Appanage
An appanage, or apanage (/ˈæpənɪdʒ/; French: apanage [apanaʒ] ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was common in much of Europe.
The system of appanage greatly influenced the territorial construction of France and the German states and explains why many of the former provinces of France had coats of arms which were modified versions of the king's arms.
Etymology[edit]
Late Latin *appanaticum, from appanare or adpanare 'to give bread' (panis), a pars pro toto for food and other necessities, hence for a "subsistence" income, notably in kind, as from assigned land.
Original appanage: in France[edit]
History of the French appanage[edit]
An appanage was a concession of a fief by the sovereign to his younger sons, while the eldest son became king on the death of his father. Appanages were considered as part of the inheritance transmitted to the puisné (younger sons).[note 1] The word Juveigneur[note 2] was specifically used for the royal princes holding an appanage. These lands returned to the royal domain (the territory directly controlled by the king) on the extinction of the princely line, and could not be sold (neither hypothetically nor as a dowry). Daughters were initially able to inherit the appanages under the Capetian Kings. However, under the House of Valois, Salic law was applied which prohibited women from inheriting.
The system of appanage has played a particularly important role in France. It developed there with the extension of royal authority from the 13th century, then disappeared from the late Middle Ages with the affirmation of the exclusive authority of the royal state. It strongly influenced the territorial construction, explaining the arms of several provinces. The prerogative of Burgundy is also the origin of the Belgian, Luxembourgeois and Dutch states, through the action of its dukes favored by their position in the court of the kings of France.
Primogeniture avoids territorial splintering, which the earlier Frankish tradition of partible inheritance (equal division) suffered from (e.g. under the Merovingians and subsequent Carolingians). But primogeniture creates resentment in younger sons who inherit nothing. Appanages thus were used to sweeten the bitter pill of primogeniture and deter revolt of younger sons by diverting their aspirations of claiming their eldest brother's throne.
Western feudal appanages outside France[edit]
Appanages within Britain[edit]
English and British monarchs frequently granted appanages to younger sons of the monarch. Most famously, the Houses of York and Lancaster, whose feuding over the succession to the English throne after the end of the main line of the House of Plantagenet caused the Wars of the Roses, were both established when the Duchies of York and Lancaster were given as appanages for Edmund of Langley and John of Gaunt respectively, two of the four younger sons of King Edward III.
In modern times, the Duchy of Cornwall is the permanent statutory[1] appanage of the monarch's eldest son, intended to support him until such time as he inherits the Crown.[2] Other titles have continued to be granted to junior members of the royal family, but without associated grants of land directly connected with those titles, any territorial rights over the places named in the titles, or any income directly derived from those lands or places by virtue of those titles.
Equivalents outside Western Europe[edit]
Russia[edit]
The principalities of European Russia had a similar practice; an appanage given to a younger male of the princely family was called udel principalities (appanage principalities, Russian: удельное княжество, see ru:Удельное княжество). The frequency and importance of the custom was particularly important between the mid-13th and the mid-15th centuries; some historians refer to this era as the Appanage Period or Appanage Russia.[3] The last appange Russian prince was Vladimir of Staritsa.[4]
In the late Russian Empire, appanages for members of the imperial family were created by Emperor Paul I in 1797. By decree of the emperor, the members of the imperial family who were in the line of succession of the throne received civil list payments from state revenues; those not in the line of succession were given appanages from revenues of special estates called an udel estate (appanage estate, Russian: удельное имение, see ru:Удельное имение). Revenues of appanage estates were created by tribute of state (unlike private owned) peasants who lived on the territory of appanage estates and owned by the imperial family (see ru:Удельные крестьяне). Appanage estates were managed by the Department of Appanage Estates.
Serbia[edit]
In medieval Serbia, an appanage was predominantly given to a younger brother of the supreme ruler, called a Župa. Its use began in the 9th century and continued into the 14th century, with the fall of the Serbian Empire.
Indian subcontinent[edit]
In the Indian subcontinent, the jagir (a type of fief) was often thus assigned to individual junior relatives of the ruling house of a princely state, but not as a customary right of birth, though in practice usually hereditarily held, and not only to them but also to commoners, normally as an essentially meritocratic grant of land and taxation rights (guaranteeing a "fitting" income, in itself bringing social sway, in the primary way in a mainly agricultural society), or even as part of a deal.
The seniormost woman in the Travancore royal family held the estate of Attingal, also known as the Sreepadam Estate, in appanage for life. All the income derived from this 15,000 acres (61 km2) estate was the private property of the senior maharani, alternatively known as the Senior Rani of Attingal (Attingal Mootha Thampuran).
