The Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom of France

Fundamental law	Dispute	Capetian heir	Contender	Detail	Resolution	Relevance
The Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom of France
Heredity	Capetian tradition	Robert II of France	The other great lords of France	Hugh Capet arranges the coronation of his son in his own lifetime	When Hugh died, his son Robert, having already been crowned king, succeeded him to the full power of kingship. Thus, the Capetian monarchy succeeded in turning its originally elective position into a hereditary one	The Kingdom of France was bonded with the House of Capet
Primogeniture	Death of Hugh	Henry I of France	Robert I, Duke of Burgundy	At the death of Robert II's first son Hugh, he had his next elder son Henry crowned, despite the protests of his wife, who wanted their younger son Robert to be crowned instead.	At their father's death, Robert rebelled against his brother. Henry appeased him by giving him the Duchy of Burgundy.	Primogeniture is established as the primary basis in determining the heir
Masculinity	Death of John I	Philip V of France	Joan II of Navarre	At the death of the infant-king John I, his uncle Philip, Count of Poitiers (then the regent), pushed for his candidacy to the throne of France	With support from the nobility, Philip becomes King of France, setting the precedent that females would be excluded from the succession	Ensured that only males could be recognized as King of France
Male collaterality	Death of Charles IV	Philip VI of France	Edward III of England	At the death of Charles IV, his first cousin Philip, Count of Valois, succeeds him as king, even though he had nephews still living, one of them being Edward III of England.	The nomination of Edward III is rejected. Since females cannot succeed to the throne, then their descendants could not derive their right to succeed from them.	Established a permanent bond between the Capetian dynasty and the Kingdom of France
Unavailability	Treaty of Troyes	Charles VII of France	Henry V of England	Following a great English victory over the French in Agincourt, King Charles VI disinherits his own son and adopts Henry V of England as his heir	The English were eventually expelled from France, ending the Hundred Years War. The kings of England and Great Britain continued to use the title "King of France", until 1800.	Assured that the right of succession of princes of the blood could not be compromised, even by an international treaty
Continuity	Death of Charles VI	Charles VII of France	Henry VI of England	Even though the English were in control of much of northern France, including the capital, Paris, and the coronation site, Rheims, the Dauphin is recognized as the king as Charles VII.	Since there was no break in the succession between the death of Charles VI and the succession of his son as Charles VII, Henry VI of England was not counted among the legitimate kings of France.	Assured that there would never be an interregnum
Catholicity	Death of Henry III	Henry IV of France	Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon	Catholic France refused to recognize the Protestant Henry of Navarre as King of France, proclaiming his uncle Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon as Charles X instead.	Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism.	Recognized the bond between the King of France, the Kingdom of France, and the Catholic Church

The Order of the Fundamental Laws

Determining the king

At the death of the king, his heir is determined by the following:

Heredity: he is related to the king by kinship

Legitimate birth: bastard children are considered strangers-in-blood from their natural parent, making them ineligible for the succession

Primogeniture: he is the king's most senior descendant or collateral relative

Masculinity: he is male

Male collaterality: he is related to the king in the male line

Protecting the rights

Unavailability: no power could remove a prince of the blood from the line of succession to the throne

Continuity: at the death of the king, no person may be recognized other than the rightful heir. Anyone else proclaimed as king will be not be deemed legitimate in the face of history.

Recognition

Catholicity: since the rightful heir is already determined from the very start, this requirement is merely a formality, so that the ties between France and its special place in the Catholic Church would not be broken

Other applications

Heredity

Louis VI was the first Capetian to succeeded to the throne without being crowned in his father's lifetime
Philip II Augustus was the last king to be crowned in his father's lifetime
François Hotman had argued in his Francogallia that France was once a free country, whose liberties had been eroded over time, including the right to elect kings. Hotman had asserted the right of the Estates-General to perform this function. Though Hotman was Protestant, the Catholic League advocated for this during the Wars of Religion against Henry of Navarre.

Legitimate birth

Charles VI attempted to disinherit his son Charles by declaring him illegitimate
Louis XI refused to recognize the marriage of Louis, prince-bishop of Liege. His descendants, the House of Bourbon-Busset, were deemed illegitimate

Primogeniture

?

Masculinity

Isabella Clara Eugenia

Male collaterality

Philip II, Count of Auvergne
Charles, Duke of Guise
Jean Boucher argued that Henry of Navarre, being a cousin in the male line only to the twenty-first degree of Henry III, should no longer be considered as king, since consanguinity was acknowledged only to the tenth degree in law.

Unavailability

?

Continuity

Louis XVII

Catholicity

?

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