1. Jupie

    Jupie Senior Member

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    Life of young princes...

    Discussion in 'Research' started by Jupie, Mar 22, 2017.

    My knowledge of medieval times (and before) is very limited but I am sure that it was quite common to send young princes away for a spell, perhaps even years, to other royal families when they were young. I am writing a story and seeking to expand on my knowledge of this and learn about this tradition. Was it normal for Kings to send their sons away for a time when they came of age? I would love to find out more about this.

    If a King had two sons, is there a chance he would send them both away, even to the same place, until they were ready to return? I expect this may have been done to improve diplomatic relations, as well as their world view and understanding of life outside their homeland. If this did take place, how long was the normal practice? Could it last for some years? I know many royal members were home schooled and tutored in private.

    Would love to find out more about this and pick people's brains. Will probably have more questions about the life of prince's generally and the expectations placed upon them.
     
  2. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Consider the fact that dynasties don't intentionally put their
    heirs in harms way. So why would a king send the next in line
    to the thrown away without reason? Sure off on diplomatic
    affairs, or something like that. For the most part they would
    be kept in pretty much the same local as the king, considering
    they are just as important as the king. It is a different affair
    if the prince chooses to leave, but more than likely with a
    well armed and trained guard detail. Unless he pissed the
    king off and got banished.
    PrincessTreatment.jpg
     
  3. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    There certainly is a history of princes being sent off to live with other families (Richard III, Elizabeth I) but in every occurrence I find of this, the prince being sent away is not the uncontested heir to the throne. Makes sense to keep the uncontested heir close to home and safe. To send both the heir apparent and his younger brother away would seem to court folly.

    ETA: Also - disclaimer - I'm American and we don't "do" royalty over here, so I defer to those who do have such elements in their cultural tapestry and are more knowledgable than I am. ;) Still, were I on the throne, I would keep my two boys close at hand, me.
     
  4. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    This might be easier to research if you search on "nobles" rather than "princes". For example there's the following Wikipedia page, and it may have useful references.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_(servant)
     
  5. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    @Cave Troll and @Wreybies are right; you wouldn't normally send your heir-apparent away to be brought up by some stranger. Even a second son would be a gamble; sending both to the same foreign court would be like Prince Charles and Prince Harry in the same plane...although this rule has now been relaxed - there seem to be plenty of spare princes nowadays!

    Where a member of the royal family was brought up at a foreign court, it was usually because they were being held by the foreign court as a hostage for good behaviour; England has a long tradition of holding the Scottish heir captive...not that it deterred the Scots that much! Another reason for doing this was the power to release the heir to foster civil discord; this happened with Máel Coluim, who was assisted onto his throne as King of Strathclyde, by Earl Siward of Northumbria, which was a prelude to the fall of MacBeth.

    Very often, the sons of a noble house would be required to attend the court of the king, to keep their fathers in line with the unspoken threat of reprisals against his family, commonplace in feudal Japan. In the case of Louis XIV, the actual nobles were required to attend Versailles; the plague of absentee landlordism was one of the drivers behind the French revolution.

    ETA: Actual example,
    According to the Orkneyinga saga, the Northern Isles were Christianised by King Olaf Tryggvasson in 995 when he stopped at South Walls on his way from Ireland to Norway. The King summoned jarl Sigurd and said "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel." Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed and the islands became Christian at a stroke.[33]

    This tale is repeated in St Olaf's Saga, (although here Olaf lands at South Ronaldsay) as is a brief mention of Sigurd's son "Hunde or Whelp" who was taken as a hostage to Norway by King Olaf. Hunde was held there for several years before dying there. "After his death Earl Sigurd showed no obedience or fealty to King Olaf."
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2017
    I.A. By the Barn likes this.
  6. Jupie

    Jupie Senior Member

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    Thank you everyone for your replies. Your answers make perfect sense and common sense told me that they wouldn't send all their sons away, particularly those in line for the throne, but from some of the books I read I got the impression this might be common practice. I think it's more nobles as Chickenfreak said, or perhaps those who belong to a very big family. I found all the articles interesting and sure I can find a way to fit this into my own story, given that the young prince is crippled and hated by his father.
     
  7. Rosacrvx

    Rosacrvx Contributor Contributor

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    If you're writing Fantasy, sure, you can make a king turn against his son for a reason like that. Depending on your political structure, maybe you'd have to find reasons why the rest of the nobility would go along with this, or not. Maybe there are other heirs, maybe the king is too feared to be confronted. Maybe they are all plotting against the king, or maybe they support him. It all depends on the reasons why, or why not, the nobility/the people supports the king.
    After all, remember Claudius:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius
     
  8. LostThePlot

    LostThePlot Naysmith Contributor

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    Honestly pretty much anything you want will seem plausible. Some princes were sent away to study or even as hostages; some grew up very close to their family, some didn't, some were brought up to be warriors, some to be political leaders, some were kinda forgotten about. Thing is that history isn't a monolith. Not even the middle ages are a monolith. Certainly the middle ages were violent and nasty and full of dreadful things but people have always loved their kids and tried to do their best for them. Some princes became well adjusted human beings some just didn't.

    Whatever you want to happen for your prince you'll be able to find some historical account that backs it up. There is no real 'historically accurate' account because, like all people, they were subject to the whims of fate and were just the product of the lives they lived. That's much more important here. As long as that makes sense in context; that what's happening to them seems plausible, then you won't have any problems. If you go and look up famous people's childhoods you'll see how true it is; that you see loads of different stories based around the situation they were born into.
     
  9. Jun

    Jun Member

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    According to what I know, one of the most common ways a child of a noble family lived with another family was due to being taken hostage. Like Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones. Rather than wiping out a house completely, simply taking the noble's children would mean the noble won't be able to do anything rash without risking his childrens' lives.
    With that being said, I do recall reading a bit of about how nobles would purposefully bring in children of similar age to become playmates with their own sons and daughters. Even in medieval times with all its ignorance, parents knew that children needed playmates in order to mature and grow normally.

    Personally, I can't see a king sending his two sons away unless he was forced to do so. It is risky and dangerous. If anything he would bring people to where he is. I could possibly see a king trading one son for another for a period of time. Like with a different king from a neighboring kingdom, trading 1 son each as a sealing oath of non-aggression to each other.
     

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