Jonathan R. Lyon. Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100–1250.
Joseph P. Huffman
Much has been made of wider kinship networks and their roles in medieval aristocratic political life, yet little attention given to relations between the closest lifetime kin: siblings. Jonathan R. Lyon provides an engaging study most prominent families German Kingdom 1138 1250, making case that brothers, sisters (to a lesser degree), served successfully curb authority Staufen kings emperors. challenges normative European model lineal descent title holding based on primogeniture by pointing out aristocrats practiced partible inheritance. Furthermore, he emphasizes key element generational family size as second factor determining composition communities. Should there prove be opportunity endow more than one son with lands, goes logic, siblings would not have constant conflict over inheritances, but rather enabled function collaboratively natural allies. Indeed, like Gerd Althoff before him, questions received view inheritance is blame for so-called Sonderweg which centralized structures did develop later Middle Ages.
The American Historical Review