Indonesia[edit]
The Javanese kingdom of Majapahit, which dominated eastern Java in the 14th and 15th centuries, was divided into nagara (provinces). The administration of these nagara was entrusted to members of the royal family, who bore the title of Bhre i.e. Bhra i, "lord of" (the word bhra being akin to the Thai Phra), followed by the name of the land they were entrusted with: for example a sister of King Hayam Wuruk (r. 1350–1389) was "Bhre Lasem", "lady of Lasem".
Mongol Empire[edit]
The royal family of the Mongol Empire owned the largest appanages in the world because of their enormous empire. In 1206, Genghis Khan awarded large tracts of land to his family members and loyal companions, most of whom were of common origin. Shares of booty were distributed much more widely. Empresses, princesses, and meritorious servants, as well as children of concubines, all received full shares including war prisoners.[5] For example, Kublai summoned two siege engineers from the Ilkhanate, and after their success rewarded them with lands. After the Mongol conquest in 1238, the port cities in Crimea paid the Jochids customs duties and the revenues were divided among all Chingisid princes in Mongol Empire in accordance with the appanage system.[6] As loyal allies, the Kublaids in East Asia and the Ilkhanids in Persia sent clerics, doctors, artisans, scholars, engineers and administrators to and received revenues from the appanages in each other's khanates.
The Great Khan Möngke divided up shares or appanages in Persia and made redistribution in Central Asia in 1251–1256.[7] Although the Chagatai Khanate was the smallest in size, the Chagatai Khans held the cities of Kat and Khiva in Khorazm, and some cities and villages in Shanxi and Iran, as well as their nomadic grounds in Central Asia.[5] The first Ilkhan, Hulagu, owned 25,000 households of silk-workers in China, valleys in Tibet, and lands in Mongolia.[5] In 1298, his descendant Ghazan of Persia sent envoys with precious gifts to the Great Khan Temür, and asked for the share of lands and revenues held by his great-grandfather in the territories ruled by the Yuan dynasty (in modern-day China and Mongolia). It is claimed that Ghazan received revenues that were not sent since the time of Möngke Khan.[8]
The appanage holders demanded excessive revenues and freed themselves from taxes. Ögedei decreed that nobles could appoint darughachi and judges in the appanages instead of direct distribution without the permission of the Great Khan, due to Khitan minister Yelü Chucai. Both Güyük and Möngke restricted the autonomy of the appanages, but Kublai Khan continued Ögedei's regulations. Ghazan also prohibited any misfeasance of appanage holders in the Ilkhanate, and Yuan councillor Temuder restricted Mongol nobles' excessive powers in appanages in China and Mongolia.[9] Kublai's successor Temür abolished imperial son-in-law King Chungnyeol of Goryeo's 358 departments which caused financial pressures to Korean people, though the Mongols gave them some autonomy.[10]
The appanage system was severely affected beginning with the civil strife in the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1304.[8][11] Nevertheless, this system survived. For example, Abagha of the Ilkhanate allowed Möngke Temür of the Golden Horde to collect revenues from silk workshops in northern Persia in 1270, and Baraq of the Chagatai Khanate sent his Muslim vizier to the Ilkhanate in 1269, ostensibly to investigate his appanages there. (The vizier's real mission was to spy on the Ilkhanids.)[12][13] After a peace treaty declared among Mongol khans Temür, Duwa, Chapar, Tokhta and Oljeitu in 1304, the system began to see a recovery. During the reign of Tugh Temür, the Yuan court received a third of revenues of the cities of Transoxiana (Mawarannahr) under Chagatai Khans while Chagatai elites such as Eljigidey, Duwa Temür, Tarmashirin were given lavish presents and sharing in the Yuan Dynasty's patronage of Buddhist temples.[14] Tugh Temür was also given some Russian captives by Chagatai prince Changshi as well as Kublai's future khatun Chabi had servant Ahmad Fanakati from Fergana Valley before her marriage.[15][16] In 1326, the Golden Horde started sending tributes to Great Khans of the Yuan Dynasty again. By 1339, Ozbeg and his successors had received annually 24 thousand ding in paper currency from their Chinese appanages in Shanxi, Cheli and Hunan.[17] H. H. Howorth noted that Ozbeg's envoy required his master's shares from the Yuan court, the headquarters of the Mongol world, for the establishment of new post stations in 1336.[18] This communication ceased only with the breakup, succession struggles and rebellions of Mongol Khanates.[note 3]
After the fall of the Mongol Empire in 1368, the Mongols continued the tradition of appanage system. They were divided into districts ruled by hereditary noblemen. The units in such systems were called Tumen and Otog during Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia. However, the Oirats called their appanage unit ulus or anggi. Appanages were called banners (Khoshuu) under the Qing dynasty.