Male-line descendants of a monarch's younger sons
Acadet branch consists of themale-line descendants of amonarch's, ruler's orpatriarch's younger sons (cadets). In the rulingdynasties andnoble families of much ofEurope andAsia, the family's major assets (realm,titles,fiefs, properties, lands and income) have historically been passed from the father to his firstborn son in what is known asprimogeniture; younger sons, the cadets, generally inherited less wealth and authority (such as a smallappanage) to pass on tofuture generations of their descendants.
In families and cultures in which that was not the custom or law, such as the feudalHoly Roman Empire, the equal distribution of the family's holdings among male members was eventually apt to so fragment the inheritance as to render it too small to sustain the descendants at thesocio-economic level of their forefather—and indeed, too small to efficiently manage or effectively defend. Moreover, brothers and their descendants sometimes quarreled over their allocations, or even became estranged. Whileagnatic primogeniture became a common way of keeping the family's wealth intact and reducing familial disputes, it did so at the expense of younger sons and their descendants. Both before and after astate legal default of inheritance by primogeniture, younger brothers sometimes vied with older brothers to be chosen as their father's heir or, after the choice was made, sought to usurp the elder's birthright.
In such cases, primary responsibility for promoting the family's prestige, aggrandizement, and fortune, fell upon the senior branch for future generations. A cadet, having less means, was not expected to produce a family. If a cadet chose to raise a family, its members were expected to maintain the family's social status by avoidingderogation (embarrassment), but could more easily pursue endeavors considered too demeaning or too risky for the senior branch—for example, emigration to another sovereign's realm, or to a colony; engagement in commerce, or in a profession such as law, religion, academia, military service or government office.
Some cadet branches came, eventually, to inherit crown of the senior line. For example, theBourbonCounts of Vendôme mounted the throne of France (after civil war) in 1593; theHouse of Savoy-Carignan succeeded to the kingdoms ofSardinia (1831) andItaly (1861); theCounts Palatine of Zweibrücken obtained thePalatine Electorate of the Rhine (1799) and theKingdom of Bavaria (1806); and a deposedDuke of Nassau was restored to sovereignty in theGrand Duchy of Luxembourg (1890).
In other cases, a junior branch came to eclipse more senior lines in rank and power, e.g. theElectors and Kings of Saxony who were a younger branch of theHouse of Wettin than theGrand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar.
A still morejunior branch of the Wettins, headed by the rulers of the smallDuchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, would, through diplomacy or marriage in the 19th and 20th centuries, obtain or consort and sire the royal crowns of, successively,Belgium,Portugal,Bulgaria and theCommonwealth realms. Also, marriage to cadet males of the Houses of Oldenburg (Holstein-Gottorp),Polignac, and Bourbon-Parma brought those dynasties patrilineally to the thrones ofRussia,Monaco, and Luxembourg, respectively. The Dutch royal house has, at different times, been a cadet branch of Mecklenburg and Lippe(-Biesterfeld). In the Commonwealth realms, the male-line descendants ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are cadet members of theHouse of Glücksburg.
It was a risk that cadet branches maintaining legal heirs could sink in status because of shrunken wealth that was too meagre to survive the shifting political upheavals (legal mechanisms in factionalism or revolution ofattainder,capital offences andshow trials) as much as unpopularity or distance from the reigning line.
Notable cadet branches
[edit]- House of York: A branch of theHouse of Plantagenet who were twice-descended fromEdward III of England, cognatically through his second son and agnatically though his fourth son. Over the course of theWars of the Roses (1455–1485), they displaced theagnatically senior line ofPlantagenets, theLancaster branch who were descendants of Edward III's third son, on the English throne (1461), only to be finally displaced themselves by a Lancastriancognatic descendant,Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who obtained the crown by conquest fromRichard III (August 1485). As Henry VII, he took asqueen consort the heiress of the cadet branch,Elizabeth of York, in January 1486. Their son,Henry VIII, thus united in his person and on the throne of England both branches of the Plantagenets, and inaugurated theHouse of Tudor, which ruled England until 1603 whenElizabeth I died childless. From there, the crown went to theHouse of Stuart who were cognatically descended from Henry VII and Elizabeth of York through their eldest daughterMargaret Tudor.
- House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg: descendants of a younger son of KingChristian III of Denmark (of theHouse of Oldenburg), who eventually became monarchs of Denmark, Norway and Greece.
- House of Bourbon: descendants of a younger son ofLouis IX of France who, in the person ofHenry IV of France, inherited the throne of France from the seniorCapetian line of theValois in 1589 and from which sprang the Bourbon kings ofSpain (including theCarlist andFrench legitimist lines), thekings of the Two Sicilies, and the sovereignDukes of Parma, who currently reign in theGrand Duchy of Luxembourg in a cadet line. Also from the BourbonLouis XIII descends the cadet branch known as theHouse of Orléans,[1] to whichthe Citizen-king Louis-Philippe, theOrleanist claimants to the throne ofFrance (Jean, Count of Paris) belong, as does theHouse of Orleans-Braganza.
