A grant of land or money given by a ruler to a family member, especially a younger son, to provide them with income and status.
From French apanage, from Old French apaner (to provide with bread), from Latin panis (bread). The term evolved from literal sustenance provision to mean any hereditary endowment or estate.
European kings used apanages to keep younger sons happy and prevent civil wars—if your older brother got the kingdom, you got a duchy or county as your apanage. This system partly explains why medieval Europe had so many dukes and counts constantly jockeying for power.
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