The Capet dynasty was one of the longest ruling families in Europe. So, when Philip IV, the Fair, died, there was no trouble on the horizon either. After all, Philip had three grown up sons Louis, Philip and Charles, who were supposed to continue the Capet dynasty for many years in future. Philip the Fair also had a daughter Isabella married to the king of England Edward II.

But everything went awry after all three sons died one after another, after ruling for a very short period of time. What was even worse: neither of these French kings was able to provide a single surviving male heir to the throne.

Still, it seemed that the dynasty would not end. The strongest claim to the throne belonged to Isabella’s son, king of England Edward III. However, the French interpretation of medieval Salic law only recognized the male line. French nobility demanded the throne be passed through the male descendants of late Charles of Valois. It was also evident, that no Frenchman would accept an English King as his ruler.

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In the beginning of the 4th century AD Persian Sassanid Kingdom was in bad shape. There was a chain of weak rulers that were losing big parts of the kingdom to Roman emperors. Last one Hormizd II could not even control his nobles and was killed by Arab Bedouins while hunting in 309.

The the situation got completely out of control. While Arabs continued to plunder Sassanid kingdom, Persian nobles killed the eldest son of Hormizd II. They did not stop there and blinded the second son and imprisoned the third son who managed to escape to Romans after years of imprisonment. They wanted somebody that would completely control in future, so they stopped their choice on the unborn child! One of Hormizd’s wives was pregnant and she did not pose any threat to the nobles.

So they did the unthinkable, which does not have the precedent in the ancient or modern history. In 309 A.D. they crowned the unborn child who was still in uterus! The coronation of the unborn king was also the strangest one - the crown was put on mother’s belly. Therefore, the boy, who was given a name Shapur became a king even before he was born. In the end Persian nobles miscalculated.

Although, Shapur II was completely controlled by nobles and his mother, as soon as he came of age he quickly assumed the power and became the absolute and very effective ruler. He was a king for full seventy years till his death in 379. And this is considered the First Golden Era of Sassanid Empire.