This division is the beginning of a long series of partitions of the kingdom between the sons and heirs of the ruling king.
The Kingdom of Franks was partitioned during both Merovingian and Carolingian
dynasties. A permanent future division took place in 842, when three sons of late Emperor Louis I partitioned the royal lands in Verdun, thus creating the division between France
and Germany
.
Often this inheritance pattern of division clashed with other, more centralized needs: a clan, tribe
or people needed a chieftain to lead them. If and when one of agnates was elected to chieftaincy, the pattern of Salic patrimony meant that he held the clan property on behalf of the whole agnatic kin, and:
The usual preferential order of succession to chieftainship was to the next brother of a chief. And generally, to an experienced (but not too elderly) agnate of the clan, which basically favored seniority until lifespans grew longer, even to feebleness and infirmity, in average.
In elective monarchies, this led to custom that it was not necessary to choose the eldest brother to the throne, that each agnate (for example, any of the sons of a previous monarch) was almost as possible successor. Germanic-descending peoples had such customs long into modern era, despite of primogeniture having been officially adopted.
The possession mode of Salic Patrimony however was the regular and protected form of succession to various fiefs (such as counties, duchies, margraviates, landgraviates) of the Holy Roman Empire
. Its original fiefs became partitioned a number of times throughout the history, until in around 16th-18th centuries, these changed mostly to primogenitural succession. This partitioning was one of chief reasons behind why Germany had become so filled with "independent" petty states (rather, petty monarchies) until the beginning of 19th century.
. When this happened, Salic patrimony pattern usually meant strict use of so-called Salic Law
succession, the one to preserve all agnates' rights over any females.
When rulers of petty principalities of Holy Roman Empire changed, one at a time, during 16th-18th centuries their succession system into primogeniture, it has been reported by research that each such change was specifically accepted by the emperor, because such change violated the rights of the junior males of these petty dynasties and was basically against the original understanding of the fief's inheritance law. In cases of arrangements inside a dynasty, the Imperial Court had the task to protect the birthrights of underaged and possibly those of unborn or otherwise potential heirs. Also in several cases, the changes were adopted by a pact between agnates of the birthrighted house, all of them accepting. Later, when the Empire had been dissolved, in many cases changes of succession laws of states originating from the Empire, for example when allowing for Semi-Salic succession, dynastifying a morganatic relative or ceding some territories, were deemed to require the consent of all agnates of the house.
Notions of this patrimony and shared inheritance are present in much-later legal positions of dynasts, after the actual partitioning custom had already ended centuries earlier. From documentation and behavior, royal princes of France in, for example, 18th century regarded the throne as their common property, common inheritance, which was entrusted to the senior dynast of them, who therefore was king of France. The same princes each were regarded to have some sovereignty already, being eligible to succeed to the throne, and it was shown by their titles and prerogatives.
, medieval Slavic and Baltic
and early Roman cultures followed similar patterns. In British Isles, Gavelkind
is an example of inheritance law representing similar principles.
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
or inheritance or land property refers to clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
-based possession of real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
property, particularly in Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
context. It meant partitioning the clan demesne between male agnatic heirs, and often (but not necessarily) also a succession to supreme chieftainship of the clan within an agnatic extended family only upon entrusting the common domain to one of the agnates.
Characteristics of the practice
Lands belonged to the entire clan or house, which was a composition of agnatic relatives. Real estate (in medieval West-European society, that sort of property was often called demesneDemesne
In the feudal system the demesne was all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the manor house, which was retained by a lord of the manor for his own use and support, under his own management, as distinguished from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants...
) meant landed property, which was basically a farm, but may have been larger territory, even a kingdom. Royal domains in several countries were such properties. To usual medieval feudal power structure, the actual holding of royal domain manors, fortresses and arable lands was the stronghold to exercise governmental control over surrounding areas. Partitions of such properties thus meant practical sharing of areas of influence and control over territories, thus creating partitioned kingdoms and fiefs.
When a father died, all his sons were entitled to receive a share of real estate. When a holder died sonless, the clan, which means his agnatic relatives, succeeded in the possession of his lands. Share of the family demesne, share in its possession, was a birthright
Birthright
Birthright is a term that refers to something that is acquired or inherited at birth. It may further refer to:- Ancient and modern Law :* primogeniture, rights of the firstborn* birthright citizenship- Literature :...
of males born in male line to the "clan".
This pattern, sort of partible inheritance
Partible inheritance
Partible inheritance is a general term applied to systems of inheritance in which property may be apportioned among heirs. It contrasts in particular with primogeniture, which requires that the whole inheritance passes to the eldest son, and with agnatic seniority where the succession passes to...
but only between male heirs, was inherent in archaic societies, such as in Germanic tribes of early medieval period. It however sometimes continued in one or another form in feudal societies too, and even early modern states.
