Eldarin kingship and succession

[William Cloud Hicklin]

This is how kingship was passed among the Anglo-Saxons.

Um, no. Kingship among the A-S was elective, by the witan in a role similar to the College of Cardinals, the candidate pool being the late King's male relatives. Strong kings sometimes but by no means always could impose a successor-presumptive on the council while still alive. Frequently a brother was selected, as being the eldest/most accomplished of the royal house, but by no means always; and by late A-S times a quasi-primogeniture undercurrent had crept in from the Continent, as we can see in the case of Alfred's disgruntled nephew Aethelwold. Ultimately the tensions arising from this unstable system resulted in the fall of Saxon England and the Norman Conquest.

The crowns of King of the Germans/HRE were of course always elective (this was complicated by the old and ultimately harmful Frankish tradition of divided inheritance, as in the case of Charlemagne's grandsons).


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There is no need to impose agnatic succession on the Noldor if Gil-galad is placed where he belongs in the House of Finarfin: straight Salic primogeniture works perfectly well. Note that there is no evidence of Idril ruling anything or taking the title of Queen.