Gavelkind/Primogeniture Conundrum

[sharkeyanti]

So I just hit some big issue in my Croatia game that I can't quite figure out. I'm only on my third ruler here in 1165 (!) and the kingdom of Croatia has had a series of very successful Crusades. First gaining Jerusalem, then Sicily, and just recently Andalusia (although only about 1/3 of the de jure area for that kingdom). My primary is Croatia, which is Agnatic-Cognatic Gavelkind. After the First Crusade, I set Jerusalem to High Crown Authority and stuck Primogeniture on right quick so my large number of holdings in the holy land wouldn't be spread out among sons. I have kept Crown Authority at Medium in Croatia, waiting for the right time to bump it up and go primogeniture.

Well, my old ruler has had a lot of kids through 3 wives. The first son I married to the future Queen of Poland, wherein he had a son and 2 daughters then died rather young. So my heir grew into the King of Poland, of course being in line for my titles. Well, King of Poland dies in battle. My second son had also died, but had too produced a son. This is now my heir. Now, losing the potential inheritance of Poland to my dynasty sucks, but I'll live with it if I have to (as I have many sons who would precede King of Poland's son). But, here is my problem, my new heir is only in line to gain the Kingdom of Croatia. King of Poland's son is in line for EVERY OTHER title and holding. Literally everything. So I took a look around to see if I could just try to kill some of these kids -- which I'd have to do fast as my king is 73 and gets sick every year. Even worse, the first pretender to the throne of Croatia is not King of Poland's son, it is rather the Kaiser himself! I secured an alliance with his father through my now-dead sister, I believe. It's hard to tell exactly why he is second in line. Killing the Kaiser would be - ahem - rather difficult. But I also want to keep all these kingdoms here, Croatia's coat of arms is just too good.

So should I go for primogeniture ASAP? That would pass all my titles through the first son to his son and so forth correct? As it stands my heir of ONLY the kingdom of Croatia (no holdings) is my dead second son's firstborn. What would be the best approach to protect my most stable bastion of Catholic morality that is Croatia? We who have never tasted defeat at the hands of the infidels (thanks HRE x100). Would perhaps changing my primary to Jerusalem be the best course of action?

Thanks!

[Culinia]

If you want your oldest male heir to inherit all titles, and in the event of death, his sons then yes, Primogeniture is the way to go.

Another alternative is Agnatic-Elective if you can't switch from Medium Crown Authority > High Crown Authority although make sure the vassals love you otherwise they will vote for someone else.

[guyfawkes5]

Primogeniture passes the entirety of your holdings onto your first-born son or daughter (depending on your succession laws), yes.

Gavelkind succession can be controlled and can be even more powerful than primogeniture as it gives an increased desemne limit and allows you to pick heirs other than your first-born, but it requires more planning through slowly ruling out your other children out of any inheritance successively (through enacting gender succession laws, murder, or making them clergy).

I don't think this is appropriate to your situation this time however, as it seems a lot of these factors are now outside of your control.

[sharkeyanti]

It's not the basics I'm concerned about. Perhaps my main query here is why does my dead second son's son inherit ONLY the kingdom of Croatia (my primary) and no holdings, whereas the son of my first son's son (now the King of Poland, inheriting from his father) inherits everything else. To clarify:

A. Me
B. My first son who is dead
C. The son of B, the first Tpimirovic king of Poland, who is dead. He was my heir until he died in combat just now.
D. The son of C, the current king of Poland, and the heir to all my titles except that of Croatia.

I want the King of Poland to inherit it all, so I'm trying to get the throne of Croatia to him. Does the heir to my primary have to be close kin? I liked having gavelkind for the demesne increase, but I can live without it. I have lots of sons, and they have plenty of sons. Why are these specific sons splitting the kingdoms in this fashion? I'll probably just go primogeniture as the easiest solution; I would like, though, to find out quite why the succession laws are working like this. And that damned Kaiser!