For example, in 11th and 12th centuries, the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway
Hereditary Kingdom of Norway
The Kingdom of Norway as a unified realm was initiated by King Harald Fairhair in 9th century. His efforts in unifying the petty kingdoms of Norway, resulted in the first known Norwegian central government...
was several times partitioned between males of the reigning dynasty. At the time, the Kingdom of Norway was looked upon as a property of the king. As such it would be divided among his heirs, like any other private estate under Ancient Norwegian property laws
Ancient Norwegian property laws
Two Norwegian property laws, which are so ancient that the time of their enactment is lost, govern Norwegian property. These are the Åsetesrett , and the Odelsrett ....
. First such partition between brothers took place in 1067 when Olav III of Norway, returning from England, demanded his younger brother Magnus II of Norway
Magnus II of Norway
Magnus II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1066 to 1069, jointly with his brother Olaf Kyrre from 1067.-Background:Magnus was a son of King Harald III of Norway...
to cede him his portion of the kingdom. Magnus was to rule the northern half of the country and Olav the southern. This division is the beginning of a long series of partitions of the kingdom between the sons and heirs of the ruling king.
The Kingdom of Franks was partitioned during both Merovingian and Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
dynasties. A permanent future division took place in 842, when three sons of late Emperor Louis I partitioned the royal lands in Verdun, thus creating the division between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Often this inheritance pattern of division clashed with other, more centralized needs: a clan, tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
or people needed a chieftain to lead them. If and when one of agnates was elected to chieftaincy, the pattern of Salic patrimony meant that he held the clan property on behalf of the whole agnatic kin, and:
- was not entitled to decide its fate unilaterally
- was to be succeeded by other agnates, not by just anyone such as a relative related through a female line or a legatee of testamentWill (law)A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
The usual preferential order of succession to chieftainship was to the next brother of a chief. And generally, to an experienced (but not too elderly) agnate of the clan, which basically favored seniority until lifespans grew longer, even to feebleness and infirmity, in average.
In elective monarchies, this led to custom that it was not necessary to choose the eldest brother to the throne, that each agnate (for example, any of the sons of a previous monarch) was almost as possible successor. Germanic-descending peoples had such customs long into modern era, despite of primogeniture having been officially adopted.
The possession mode of Salic Patrimony however was the regular and protected form of succession to various fiefs (such as counties, duchies, margraviates, landgraviates) of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. Its original fiefs became partitioned a number of times throughout the history, until in around 16th-18th centuries, these changed mostly to primogenitural succession. This partitioning was one of chief reasons behind why Germany had become so filled with "independent" petty states (rather, petty monarchies) until the beginning of 19th century.
Impact on other inheritance practices
Much later, in some circumstances, succession of chieftainship, headship of the clan, changed into primogeniturePrimogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
. When this happened, Salic patrimony pattern usually meant strict use of so-called Salic Law
Salic law
Salic law was a body of traditional law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the early Middle Ages during the reign of King Clovis I in the 6th century...
succession, the one to preserve all agnates' rights over any females.
When rulers of petty principalities of Holy Roman Empire changed, one at a time, during 16th-18th centuries their succession system into primogeniture, it has been reported by research that each such change was specifically accepted by the emperor, because such change violated the rights of the junior males of these petty dynasties and was basically against the original understanding of the fief's inheritance law. In cases of arrangements inside a dynasty, the Imperial Court had the task to protect the birthrights of underaged and possibly those of unborn or otherwise potential heirs. Also in several cases, the changes were adopted by a pact between agnates of the birthrighted house, all of them accepting. Later, when the Empire had been dissolved, in many cases changes of succession laws of states originating from the Empire, for example when allowing for Semi-Salic succession, dynastifying a morganatic relative or ceding some territories, were deemed to require the consent of all agnates of the house.
Notions of this patrimony and shared inheritance are present in much-later legal positions of dynasts, after the actual partitioning custom had already ended centuries earlier. From documentation and behavior, royal princes of France in, for example, 18th century regarded the throne as their common property, common inheritance, which was entrusted to the senior dynast of them, who therefore was king of France. The same princes each were regarded to have some sovereignty already, being eligible to succeed to the throne, and it was shown by their titles and prerogatives.
Wider context
The succession and inheritance pattern described by the term Salic Patrimony has been, with minor variations, the usual pattern of landholding in almost all tribal society levels. Ancient Irish and Gaelic, early medieval Iberian, Scandinavian VikingViking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
, medieval Slavic and Baltic
Balts
The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...
and early Roman cultures followed similar patterns. In British Isles, Gavelkind
Gavelkind
Gavelkind was a system of land tenure associated chiefly with the county of Kent, but found also in other parts of England. Its inheritance pattern bears resemblance to Salic patrimony and as such might testify in favour of a wider, probably ancient Germanic tradition.It was legally abolished in...
is an example of inheritance law representing similar principles.