It's Good to Rule

It’s good to be a prince. Power, prestige, the family jewels, seems like a good job to me. The Daniilovichi princes of Moscow inherited family lands, married exotic princesses, and had power. Of course, there were problems too. The muscovite princes had the makings of an empire in their grasp. By carefully choosing marriage alliances they had formed strong bonds with the right allies and were in a strong position politically. The grand princes were not only competing with foreign countries, but were competing amongst themselves for supremacy. Unlike the ottomans that arrange their control to inhibit nobility from coming to power, Russia produced nobility that was both involved in the imperial project and contingent on the autocrat. They allowed their ruling families to truly have control and manipulate the state for the best interest of the whole.

    In China family order dictated who would rule. During the Qiny dynasty, Emperor Kangxi inferred the right to choose his successor as the most capable of his heirs. This new found competition for the crown kept princes alert and concentrated. Suddenly it wasn’t enough to simply be born the oldest, or even second; you had to be the best ruler, best according to the son of heaven, imperial god, the Emperor. Sounds stressful to me. Maybe it wasn’t so great to be a prince.

    Regardless of where a prince ruled, or whether an heir was born or chosen, being a prince would have been hard work. Russia or China, both would have their problems and both states nobility would suffer as modernity altered the nobility’s abilities. It sounds like it would be fun to be a prince, to lead troops into battle, wear fancy clothes and have your head printed on a coin. But it reality royalty were responsible for dictating a nations politics of difference, where the imperial intersections lay, manifesting religious piety and devotion, and in short taking care of an entire nation. Peter the Great. Tzar of Russia altered the churches power during his reign and many of his people resented the change. Wasn’t he just doing what he thought best? During the Ming dynasty China adopted a anti-foreigner policy that didn’t last and proved mainly to set China back technologically for generations. Wasn’t the emperor only trying to protect his people and cultural identity? Maybe being a prince would be more than I want, and certainly more than I can handle. While the job sounds like fun, I think I’ll stick to being a student, a bit less glamorous, and just a wee bit simpler. All thought, a shiny crown? That’s quite an incentive…