- House of Gonzaga: the noble family which reigned inMantua counted in its dynasty some cadet branches.
- House of Guise: although theDukes of Lorraine exercised continental independence, they were nominally vassals of theHoly Roman Emperors, and their geopolitical importance resided less in the size of their realm than in their crucial location between the competing French and German nations. A younger brother of DukeAntoine,Claude of Lorraine, was appanaged with the lordship of Guise in France and betook himself to the French court in search of his fortune. There, he was granted the titleDuke of Guise as a member of thePeerage of France, he and his male-line descendants henceforth being accorded the rank ofprince étranger. As theCalvinist form ofProtestantism spread widely among the nobility and mercantile class of France, Claude's descendants embraced theCounter-Reformation and formed theCatholic League to prevent a Protestant monarch from inheriting or seizing the throne of the lastValois kings. Their leadership of the League infused the Guises with unequalled power in French politics. Their leadership role during theFrench Wars of Religion further extended their influence in European affairs until the accession of theHouse of Bourbon to the throne in 1593 and was far beyond that of their senior cousins, reigning inNancy.
- Mandela:Nelson Mandela, the late president of the Republic ofSouth Africa, was amale-line great-grandson of KingNgubengcuka of theThembu nation ofSouthern AfricanXhosas. Be that as it may, he was - and his fellow members of the Mandela branch of the Thembus' ruling royal AmaHala dynasty are - ineligible to succeed to the ancestral throne because all of them descend from Ngubengcuka'smorganatic marriage to a woman of a ritually inferior family. As such, their traditional role in the kingdom is that of hereditaryprivy counsellors to Thembu monarchs that are unable to succeed to the throne themselves. In addition, the family's recognised leader, ChiefMandla Mandela, also serves by tradition as thetribal chieftain ofMvezo under the authority of his relative theparamount chief ofThembuland, currently KingBuyelekhaya Dalindyebo.
- Spencer: the comital branch of theSpencer family descended fromJohn Spencer, the youngest son ofCharles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland andLady Anne Churchill. The couple's eldest son,Robert, inherited his father's title ofEarl of Sunderland. When Robert, 4th Earl of Sunderland, died without an heir, his paternal titles passed to his younger brother,Charles, who later inherited the title ofDuke of Marlborough upon the death of his auntHenrietta, and became the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. Charles's descendants (later known as the Spencer-Churchills) became the senior branch of the Spencer family. His younger brother, John, had an only son, also named John, who became the 1st Earl Spencer. From the line of the Earls Spencer descend many prominent figures, includingDiana, Princess of Wales, whose sonWilliam, Prince of Wales, is heir to theCrown of the United Kingdom.
- Wellington:Arthur Wellesley, the younger brother ofRichard Wellesley, the 2ndEarl of Mornington, started his career as a protégé of his older brother. He entered the military, a traditional occupation of younger sons. From 1809 to 1814, he won a series of very significant victories, and was awarded a series of ascending titles; Baron Douro, Viscount Wellington, Earl of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington and finallyDuke of Wellington. A descendant ofBaron Cowley, youngest brother of Richard Wellesley, became Earl of Cowley in thePeerage of the United Kingdom, his junior line of the family thereby also achieving a higher status than that of the Earldom of Mornington, in thePeerage of Ireland.
- In the case of theHouse of Saud, the surname "Al Saud" is carried by any descendant ofMuhammad bin Saud or his three brothers: Farhan, Thunayyan, and Mishari. Al Saud's other family branches, like the Al Kabir, the Al Jiluwi, the Al Thunayan, the Al Mishari and the Al Farhan, are the cadet branches. Members of the cadet branches hold high and influential positions in government, but they are not inline of succession to Saudi throne. Many cadet members intermarry within the Al Saud to re-establish their lineage and continue to wield influence in the government.[2][3] Sons, daughters,patrilineal granddaughters and grandsons ofIbn Saud are referred to by thestyle "His Royal Highness" (HRH), differing from those belonging to the cadet branches, who are called "His Highness" (HH) and in addition, a reigning king has the title ofCustodian of the Two Holy Mosques.[2][3][4]
- In theMuhamamdzai dynasty of Afghanistan, the address as Sardar (Prince) is referred to all descendants of Payindah Muhammad Khan the patriarch of theMuhamamdzai Dynasty. Cadet branches of the Muhammadzai are defined by the respective son of Payindah Muhammad through which a prince descends. The cadet branches include the Telai, the descendants ofSultan Mohammed Khan to whichKing Zahir Shah,Prince Daoud Khan and Professor Prince Abdul Khalek belonged; the Seraj, descendants ofDost Mohammed Khan to whichKing Amanullah Khan belonged and theShaghasi, descendants of other children of Payindah Muhammad Khan to which Loynab Shir Dil andPrince Ali Khan Shaghasi belonged.[5][6]
