I've been interested in genealogy ever since my grandmother told me about it. She, from whom I obviously inherit the interest, did a lot of research that eventually traced her back to the 1700s. I just got an www.ancestry.com account, and using it made contact with Ed Hockersmith, who himself had made contact with Günter W. Hackenschmidt, a German guy who had gone from my grandmother's ancestors back to 1590, all the way to:
Hans Hackenshimdt, father of:
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Ulrich Georg Hackensmidt, 1590-?, father of:
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Georg Nicomed Hackenshmidt, 1658-1702, father of:
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Johann Georg Hackensmidt, 1683-?, father of:
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Konrad Hackensmidt, 1718-1795, came to America, farthest back my grandmother went, father of:
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Jacob Hockersmith, 1746-1818, father of:
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Peter Hockersmith, ?-1834, father of:
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John Hockensmith, 1805-1892, father of:
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Harriet Hockensmith, 1854-1937, mother of:
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Chloe Mills, 1892-1977, mother of:
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My Grandmother, mother of:
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My Mother, mother of:
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Me. Duh!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
My Wiki
I haven't posted a thing since April.
So here's a post.
My wiki has been around since September 2009, so I aught to share it now that it has more-than-enough pages.
It's made with Wikkii, which you can read all about in a lower post, and I will only summarize in saying that it uses MediaWiki, the same software used with Wikipedia.
When you first go to the address below, it will say you must log in to view pages. Well, click on the link, create an account (don't worry, it's free), and then you will be able to do it. I just do this so that only human beings can see it, and I can delete accounts if they are evil.
When you first come to the main page, you will find a Welcome banner and something like Worlds nil nil nil nil. Under that you will see Today's Featured Article. Skip that and you will see the Hello paragraph. Read it, and you will know all you need to know.
So get out there, click on this link, read all that cool stuff I invented, and correct my spelling!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Order of Succession
"His oldest son."
That's usually the answer when I ask people "when there were kings, if a king died, who would succeed him?"
As it turns out, "his oldest son" isn't as simple as that. There are several different systems, each with it's ups and downs. Primogeniture is fair to the senior grandson but unfair to the junior son; while seniority is fair and unfair vice versa.
Primogeniture
Primogeniture, a system used in all current European monarchies, favors the eldest son over the younger son. This might be expected, but there's a catch; even if the eldest son is dead, he is still favored. But since he is dead, of course, it means it has to go to his eldest son. Let's form an example.
Let's say King John has two children: Richard and William. Both of them have children. Then, John and Richard are both killed in battle. This does not mean that William is king, rather, Richard's eldest son. This is a graphical representation, the numbers being line of succession:
That's usually the answer when I ask people "when there were kings, if a king died, who would succeed him?"
As it turns out, "his oldest son" isn't as simple as that. There are several different systems, each with it's ups and downs. Primogeniture is fair to the senior grandson but unfair to the junior son; while seniority is fair and unfair vice versa.
Primogeniture
Let's say King John has two children: Richard and William. Both of them have children. Then, John and Richard are both killed in battle. This does not mean that William is king, rather, Richard's eldest son. This is a graphical representation, the numbers being line of succession:
John
.-----------^-----------.
1. Richard 3. William
| |
2. son 4. son
Note that if the family tree looks strange, it is probably because you are not using Times New Roman. This applies to all family trees.
This might be unfair to William, but if law said the eldest living son, this situation might arise:
Doldus had two sons: Drus and Hugard. Drus had a son Dinus. Dinus had always expected when his grandpa died his father would be king, and when his father died he would be king. But when Drus died before Doldus, Dinus was no longer likely to ever be king; the throne would pass to his uncle Hugard and his children.
Thus, primogeniture favors the grandson. But what about granddaughter? Does gender have anything to do with this?
There are different types of primogeniture: agnatic, cognatic, absolute, enatic, and uterine.
Agnatic primogeniture only allows the male line; this dosen't only ban females, but their sons too. If we assumed John in the early example had a daughter, neither she nor her son would have a claim. Only people for whom the progenitor (usually first member of a new dynasty) was father's father's father's father, not father's mother's father's father, had a claim to the throne.
Cognatic primogeniture does allow females and their heirs, but only if their brothers and their heirs are died out. For example, if John had a daughter Mary, she would only be queen if her brothers and their descendants were died out. This would be unlikely, but if Mary had no brothers in the first place, she would be heir to the throne. This system is used in the United Kingdom; HM The Queen Elizabeth II only became the queen because she had no brothers; if she'd had, she would just be princess and her brother would be king.
