Prerogative

The system of prerogative

A prerogative is a concession of Fief by the sovereign with his younger sons, whereas the oldest son becomes king with dead of his father. It is a portion of the royal field given to the son junior by the king. The prerogative returns to the Crown when there is no more male heir, according to a stop of the Parliament of 1283. The prerogatives were regarded as the share of heritage transmitted to youngest wire. These grounds could be sold, neither mortgaged, nor employed like Dot, and were to return to the royal field to the extinction of the princely line. The girls were excluded from the system apanagist.

The system of prerogative was used to avoid the revolts of the wire juniors, which were without heritage, while avoiding a weakening of the kingdom.

Indeed, according to the franque habit, the heritage is done by division between surviving wire. The kingdom being regarded as family field, several divisions thus took place under the Mérovingiens (the first as of death of Clovis into 511), and later the Carolingiens, of which the Traité of Verdun of 843 which gave rise to independent territories.

Consequences of this method (dismemberment of the kingdom, civil wars, fights between heirs…) led to the adoption of the system of the prerogative, which with the advantage of diverting wire puînés of claims on the crown, which goes to the elder one. Moreover, in the long term, the system apanagist guarantees the unit of the royal field. The first king who created a prerogative was Henri Ier which, in 1032, gave the Burgundy to his/her half-brother Robert I {{er}}, whose descent preserves the duchy until 1361. Louis VIII and Louis IX creates also prerogatives. They are the kings of the dynasty of Valois, in particular Jean II the Good, which use most largely of the system of the prerogatives to equip their sons juniors.

However, the provinces conceded in prerogative tended to become independent in fact (for example the Duché of Burgundy ) and the authority of the king was recognized there only with sorrow. Theoretically, the prerogatives could be reincorporated in the royal field but only if the last lord did not have any male heir (starting from Philippe IV the Beautiful one).

The kings tried as much as possible to get rid of the most powerful prerogatives: for example, François I {{er}} confiscated the Bourbonnais in 1531, the last prerogative of importance, at the time of the treason of the constable of Bourbon. Starting from Louis XII the accession with the throne of princes apanagists (Louis XII, François Ier and Henri IV) allows the return to the crown of great strongholds made up during the Middle Ages.

Article 1 of the Édit of Mills declares that the royal Domaine (defined in article 2 as an any field controlled by the crown during more than 10 years) could not be alienated, except in two cases: by the interlocking, in the event of financial urgency, with a perpetual option to repurchase the field; and to form a prerogative, which must turn over to the crown with the extinction of the male line in its original state. The apanagist cannot thus separate from his prerogative in some way.

After Charles V, a clear distinction must be made between the titles given like names to the children of France, and the real prerogatives. With their birth the French princes received a title independently of a prerogative of strongholds. Thus, the duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, forever had Anjou and forever received any returned of this province. The king waited until the prince reached the adulthood and was about to marry before equipping his house with a prerogative. The goal of the prerogative was then to provide him a sufficient income to hold its row. The stronghold given in the prerogative could or not be that corresponding to the nominal title of the prince. Only seven prerogatives were given of 1515 to 1789.

The prerogatives were removed in 1792 before the proclamation of the Republic. The youngest princes were from now on to receive an allowance but any territory. The prerogatives were restored by Napoleon Bonaparte and were confirmed by the king Louis XVIII. The last of the prerogatives, Orléanais, was reincorporated with the crown of France when the duke of Orleans, Louis-Philippe Ier, became king of the French in 1830.

Creations of prerogatives

In 1032 Henri Ier gives to his half-brother Robert I {{er}} the Duché of Burgundy
Louis VI concedes the Comté of Dreux with his/her son Robert.
In 1223, the king Louis VIII gives the Comté of Boulogne, the Comté of Clermont, the seigniories of Domfront, Mortain and Aumale to his/her half-brother Philippe Hurepel
Louis VIII by his will, in 1225:

the County of Artois to Robert,
the County of Poitiers, the Saintonge and part of the Auvergne to Alphonse (joined together with the royal field with died of this one in 1271)
the County of Anjou to Charles of Anjou.

Louis IX grants the Comté of Valois to Jean-Tristan, the county of Alençon to his/her Pierre son and of the Perche and the county of Clermont.
Philippe III equips:

Charles of the County of Valois
Louis of the County of Évreux.

Philippe Beautiful the gives:
the county-peerage of Poitiers to his/her Philippe son, for a short time (1315-1316), since it becomes Philippe V Length;
Philippe VI creates the Duché of Orleans for Philippe of Orleans.
Jean II the Good , to its departure in England, 1360 gives:

the counties of Anjou and of Maine to Louis - founder of the second house of Anjou -;
duchies of Berry and of Auvergne and the county of Poitiers to Jean.
then in 1363 it grants Philippe Bold the, the Duché of Burgundy. Duchy of Burgundy is not a prerogative. It is a heritage which Jean the Good transmits to one his wire for which it has much affinity. Proof is at the time of the exctinction of the male branch (Charles the Bold one) the Duchy returns to his/her daughter and not to the Royal Field.

Charles VI grants to his brother the Duché of Orleans in 1392.

Another direction

The word prerogative is still employed in French but in a nonhistorical direction: “ to have the prerogative of something ” is used, often in an ironic and negative direction, to call into question the exclusive possession of something. For example “ the cows do not have the prerogative of the prion ”.

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