[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry and the Phoenix

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 43548

In a message dated 03/09/2002 10:30:27 GMT Standard Time, heidit at netbox.com 
writes:


> 
> In a message dated 9/3/2002 5:20:02 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
> pen at pensnest.co.uk writes: 
> > In this 
> > tradition, it would be reasonable for those descended from Godric 
> > Gryffindor's daughters not to be in the running for the 'Heir of 
> > Gryffindor' tag.
> 
> 
> Would that be feasible even if we've seen that on the Slytherin line, the 
> descent goes through Tom Riddle's mother? It's something not unheard of in 
> British history  - didn't Henry Tudor claim the throne by dint of lineage 
> on 
> both parents' sides? -
> 

It's certainly not unheard of. Prince Charles' claim to the throne is through 
his,er, *mother*.

Henry Tudor (VII)'s claim to the throne was through the Lancastrian line, via 
his mother. He then united the houses of Lancaster and York  (who, like the 
lion and the unicorn, had been vying for the crown through the 15th century) 
by marrying the daughter of Edward IV. Thus Henry VIII could claim lineage 
from both houses.


 or are you just saying that a woman can't be the > 
> "heir" but her son can be? Or are you saying that having a daughter ends 
> the 
> line in that particular branch of the family tree?
> 
> 
Even if Princess Anne were the Queen's eldest child, she would still not be 
the Heir Apparent to the throne and as Pen pointed out, she is below her 
younger brothers and their offspring in line to the throne.
Until the present day (generally speaking), the throne has always been 
inherited through the *male* line, unless the monarch had no male offspring 
but did have a daughter. So if Godric Gryffindor had a son and a daughter, 
under the usual rules of primogeniture which favour males, then one might 
expect the 'heir' to be descended originally from his son. (I should point 
out that in these enlightened days, things have been changed, so that if 
William becomes King and his first child is a daughter, she will become next 
in line to the throne, male siblings or not.)

Make sense?

The line in the sense of the *name* might die out, but the line of succession 
wouldn't. That's sort of why we have different Houses of monarchs, although 
it gets very complicated.

Only as I have pointed out, at the time Gryffindor is supposed to have lived, 
it is more likely that the system wasn't in use and the heir would be chosen 
from among the available descendents. If it's relevant, which it probably 
isn't.

Eloise

P.S.  Did you know that the Queen could trace her ancestry all the way back 
to Woden, should she wish (and should she believe in Germanic mythology)? 
Therefore so also, presumably, can Dreadnought. There's a thought!




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