Text丨Fat Boy Entertainment said
Editor丨Fat Boy Entertainment said
When it comes to palace fighting dramas, everyone's first reaction is that there is a competition for favor between concubines. What everyone didn't expect was that in fact, in the huge palace, the war between men was also very fierce.
Between the princes, in order to win the inheritance, they fought openly and secretly, and in serious cases, they would die because of it.
And not only in the royal family, but also in many high-ranking officials and nobles, this kind of thing often happens.
This made many netizens curious, didn't the primogeniture system work for them at that time?
In fact, the source of this kind of problem is mostly because after the death of the eldest son, the inheritance relationship has been misplaced.
For this situation, should the eldest grandson be in charge or the second son?
There are no rules, there are no rules
As long as there are living things, there will naturally be competition, and this is also true in the great families of ancient times. For the sake of money or power, everyone does not hesitate to turn their faces with their relatives.
Fortunately, in most cases, these behaviors remain in the stage of open and secret fighting. After all, in that society, many families have a very strict set of clan rules to follow.
The purpose of this family covenant is to ensure the harmony and stability of the family, to regulate the daily behavior of family members, and to distribute family power.
Some will also be subdivided into the management of family property, the marriage of family members, property inheritance and other aspects, the most typical of which is the primogeniture system practiced by the ancients.
It was the emergence of this system that saved many families from infighting.
The primogeniture system played a pivotal role in ancient times. It stipulates that only the eldest son can inherit the hereditary title and property of the family, and the others can only receive a small share of the family's property.
"Sister-in-law" refers to the child born to the head of the family and the main family that Ming Media is marrying, and the "eldest son" is the eldest of the sons-in-law.
Under the influence of this system, the identity of the eldest son is inherently very noble. From childhood to adulthood, it seems to exude a unique temperament. As the future patriarch and patriarch of the family, their status and authority in the family are absolutely top-notch.
In addition to being respected by everyone, the brothers will also have a fear of him.
Even if they are very unconvinced and unsure, they will not easily challenge the status and authority of their eldest son.
Don't look at the ancient society, the difference in status between the son-in-law and the concubine in the family is so big, in fact, this is a normal phenomenon, because it has been stereotyped in their mother's generation.
Generally speaking, the reason why the mothers of the sons-in-law can become the head of the house is because they have a strong background of the mother's family to support them, and they are close to the family.
With the blessing of this layer, her son's status should naturally not be underestimated. Not only is he recognized in her husband's family, but she is also a sweet and sweet spot on her mother's side.
For concubines, they generally come from small families, and some may even come from Fengyue places, and are the maids of the family.
Compared with the main room, their status is relatively low, and the children they give birth to are naturally not valued.
These children, known as "concubines", have no inheritance rights in this family, and some may not even be able to take care of basic food and clothing.
If you're lucky, you can enter the academy with your sisters-in-law to learn Xi knowledge.
If you are not very lucky, you can only give those sisters-in-law "cattle and horses", which is no different from servants.
Although in the society at that time, the concubine would also want to improve his family status through his own efforts and talents.
But the son-in-law was born in Rome, and the chances of the concubine's success are too slim.
Even if the eldest son who is the heir dies suddenly, the burden of inheritance will not fall on the concubine, after all, even the eldest son's younger brother may not be qualified.
In this case, who will be the first in line for the family and inheritance?
The sequential division of the primogeniture
In ancient times, if the eldest son who had the right to inherit died, many people would think that what the eldest son originally owned should be passed on to other sons-in-law.
After all, the two were born to the same mother, except for the difference in age, their status is the same.
But this is not the case, there was an unwritten rule in the society at that time, and when the heir-in-law died, the grandson, that is, the son of the eldest son, became the first heir.
All this is because the grandson is the direct descendant of the eldest son, and it is the responsibility to inherit the bloodline and status of the entire family.
But the world is impermanent, and there will inevitably be some variables.
If the eldest son has no son, there is no need to worry about the inheritance of the family bye, because there are other sons-in-law in the family, that is, the eldest son's own brothers.
They are descended according to their age, and of course they may be subject to other standards and more complex rules of family succession.
If there is no grandson, or even other concubines, the right to inherit finally falls to the concubine.
At this time, everyone may think that the concubine finally has a chance to turn over and become the master.
But in fact, even if the concubine successfully becomes the heir, his various status and right to speak will be restricted to a certain extent.
Because their mothers are all concubines and have no strength background, in this case, the concubines will not be able to support the prosperity of the entire family because of the lack of support from the forces on their mother's side.
Of course, there is a more special situation for the extension of inheritance rights after the death of the eldest son.
If a family really encounters an accident, there is no concubine or even a concubine.
In order to maintain the family's long-standing foundation, the elders will consider choosing an heir from distant relatives.
Even if there is no man in the family, the female dependents have the opportunity to bear all this.
However, in the ancient society that valued the prosperity of people, this kind of occurrence was almost impossible.
Many people believe that this system should only be applied to the families of high-ranking officials and nobles, and for the royal family, it should depend on which concubine the emperor favors and which son he thinks is better.
If everyone has such an idea, they are more or less misled by the TV series.
The royal family is not long in terms of preciousness
This system is actually very common in the succession of thrones and titles, and when choosing an heir, the first consideration is the nobility of the person's origin, rather than the age of the person.
In ancient times, because of everyone's feudal thinking and a very strict hierarchy, people from different backgrounds had very different social statuses.
Therefore, when choosing an heir, the standard is also based on the nobility of the birth.
In the royal family, the middle palace concubine is the most noble line, and he is often made a prince at birth.
If the queen has no heirs, she must choose from other princes, and the criteria for selection are the same as those of ordinary families, referring to the origin and status of these concubines.
The emergence of this system is due to the fact that ancient society valued blood and origin, and believed that noble blood was the standard for rulers, and could even ensure the stability and prosperity of the country.
Of course, this system also has the advantage of determining the heir in this way, which avoids turmoil in the struggle for power, and also ensures that the throne is relatively stable when it is replaced.
However, there are certain problems with such a system, and the most common is that children become heirs.
It is difficult for the young emperor to preside over the affairs of the country, and it is easy to listen to the slanderous words of the villain, and if this continues, the country will inevitably decline.
In addition to this, this kind of system only cares about the origin of the successor and does not evaluate the ability of the inheritor, which can easily lead to political corruption and social turmoil.
What needs everyone's attention more is that this kind of system of "establishing a son is expensive but not long" is not available in every dynasty.
The system inherited by different dynasties will change according to the ideas of the rulers. In some dynasties, age also became a criterion for choosing an heir.
In the case that the empress has no son, she will even choose the emperor's brother to inherit the throne.
In this way, inheritance in ancient times was a complex and flexible process, which was affected and constrained by a variety of factors.
Although the "primogeniture inheritance system" is universal, it is not the only one, and the status of the eldest grandson and the second son is not absolute.