The naming of kings (WAS The Palace)

It's extraordinary to think that, if Edward I's eldest son had survived,
England could have started a run of Alfonsos (Alfonsi?) too.

The Danes alternate Christians and Fredericks. Though Queen Margarethe
broke up the sequence somewhat....

I've been reading Richard Vaughan's book on Philip, the first Valois duke
of Burgundy (a fourth son). Apparently the thing to do was to name the
eldest son after the paternal grandfather and the next after the maternal one

At 17:28 15/01/2008, you wrote:
>I remember learning in some history class that the French had developed a
>naming system for their royal sons, with the eldest almost always named
>Louis, the second-born Philippe (I think), then Charles (or maybe the
>other way around). The eldest son being the heir-apparent, and assuming
>the eldest son lived long enough, it was a safe bet that there'd be a fair
>number of Louies running up to take the crown.
>
>Castile, Aragon, and the eventual united Spanish crown, had an awful lot
>of Alfonso's as ruling king. The last king of Spain before Franco was
>Alfonso XIII. At one confusing period, you had a Juan II of Castile at
>the same time as you had a Juan II of Aragon. Earlier on, you had Pedro I
>of Castile ("the Cruel"), Pedro I of Portugal, and Pedro IV of Aragon
>living at the same time.


Best wishes
Christine

Christine Headley
Listowner, Virtual Book Group - January choice - Reading Lolita in Tehran:
A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Butterrow, Stroud, Glos