APANAGE(apanagium, probably from panis, bread), the provision in the form of lands or feudal superiorities made for younger sons by the kings of France. The custom of bestowing apanages was first established under the dynasty of the Capets; the rule at an earlier period being that the kingdom should be divided as equally as possible among all the members of the family on the death of the sovereign. Hallam (Middle Ages, c. i. part 2) points out how the possession of apanages made the princes of the blood royal “a distinct and formidable class of men.” They were generally opposed to the sovereign, and the sovereign on his part endeavoured to check their power as much as possible. From the time of Louis VIII. apanages were held subject to the condition that they should revert to the crown on the extinction of heirs-male. (See Pasquier’s Recherches, ii. 18; Henault’s Histoire de France, anno 1283.) In England, where apanage is not a legal term, the word is used popularly in a variety of cognate senses.