Cadet branch

Uncommon card · No. 98259

A cadet branch or branch family consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's, ruler's or patriarch's younger sons (cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, 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 as primogeniture; younger sons, the cadets, generally inherited less wealth and authority (such as a small appanage) to pass on to future generations of their descendants. In families and cultures in which that was not the custom or law, such as the feudal Holy Roman Empire, the equal distribution of the family's holdings among male members would often eventually fragment the inheritance, rendering it too small to sustain the descendants at the socio-economic level of their ancestors, and too small to efficiently manage or effectively defend. Moreover, brothers and their descendants sometimes quarreled over their allocations, or...

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