Note 18 — Chapter I · —How the King of France cajoled the English after the Duke of Burgundy’s Death, for fear they should have interrupted him in the Conquest of the Territories belonging to the said Duke.—1477.

The rule that a woman was incapable of succeeding to the crown of France—quod in regno Franciæ mulier non succedit—was first proclaimed when Philip the Long succeeded to the throne in 1317, to the exclusion of his niece. “French writers,” says Mr. Hallam, “almost unanimously concur in asserting that this exclusion was built upon a fundamental maxim of their government. No written law, nor even, as far as I know, the direct testimony of any ancient writer, has been brought forward to confirm this position. The text of the Salic law, which has, indeed, given a name to this exclusion of females, can only by a doubtful and refined analogy be considered as bearing any relation to the succession of the crown. It is certain, nevertheless, that from the time of Clovis, no woman had ever reigned in France; but, on the other hand, the crown resembled a great fief, and the great fiefs were universally capable of descending to women. And it was scarcely beyond the recollection of persons living, that Blanche had been legitimate regent of France during the minority of St. Louis. For these reasons it may be fairly inferred that the Salic law, as it was called, was not so fixed a principle at that time as has been contended. But however this may be, it received at the accession of Philip the Long a sanction which subsequent events more thoroughly confirmed. Philip himself, leaving only three daughters, his brother Charles mounted the throne; and upon his death, the rule was so unquestionably established, that his only daughter was excluded by the Count of Valois, grandson of Philip the Bold.”—Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. pp. 43, 44.