Absolute or Equal primogeniture dosen't care a thing about gender; the eldest child, not son, is the heir.
Note that often countries using agnatic primogeniture change to cognatic primogeniture, and then to absolute primogeniture.
Enatic primogeniture is just the opposite of agnatic primogeniture; it only allows females, and bans males.
Uterine primogeniture is probably the most intresting type of primogeniture. It only allows males the rule, but through the female line. If this were a list of members:
Mary, the progeniture, had:
One of the problems is that Mary II might have a son during Marius' reign. That would make the son more senior by primogeniture then Marius. Thus, as soon as the son was born, he would depose Marius as a baby. I've come up with a law to avoid this:
The Archeiress is Mary. In the absence of a king, the archeiress' brother becomes the new king. In the event the archeiress has no brother, the archeiress' son becomes the new king. In the event that the archeiress has no alive brother or son, the next senior female descendant of the Archeiress by enatic primogeniture's brother becomes the new king. In the event that next senior heiress has no brother, the next senior heiress' son becomes the new king. This goes on and on.
Thus, the throne would go from Samuel, to Joseph, to Peter, to Marius, to John, to Mary II's son.
Seniority
The principle of seniority favors the brother and cousin over the son, and only goes to the son when all of the early generation is dead.
In other words, the throne in the early example would go from John, to Richard, to William, to Richard's sons, to William's sons, and so on.
There are other variants besides gender. Sometimes one can only inherit the throne if their father was king; if this was true, and William died before Richard, William's descendants would be excluded. Often, a king would have several sons, the eldest succeeding him. But about half of them would die before their brother, so the successor would be a younger son. This would lead to a variant of Ultimogeniture, which is just like primogeniture but favors the younger instead of oldest son.
Another variant is where it depends on the oldest man of the generation, not the oldest son of the oldest son of the oldest son of the progenitor.
Yet another variant is where only the main line can produce kings. This family tree shows the kings:
John I
)------------.-----------.
John II Peter I Richard I
)------------.-----------.
John III Peter II Richard II
)-----------.-------------.
John IV Peter III Richard III
The sons of the Peters and Richards wouldn't have claim to the throne unless the descendants of all the Johns died out.
Just like primogeniture, there are variants based on gender; there is agnatic, cognatic, absolute, enatic, and uterine seniority.
Proximity of Blood
While this system favors the son over the brother like primogeniture, it favors the brother over the grandson or nephew like seniority. What matters is not descent from a progenitor, but relation to the previous monarch. This is the standard order:
Mary, the progeniture, had:
- Samuel, who had:
- Samuel
- Isabel
- Joseph, who had:
- Joseph
- Anna
- Anna, who had:
- Mary II
- Marius
- John
- Peter, who had:
- Stephen
- Petrus
One of the problems is that Mary II might have a son during Marius' reign. That would make the son more senior by primogeniture then Marius. Thus, as soon as the son was born, he would depose Marius as a baby. I've come up with a law to avoid this:
The Archeiress is Mary. In the absence of a king, the archeiress' brother becomes the new king. In the event the archeiress has no brother, the archeiress' son becomes the new king. In the event that the archeiress has no alive brother or son, the next senior female descendant of the Archeiress by enatic primogeniture's brother becomes the new king. In the event that next senior heiress has no brother, the next senior heiress' son becomes the new king. This goes on and on.
Thus, the throne would go from Samuel, to Joseph, to Peter, to Marius, to John, to Mary II's son.
Seniority
The principle of seniority favors the brother and cousin over the son, and only goes to the son when all of the early generation is dead.
In other words, the throne in the early example would go from John, to Richard, to William, to Richard's sons, to William's sons, and so on.
There are other variants besides gender. Sometimes one can only inherit the throne if their father was king; if this was true, and William died before Richard, William's descendants would be excluded. Often, a king would have several sons, the eldest succeeding him. But about half of them would die before their brother, so the successor would be a younger son. This would lead to a variant of Ultimogeniture, which is just like primogeniture but favors the younger instead of oldest son.
Another variant is where it depends on the oldest man of the generation, not the oldest son of the oldest son of the oldest son of the progenitor.
Yet another variant is where only the main line can produce kings. This family tree shows the kings:
John I
)------------.-----------.
John II Peter I Richard I
)------------.-----------.
John III Peter II Richard II
)-----------.-------------.
John IV Peter III Richard III
The sons of the Peters and Richards wouldn't have claim to the throne unless the descendants of all the Johns died out.
Just like primogeniture, there are variants based on gender; there is agnatic, cognatic, absolute, enatic, and uterine seniority.
