Dauphin of France

History

Count Guigues IV of Albon (d. 1142) in Viennois, within the Kingdom of Burgundy (Arles), under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, had a dolphin on his coat of arms, and was nicknamed le Dauphin. In time, that nickname came to be used as a title. Since 1285, the title of Dauphin de Viennois was already in official use by the counts of Albon, and their domains came to be known as the Dauphiné.

In 1343, a series of negotiations was initiated between dauphin Humbert II of Viennois and the French king Philippe VI, regarding the future inheritance of the Dauphiné. Since Humbert had no heirs, it was initially agreed that in exchange for a substantial financial compensation, his domains will pass to king's younger son Philip, Duke of Orléans, but already in 1344 the provisions were changed by the new agreement, designating king's oldest son and heir John, Duke of Normandy as Humbert's heir in the Dauphiné.

By 1349, Humbert decided to relinquish his rule over Dauphiné, and the final agreement was made, designating king's grandson and John's son Charles as Humbert's successor, on the condition that Dauphiné will remain a distinctive polity, not integrated into the French realm. Thus in the summer of 1349, the young French prince Charles became the first Dauphin de Viennois from the House of Valois. In 1350, when his father ascended to the French throne as king John II, Charles became the heir presumptive and thus for the first time both honors (heir to the French throne, and Dauphin de Viennois) were held by the same person.

Originally the Dauphin was personally responsible for the rule of the Dauphiné, which was legally part of the Holy Roman Empire, and which the emperors, in giving the rule of the province to the French heirs, had stipulated must never be united with France. Because of this, the Dauphiné suffered from anarchy in the 14th and 15th centuries, since the Dauphins were frequently minors or concerned with other matters.

During his period as Dauphin, Louis, son of Charles VII, defied his father by remaining in the province longer than the king permitted and by engaging in personal politics more beneficial to the Dauphiné than to France. For example, he married Charlotte of Savoy against his father's wishes. Savoy was a traditional ally of the Dauphiné, and Louis wished to reaffirm that alliance to stamp out rebels and robbers in the province. Louis was driven out of the Dauphiné by Charles VII's soldiers in 1456, leaving the region to fall back into disorder. After his succession as Louis XI in 1461, Louis united the Dauphiné with France, bringing it under royal control.

The title was roughly equivalent to the Spanish Prince of Asturias, the Portuguese Prince of Brazil, the English (later British) Prince of Wales, the Dutch Prince of Orange, and the Scottish Duke of Rothesay. The official style of a Dauphin of France, prior to 1461, was par la grâce de Dieu, dauphin de Viennois, comte de Valentinois et de Diois ("By the Grace of God, Dauphin of Viennois, Count of Valentinois and of Diois"). A Dauphin of France united the coat of arms of the Dauphiné, which featured dolphins, with the French fleurs-de-lis, and might, where appropriate, further unite that with other arms (e.g. Francis, son of Francis I, was ruling Duke of Brittany, so united the arms of that province with the typical arms of a Dauphin; Francis II, while Dauphin, was also King of Scots by marriage to Mary I, and added the arms of the Kingdom of Scotland to those of the Dauphin).

The title was automatically conferred upon the next heir apparent to the throne in the direct line upon birth, accession of the parent to the throne or death of the previous Dauphin, unlike the British title Prince of Wales, which has always been in the gift of the monarch (traditionally conferred upon the heir's 21st birthday).

The sons of the King of France held the style and rank of fils de France (son of France), while male-line grandsons were given the style and rank of petits-enfants de France (Grandson of France). The sons and grandsons of the Dauphin ranked higher than their cousins, being treated as the king's children and grandchildren respectively. The sons of the Dauphin, though grandsons of the king, were ranked as Sons of France, and the grandsons of the Dauphin ranked as Grandsons of France; other great-grandsons of the king ranked merely as princes of the blood.

The title was abolished by the Constitution of 1791, which made France a constitutional monarchy. Under the constitution the heir-apparent to the throne (Dauphin Louis-Charles at that time) was restyled Prince Royal (a Prince of the Blood retitled prince français), taking effect from the inception of the Legislative Assembly on 1 October 1791. The title was restored in potentia under the Bourbon Restoration of Louis XVIII, but there would not be another Dauphin until after his death. With the accession of his brother Charles X, Charles' son and heir Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême automatically became Dauphin.

With the removal of the Bourbons the title fell into disuse, the heirs of Louis Philippe I being titled Prince Royal. After the death of Henri, comte de Chambord, Carlos, Duke of Madrid, the heir of the legitimist claimant, Juan, Count of Montizón, made use of the title in pretense, as have the Spanish legitimist claimants since.

Gallery of Arms

File:Arms of the Dauphin of France.svg|Arms of the Dauphin of France, depicting the fleur-de-lis and the dolphin. Image:Dauphin of Viennois Arms.svg|Arms of the Dauphiné Image:Blason dauphine fr Bretagne.svg|Arms of Dauphin François, Duke of Brittany. File:Arms of Francis, Dauphin of France and King consort of Scots.svg|Arms of Dauphin Francis, King-consort of Scots. Image:Crown of the Dauphin of France.svg|Heraldic Crown of the Dauphin of France.

List of Dauphins

In literature

In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck encounters two odd characters who turn out to be professional con men. One of them claims that he should be treated with deference, since he is "really" an impoverished English duke, and the other, not to be outdone, reveals that he is "really" the Dauphin "Looy the Seventeen, son of Looy the Sixteen and Marry Antonet".

Louis, Duke of Guyenne, the Dauphin of Viennois, is a character in William Shakespeare's Henry V. Another Shakespeare play, King John, features the future Louis VIII as "Lewis the Dauphin" - this is an anachronisms, as he died over a century before the term was applied to French heirs-apparent.

In Baroness Emma Orczy's Eldorado, the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues the Dauphin from prison and helps spirit him from France.

Alphonse Daudet wrote a short story called "The Death of the Dauphin", about a young Dauphin who wants to stop Death from approaching him.

The Dauphin is also mentioned in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.

"The Dauphin" is a 1988 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the titular character (a planetary princess) is female, the episode title gets the gender incorrect (the French female equivalent is "Dauphine").

Robert Pattinson portrays the Dauphin of Viennois in The King.

References

Sources

References

1. "dauphin {{!}} French political history".
2. (2 April 2014). "Louis, Dauphin of France Biography". A&E Television Networks.