Possible Wives of Philip the Handsome

"Male heirs first" is male-preference primogeniture, the system still holding in Britain and Spain but replaced in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden by cognatic primogeniture. Under which system no one in the whole history of the world has ever yet succeeded, it is brand new, but the next change of reign in Sweden will see it happen.

Semi-salic law is a variant on full Salic, which means agnatic (male-to-male) succession only. Semi-salic law provides either that in the event of the complete exhaustion of the male line the nearest female relative of the last male succeeds, or the nearest male relative through a female of the last male succeeds.
 
I used to think that Aragon's laws definitely avoided the inheritance of the crown to a female. But I think there are some problems with this. One of the complications with Aragon is that their inheritance laws were tricky, more based on custom than legislation, and they used the Semi-Salic law only when it was convenient. Historically they had a reignant queen - Petronila - andher husband was never declared king.Also, at the time, Petronila's rights were recognized despite the fact there were male heirs (but they were kings of Navarre and Castile, and at the time the Aragonese wanted to avoid such unions).

Later, when Martin I died childless (he himself was made king instead of the daughters of his brother John)the Aragonese didn't choose the candidates descedent from a king entirely through a male line (Alfonso, duke of Gandia, grandson of James II, and James, count of Urgel, great-grandson of Alfonso IV).And they didn't choose either Louis of Anjou, son of a daughter of John I (Martin's brother) who was Martin's general heir. Instead, they decided for a Castilian prince,Fernando de Trastámara, basically more due to Castilian influence and pratical reasons than any inheritance law.

Also, Ferdinand II stated in his will that the Crown of Aragon and its associated lands would be given to Joanna and Charles, not only to Charles. So officially she was queen of Aragon too. That's the reasons why now I think that the inheritance of Aragon to a female could be accepted at the time, as long as the previous monarch or the Courts could be convinced of the convenience of this.
 
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