Proximity of Blood
While this system favors the son over the brother like primogeniture, it favors the brother over the grandson or nephew like seniority. What matters is not descent from a progenitor, but relation to the previous monarch. This is the standard order:
- Son (or daughter)
- Brother (or sister)
- Grandson (or granddaughter)
- Nephew (or niece)
- 1st Cousin
- 2nd Cousin
- So on...
If the throne was absolute or cognatic, it could easily pass from John to Peter to William in such a way that John didn't share an ancestor with William. This family tree shows how:
.-------------------. .---------------.
Richard Samuel = Mary Marius
| | |
John Peter William
A simple amendment to the succession law like only those descended from the progenitor are eligible for the succession could easily fix this.
Like those mentioned before, there are variants on gender.
Other Systems
These are some other systems:
Ultimogeniture is just like primogeniture, but it favors the younger over the older.
Elective monarchy is when the king is voted for; sometimes it could be anyone and it has nothing to do with family, or it could be a vote between all descendants of the progenitor. This could be all agnatic, absolute, enatic, or uterine descendants.
Partition splits the kingdom between all the sons, or children, or daughters. It is probably the most fair of all systems, but when used in a kingdom it can turn an empire into a set of city-states. It's happened before.
--
So there you have it. All sorts of different systems; primogeniture, seniority, proximity, and the little uncommon stuff. In our modern world of democracy, the elective presidency or prime ministry is most common among government, while partition is commonly written on wills.
If you were a monarch, what would you choose?
If you like your senior grandchild, use primogeniture.
If you like your sibling, use seniority.
If you like your children equally but don't want to split the kingdom, use proximity of blood.
If you like your junior grandchild, use ultimogeniture.
If you feel democratic, use elective monarchy.
If you like your children equally and don't care if the kingdom is torn apart by war after you die, use partition.
Think about it.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
No Longer Just Software!
That's right. This blog is no longer just going to give out reviews of software. It will have posts on basically anything the author is interested in; this often includes useless-slash-interesting information on subjects like genealogy, languages, and other subjects time to time.
We're keeping the address, but we're the title and layout.
The changes will appear whenever the author gets around to it.
We're keeping the address, but we're the title and layout.
The changes will appear whenever the author gets around to it.
Friday, November 27, 2009
MediaWiki and Wikkii
When most people want to start wikis, they go to popular wiki-hosting sites like PBWorks, Wikidot, and Wikispaces. But there's a catch: none of these hosting services use MediaWiki; they all develop their own wiki software. This means that you have to learn a totally different syntax (simple language used for formatting) than the one used on MediaWiki wikis like Wikipedia.
That's where Wikkii comes in. Just go to their website, register, and create as many MediaWiki wikis as you wish. Since Wikkii gets all of it's money from ads (which aren't even that annoying), most of it's features are unlimited, and all of it's features are free. Probably the only problem with Wikkii is that they have an older version of MediaWiki and don't upgrade. So get out their, create a wiki, and make it as large as Wikipedia.And a happy Thanksgiving, too!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Posts
I've been blogging way less then I aught to this summer, so prepare to see an extra long post soon.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wikia and Wikipedia
Let's face it - one of the greatest wonders of the internet is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. You might hear stuff like "since anyone can edit, you shouldn't use it." But whoever told that to you probably didn't know that there are people who spend all day making sure that everything on Wikipedia is valid. So why use those limited book encyclopedias that don't have one percent of everything Wikipedia has? Some people have said, "I just like to flip through encyclopedias. On the internet, you can't do that." But they're wrong. On Wikipedia is a "random page" feature - just click and it will take you to any page from Aa (a village in Estonia) to zZz (a band from Amsterdam). However, there is one disadvantage to Wikipedia. It is strictly an encyclopedia, and if you post any false information it's instantly deleted. Why would you want to post false information to the world? There are two possibilities: one, you are a vandal, and you want to be evil; two, you want to show off your creativity. This is where Wikia comes in. Wikia is a series of wikis (if you don't know what that is, see bottom) that are more in-depth about stuff on Wikipedia. For example, you can find some of the more basic Narnia facts on Wikipedia - there are approximately 110 pages. As for narnia.wikia.com, there are 610 pages. And Wikia doesn’t just have information on books and movies - it also has information on non-fictional subjects too. My favorite hub (category for wiki) is Creative - it has stuff from Alternate History to Con(structed)Worlds. So get out there and start using Wikipedia - and don't forget about Wikia as well.
Merriam Webster's definition of "wiki": a Web site that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections.
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