On Hermes, David Falkayn was a son of a baron although the title became "president of the Falkayn domain" in Mirkheim where, also, a castle became a manor house. See here. When their father died, David's elder brother, Michael, became head of the family. Then, when Michael died, David inherited the presidency although in fact his mother, younger brother and sister had been coping with running the domain during Michael's naval service.
On Ansa, Basil Donovan became the Earl of Lanstead when his father and elder brother had been killed in the war against Imperial annexation although, since the Ansan resistance was unsuccessful, the planet was incorporated and its aristocracy abolished.
However, will extra-solar colonists establish social hierarchies with barons and Earls in charge?
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, they will, because human beings are like that. I have no reason to doubt, given the right circumstances, some colonized planets of the future will barons, earls, presidents of domains, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Future societies might be effectively monarchies & aristocracies, but if so I suspect the titles will be president, governor etc. but with the positions inherited rather than elective.
This would arise by a gradual or sudden shift from the position being elective to democracy being subverted.
"Duke" comes from a late-Latin word, "Dux", meaning "regional commander". "Baron" originally meant "free warrior". Our "knight" meant "servant, follower" and the Continental equivalents meant "man who rides a horse".
Jim: the rulership of North Korea is hereditary, Romania was headed that way before the collapse of the Communist regime, and Cuba is run by the Castro family to this day.
Kaor, Jim!
Monarchies are monarchies, no matter what titles are used for the man at the top. And that form of gov't does not necessarily precludes them from having institutions like cortes, parliaments, estates general, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
Jim B. - Possibly, but it could depend on the "sending" power, or the affinity group of a given settlement type. Might end up with everything from hereditary CEOS to elected captains and back again.
Historically, more than one adventurer tried to set up hereditary monarchies in post-colonization/post-independence societies in the Americas (Mexico, twice; Haiti, twice; Brazil, once); and there were various "man who would be king" gambits in Asia, including the Brooke family in Sarawak, which not only succeeded, but lasted for almost a century; and the Alawiyya dynasty in Egypt, which started out with a governor, self-promoted to lord (king in all but name), and then took the title of king - they lasted for something like 120 years.
Kaor, Jim!
And Brazil had the most successful Latin American monarchy, lasting from about 1824 to 1889. And might have lasted longer if Pedro II's daughter, while acting as princess regent when her father was seeking medical treatment in Europe, not foolishly angered the governing elites in Brazil. The cause for the monarchy's overthrow was her seeking to unilaterally abolish the last remnants of slavery!
Ad astra! Sean
True enough re Brazil and the Braganza/Orleans-Braganza families.
To the larger point of non-monarchy states (of various forms of government) adopting monarchical systems, it's happened enough in (fairly recent) human history that one can see it as valid in a SF setting.
Kaor, Dave!
We agree. And Pedro II was so deeply popular that the overthrow of the monarchy was widely, even vehemently unpopular with most Brazilians. But the Emperor refused any attempts of him being restored (well, he was aging and in failing health).
Ad astra! Sean
Sean - In the era of numerous SF plots that were "history with the serial numbers filed off" kind of surprising nothing based on the examples cited really comes to mind. The Alawiyya dynasty in Egypt seems a pretty easy one to pick up, for example.
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