Elective Monarchy: Difference between revisions

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**The [[Unreliable Narrator|Norman version]] of the Conquest claims that both Edward and Harold had sworn the crown to William. Aside from the fact that Harold's oath was questionable, being under duress, it may well be that they had both sworn only to ''lobby'' for William and it may even be that both kept that promise. They certainly had the power to keep that promise and they didn't have the power to simply swear off the crown to a foreigner. As lobbying in a consensual forum was unknown in Normandy, that may mean that the Conquest was a matter of cultural confusion.
* [[Wikipedia: Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse|Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse]] was elected King of Finland by the Finnish parliament. Due to [[World War I|international politics concerning his bloodline]] he never served and Finland became a Republic instead.
* The Mongol Horde was an elective ''and'' hereditary monarchy. As in, the only ones eligible to be a Great Khan were heirs of [[Genghis Khan|the dynasty founder]], but ''which'' descendant was decided by an election. Of course, while this ensures the competition was naturally limited, and the new Khan had good support, the nature of said support could range from building one's own party to being a living standard for an existing power group [[Puppet King|with little real influence]].
** One observable result was Batou leaving Eastern Europe in haste soon after receiving news that second Great Khan (his uncle Ögedei) died, in late 1241. The next Khan was to be chosen at the Kurultai, and passions ran high enough that the loser could forfeit not just a chance at the throne, but his head, since on top of politics there was personal enmity between him and his rival Güyük (son of Ögedei). Not a situation that encourages sitting on one's laurels, or being bogged in tertiary objectives of a campaign which already achieved the primary one.
 
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