Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 562 Doubt
"Actually, according to tradition, His Excellency the Earl of Bossett is the most orthodox one among the many heir candidates for the Duke of Manchester." After hearing Liang En's question about the whole matter, Butler Lubzon said proudly .

"The earl's grandfather was once the second son of the Duke of Manchester, so after the eldest son's line is completely extinct, the earl, the closest relative of the blood, naturally has the right to inherit."

"Wait, the earl's grandfather was once the son of the Duke of Manchester?" Liang En felt even more dizzy after listening to Butler Lubzon's explanation.

"But if I remember correctly, Mr. Du Lisi should be a French earl, right? Does the son of the Duke of Manchester still have the title of French earl?"

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

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

To give the simplest example, the King of England still holds the title of Duke of Norman until today, even if he permanently gave up his territorial claim to the Duchy of Normandy in the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the title still exists because he holds the Channel Islands in his hand.

"No, of course not. Although Mr. Duris' grandfather is the Duke's second son, he doesn't have any title of earl. This earl's title comes from Mr. Duris's grandmother." Butler Lubzon shook his head and denied Liang En's conjecture.

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

This code was promulgated in the late period of the reign of Clovis (about 507-511), the founder of the Merovingian dynasty of the Frankish Kingdom, and 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 finally became the mother law of most of the Middle Ages in Western Europe, and its influence continued until the today.

And there is a special article in this code stating that Salik's land inheritance should not 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 wrongly cited as the authoritative basis for the current legal presumption that women cannot inherit the title of nobility. It didn't change that the land was inherited by his daughter and not returned to the commune.

However, for those in power, whether women can inherit the title is closely related to their interests, and they will choose a statement that is in line with their own interests as their own argument.

Also because of this reason, a series of wars related to inheritance rights broke out in Europe, such as the Hundred Years War between Britain and France, the War of Austrian Succession, or the Carlos War in Spain.

Of course, these debates are only caused by the differences in interests between countries. As for internal countries, in order to ensure stability, they basically insist on the male or even eldest son inheritance system.

This is mainly because the marriage of female nobles may bring their property to their husband's family, and sometimes the husband's family may come from other countries, so various countries firmly support the primogeniture system in order to avoid territorial exodus.

Take the United Kingdom as an example. This country has always followed the primogeniture system, and the first boy must inherit the family business.If there are three brothers in a family, usually the eldest son inherits the ancestral business, the second son joins the army, and the third enters the church as a pastor.

If there is no boy in the family, the inheritance rights will pass to the male relatives in the family.This system of eldest son inheriting everything can be seen in the novels of British writers Dickens and Austin.

When the father of the house without a man dies, the widow and daughters are miserable, just like those characters in "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility", they can only rely on others to make a living.

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

Traditionally, the inheritance of nobility in France is similar to that in England, although according to the current French law, all children of a nobleman are entitled to the title of nobility.In other words, one duke can become several.

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

Therefore, Liang En felt a little strange when Lubson said that the previous earl was a woman, because he felt that the Du Lisi family belonged to that kind of traditional nobles and should abide by the traditional rules.

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

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

Generally, this kind of special case is either because the family has produced a very powerful female heir, or because of historical issues, such as women inheriting traditional titles before the decree was promulgated.

"We will definitely go to this enthronement ceremony." After understanding the situation, Liang En nodded to the butler Lubzon in front of him and promised.

After all, the British royal family has not canonized hereditary nobles outside the royal family again for a long time, and hereditary nobles are becoming less and less due to reasons such as extinction, and naturally there are fewer and fewer such enthronement ceremonies.

So such a ceremony is definitely hard to see, so for historians like Liang En.It is definitely a meaningful thing to be able to participate in such an event up close.

But what was unexpected was that after he said that he would participate in the ceremony, Butler Lubzon didn't leave, but showed a kind of embarrassed expression on his face.

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

"It's like this. You know that the Duke of Manchester basically only has one title left now. Although the wealth is still there, in exchange, His Excellency the Earl needs to leave that wealth to others." Butler Lubzon said.

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

"I'm willing to help." Liang En nodded, "But I hope you guys can provide me with some information, otherwise, even if I want to find it, I don't know where to start looking."

"Then thank you very much." Butler Lubzon said with a slight bow after receiving Liang En's affirmative answer. "I'll have someone send you the information we have."

(End of this chapter)