Editing Salic law (section)

====The succession in 1316====
For a remarkably long period, from the inception of the Capetian dynasty in 987 until the death of [[Louis X of France|Louis X]] in 1316, the eldest living son of the King of France succeeded to the throne upon his demise. No prior occasion existed to demonstrate whether or not females were excluded from the succession to the crown. Louis X died without a son, but left his wife pregnant. The king's brother, [[Philip V of France|Philip, Count of Poitiers]], became regent. Philip prepared for the contingencies with [[Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy]], maternal uncle of Louis X's daughter and prospective heiress, [[Joan II of Navarre|Joan]]. If the unborn child were<!-- subjunctive --> male, he would succeed to the French throne as king; if female, Philip would maintain the regency until the daughters of Louis X reached their majority. The opportunity remained for either daughter to succeed to the French throne.

The unborn child proved to be male, [[John I of France|John I]], to the relief of the kingdom, but the infant lived for only a few days. Philip saw his chance and broke the agreement with the Duke of Burgundy by having himself anointed at Reims in January 1317 as [[Philip V of France]]. [[Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy|Agnes of France]], daughter of [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]], mother of the Duke of Burgundy, and maternal grandmother of the Princess Joan, considered it a usurpation and demanded an assembly of the peers, which Philip V accepted.

An assembly of prelates, lords, the bourgeois of Paris, and doctors of the university, known as the [[Estates General (France)|Estates-General]] of 1317, gathered in February. Philip V asked them to write an argument justifying his right to the throne of France. These "general statements" agreed in declaring that "Women do not succeed in the kingdom of France", formalizing Philip's usurpation and the impossibility for a woman to ascend the throne of France, a principle that remains in force to this day. The Salic law, at the time, was not yet invoked; the arguments put forward in favor of Philip V relied only on the degree of proximity of Philip V with Louis X. Philip had the support of the nobility and had the resources for his ambitions.

Philip won over the Duke of Burgundy by giving him his daughter, also named [[Joan III, Countess of Burgundy|Joan]], in marriage, with the counties of [[County of Artois|Artois]] and [[County of Burgundy|Burgundy]] as her eventual inheritance. On March 27, 1317, a treaty was signed at [[Laon]] between the Duke of Burgundy and Philip V, wherein Joan renounced her right to the throne of France.