WI Alternative english royal succession laws

Teejay

Gone Fishin'
The POD is that Henry IV decides to argue his claim on the English crown arguing he was the "heir male" to Richard II. Which Henry IV was unquestionable so. Also he establishes rules for the English royal succession which would be the following;

Firstly, forbidding a female from inheriting the crown and secondly, the crown passing through a female. Essentially similar to what the Kingdom of France had.

Personally I can see Henry VI including his Beaufort cousins in the line of succession. That could make things quite interesting.
 
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The fundamental issue here is that he can't argue his rights to succession under a law he's introducing. England doesn't have Salic Law (hence why Henry II could inherit), so in order to argue for his rights under it he first has to get the throne to implement it.

In any case, the only heir between Henry IV and the crown were the children of the Earl of March- a daughter aged 9 and a child of 8. Considering the throne was being taken by force of arms they were essentially irrelevant.
 
There's no formal succession law at this time, and the precedents are mixed. The only previous time there was a conflict between Heir General and Heir Male resulted in a decades-long series of civil wars, with the Heir Male (Stephen of Blois) on top for most of it, but the Heir General's son (Henry II) winning in the end.

Henry IV's seizure of the throne was an additional precedent in favor of agnatic succession, which IOTL was reversed by the Wars of the Roses (first by Yorkist success, then by the Tudor claim through female-line descent) and by Henry VIII's codification of succession laws.

Henry IV's precedent would have probably been stronger had he followed it up by having Parliament pass an early Act of Succession confirming his claim over that of the de Mortimer line, but he didn't really need that to secure power for himself and his sons, and it wasn't really his style. The heavy use of Parliament to add weight and permanency to major policy changes didn't really come up until the Tudor era.

If he had pushed such a law through Parliament, and it had stuck, then (assuming minimal butterflies) there still would have been a major crisis during the reign of Henry VI. The justification for the Yorkist position would have been weaker, and they might have attracted less support, but at least an abbreviated version of the Wars of the Roses would probably still have happened.
 

Teejay

Gone Fishin'
There's no formal succession law at this time, and the precedents are mixed. The only previous time there was a conflict between Heir General and Heir Male resulted in a decades-long series of civil wars, with the Heir Male (Stephen of Blois) on top for most of it, but the Heir General's son (Henry II) winning in the end.

Henry IV's seizure of the throne was an additional precedent in favor of agnatic succession, which IOTL was reversed by the Wars of the Roses (first by Yorkist success, then by the Tudor claim through female-line descent) and by Henry VIII's codification of succession laws.

Henry IV's precedent would have probably been stronger had he followed it up by having Parliament pass an early Act of Succession confirming his claim over that of the de Mortimer line, but he didn't really need that to secure power for himself and his sons, and it wasn't really his style. The heavy use of Parliament to add weight and permanency to major policy changes didn't really come up until the Tudor era.

If he had pushed such a law through Parliament, and it had stuck, then (assuming minimal butterflies) there still would have been a major crisis during the reign of Henry VI. The justification for the Yorkist position would have been weaker, and they might have attracted less support, but at least an abbreviated version of the Wars of the Roses would probably still have happened.

It would depend on Henry VI including the Beauforts in the royal succession (which Henry IV excluded by law). The Beauforts descended from John of Gaunt; however they were descended from mistress John of Gaunt latter married. The Beauforts were legitimate; however Henry IV had been debarred by an act of parliament from the royal succession.

Richard of York even under this scenario would have a good claim to the throne. Since he was descended from Edmund of Langley (younger brother of John of Gaunt) and importantly through the male line. In OTL he argued his claim being descended from Lionel of Antwerp who was an older brother to John of Gaunt. Although that line of descent passed through a couple of women, which in the OTL English laws of successions is legal.

Royal succession circa 1455

Former scenario, Beauforts are included in the royal succession

Henry VI
Edward of Westminister
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
Henry Beaufort, (OTL 3rd Duke of Somerset)
Edmund Beaufort, (OTL 4th Duke of Somerset)
Richard of York
Richard of York’s sons

Latter scenario, Beauforts are excluded from the royal succession
Henry VI
Edward of Westminister
Richard of York
And Richard of York’s sons

In the latter scenario it would have been not too difficult for Richard of York to force Henry VI to disown his son, thereby making him Henry VI's heir.
 
As has been pointed out the Beaufort's were legitimated (by Papal Bull and by Parliamentary Act) - the Papal Bull was merely recognition of their parents marriage and did not affect property rights in England (including the Crown) the Parliamentary Act did grant them the right to inherit from their parents etc but it did not exclude them from the throne - a later reference to the act under Henry IV added a term excluding them from the crown but it is debateable whether that was an actaul new act of parliament or the clear view of Henry IV that his half-siblings should be excluded (at the time it was irrelevant given Henry had numerous healthy issue)

Henry VII did not claim the throne by descent from the Beaufort's through his mother nor did he claim the throne through his wife's descent from Edward IV - he claimed by right of conquest.
 
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