Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

"In fact, according to tradition, His Excellency Earl Bossit is the one with the highest legitimacy among the many candidates for the Duke of Manchester's heir." After listening to Liang En's questions about the whole matter, Butler Robuchon said with pride. .

"Your Earl's grandfather was once the second son of the Duke of Manchester, so after the eldest son's line is completely extinct, your Earl, as your closest relative, will naturally have the right to inherit."

"Wait a minute, the earl's grandfather was once the son of the Duke of Manchester?" Liang En felt even more dizzy after hearing Butler Robuchon's explanation.

"But if I remember correctly, Mr. Doulis should be a French count. Does the son of the Duke of Manchester still have the title of French count?"

The reason for this conjecture is that many nobles throughout Europe have various marriages with each other, so it is not impossible for some nobles to have multiple titles.

This is especially true for the British and French who love and kill each other, so there are not a few traditional British and French nobles with dual titles.

To give the simplest example, the King of England still holds the title of Duke of Normandy to this day. Even if he permanently gave up his territorial claim to the Principality of Normandy in the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the title still exists because he holds the Channel Islands.

"No, of course not. Although Mr. Dulis's grandfather was the second son of a duke, he did not have any title. The title of earl came from Mr. Dulis's grandmother." Butler Robuchon shook his head to deny Liang En's conjecture.

"How is this possible?" Liang En frowned. As a historian, he certainly knew that the inheritance of European nobility was carried out according to the "Salic Code".

This code was promulgated in the late reign of Clovis (about 507-511), the founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Frankish Kingdom. It was a compilation of the customary laws of the Salic people at that time.

It was re-enacted twice during the reign of Clovis's successors, and was repeatedly revised and systematized during the reign of the Carolingian dynasty. It eventually became the mother text of most laws in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, and its influence continued until today.

There is a special article in this code that states that Salik's land inheritance cannot be passed on to women in any case. This is mainly because land and military service were bound at that time, and women could not undertake military service, so they could not obtain land.

But later this article was mistakenly cited as the authoritative basis for the current legal presumption that women cannot inherit noble titles. Even in the second half of the 6th century, Frankish King Hilberic issued an edict to amend the Salic Code, stipulating that if the deceased had no heirs, The land was inherited by his daughter and was not returned to the commune.

However, for those who are truly in power, whether women can inherit the title is closely related to their interests. They will choose an argument that suits their own interests as their own argument.

For this reason, a series of wars related to succession broke out in Europe, such as the Hundred Years War between England and France, the War of Austrian Succession, or the Carlos War in Spain.

Of course, these disputes only arise from the differences in interests between countries abroad. As for the internal countries, in order to ensure stability, they basically adhere to the male or even eldest son inheritance system.

This is mainly because the marriage of a female noble may bring her property to her husband's family, and sometimes the husband's family may come from other countries. Therefore, various countries firmly support the eldest male inheritance system in order to avoid the outflow of territory.

Take Britain as an example. This country has always followed the eldest son's inheritance system. The first boy to inherit the family business must be the first. If there are three brothers in a family, the eldest son usually inherits the family business, the second son joins the army, and the third brother enters the church and becomes a pastor.

If there are no boys in the family, the inheritance rights will be transferred to male relatives in the family. This system in which the eldest son inherits everything can be read in the novels of British writers Dickens and Austen.

After the father of a family without a son dies, the widow and daughters will be miserable. Just like the characters in "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility", they can only rely on others to make ends meet.

This family inheritance system of the eldest son sounds a bit cruel, but it is also the main reason why the British aristocratic estate can remain unchanged in the same family for hundreds of years.

The traditional inheritance of nobility in France is similar to that in England. Although according to current French law, all children of a noble have the right to obtain the title of nobility. In other words, one duke can become several.

But the nobles who can still persist still follow this eldest son inheritance system. For example, in many social situations, they will only recognize the eldest son of the family as the heir to the title.

Therefore, Liang En found it a bit strange that Robuchon said that the previous earl was a woman, because he felt that the Dulis family belonged to the traditional aristocracy and should abide by traditional rules.

"This is indeed different from ordinary nobles, but the Earl of Bossit family is one of the few nobles who has been allowed to allow women to inherit the title. This is related to the history of the family." Butler Robson said with a smile.

"Oh, so that's it." Liang En nodded. Every country has this kind of special case. For example, in the United Kingdom, which is the most stubborn in this regard in his memory, there are two barons who allow women to inherit, so France has Similar situations are also understandable.

Generally, there are such exceptions either because the family has produced very powerful female heirs, or because of historical issues. For example, before the decree was promulgated, there were women inheriting traditional titles.

"We will definitely attend the enthronement ceremony." After understanding the situation, Liang En nodded and assured the Butler Robuchon in front of him.

After all, the British royal family has not ennobled hereditary nobles outside the royal family for a long time. As hereditary nobles become less and less due to reasons such as the death of heirs, enthronement ceremonies like this will naturally become less and less common.

Therefore, such a ceremony is definitely rare to see, so for historians like Liang En. Being able to participate in such an event up close is definitely a meaningful thing.

But what was unexpected was that Butler Robuchon did not leave after he said he would participate in the ceremony, but had a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face.

"Well - is there anything else?" Seeing the other party's expression, Liang En immediately understood that the other party had something to ask him, so he asked.

"It's like this. You know that the Duke of Manchester basically only has one title left. Although he still has wealth, in exchange, the Earl needs to leave that wealth to others." Steward Robuchon said.

"The most important thing is that the Earl of Manchester sold all his nobles' jewelry and even clothing. These things are necessary for the enthronement ceremony, so His Excellency the Earl would like to ask you to help him find that thing."

"I'm very willing to help." Liang En nodded, "But I hope you'd better provide me with some information. Otherwise, even if I want to look for it, I won't know where to start."

"Thank you very much, then." Steward Robuchon said with a slight bow after receiving Liang En's affirmative reply. "I'll have someone send you the information we have."