Despite the fact that we live in a world where there is more and more talk about democracy and the electoral system, dynastic traditions are still strong in many countries. All dynasties in Europe are similar to each other. Moreover, each dynasty is special in its own way.
Windsors (Great Britain), since 1917
The youngest
British monarchs are genealogically representatives of the Hanoverian and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasties, and more broadly of the Wettins, who had fiefdoms in Hanover and Saxony.
During the First World War, King George V decided that it was wrong to be called in German and in 1917 a proclamation was issued, according to which the descendants of Queen Victoria, representing the Hanoverian dynasty, and Prince Albert in the male line - British subjects - were declared members of the new House of Windsor, and in 1952, Elizabeth II improved the document in her favor, declaring her descendants who are not descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the male line to be members of the house. That is, de facto, from the point of view of normal monarchical genealogy, Prince Charles and his descendants are not Windsors, the dynasty is interrupted by Elizabeth II, and they belong to the Glucksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg, which rules in Denmark and Norway, because Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, is from there. By the way, the Russian Emperor Peter III and all his descendants in the male line are also from the House of Oldenburg by blood.
Bernadotte (Sweden), from 1810
The most revolutionary
The son of a lawyer from Gascony, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte chose a military career and became a general during french revolution. His relationship with Napoleon did not work out from the very beginning; the ambitious Gascon considered himself better than Bonaparte, but he fought very successfully for the emperor. In 1810, the Swedes offered him to become the adopted son of a childless king, and, after he accepted Lutheranism, they approved him as crown prince, and soon as regent and de facto ruler of Sweden. He entered into an alliance with Russia and fought against the French in 1813-1814, personally leading the troops. So the current ruler, Carl XVI Gustav, is very similar to the Gascon with his nose.
Glücksburg (Denmark, Norway), from 1825
The most Russian
The full name of the dynasty is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. And they themselves are a branch of the House of Oldenburg, the interweaving of whose descendants are extremely complex; they ruled in Denmark, Norway, Greece, the Baltic states, and even under the name of the Romanovs - in Russia. The fact is that Peter III and his descendants, according to all dynastic rules, are just Glücksburg. In Denmark, the Glucksburg throne is currently represented by Margrethe II, and in Norway by Harald V.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, from 1826
The most accommodating
The family of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originates from the ancient German house of Wettin. As was customary in the 18th-19th centuries, the descendants of various German branches of the ancient ruling houses were actively used in dynastic marriages. And so the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas did not spare their offspring for the common cause. Catherine II was the first to establish this tradition by marrying her grandson Konstantin Pavlovich, Duchess Juliana (in Russia, Anna).
Then Anna betrothed her relative Leopold to the British Princess Charlotte, and his sister Victoria, married to Edward of Kent, gave birth to a daughter, Victoria, who would become the most famous British queen. And her son Prince Alfred (1844-1900), Duke of Edinburgh, married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, sister of Alexander III. In 1893, the prince inherited the title of Duke of Coburg and it turned out that an Englishman and a Russian were at the head of the German family. Their granddaughter Princess Alix became the wife of Nicholas II. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty is now genealogically on the British throne and completely, without any reservations, in the Belgian in the person of Philip Leopold Louis Marie.
Orange dynasty (Netherlands), from 1815
The most power-hungry
The descendants of the glorious William of Orange regained influence in the Netherlands only after the final defeat of Napoleon, when the Congress of Vienna established monarchical rule there. The wife of the second king of the Netherlands, Willem II, was the sister of Alexander I and the daughter of Paul I, Anna Pavlovna, so the current king, Willem Alexander, is the great-great-great-grandson of Paul I. In addition, the modern The Royal Family although she continues to consider herself a member of the Orange dynasty, in fact, Willem Alexander's grandmother Julian belongs to the House of Mecklenburg, and Queen Beatrix belongs to the Westphalian princely house of Lippe. This dynasty can be called power-hungry because the three previous queens abdicated the throne in favor of their descendants.
Bourbons of Parma (Luxembourg), since 1964
The most seedy
In general, the Parma Bourbon line was at one time a fairly famous and ambitious Italian dynasty, but it fell into almost complete decline with the loss of its fiefs in late XIX century. So she would have vegetated, being a more or less successful aristocratic family, but one of the offspring, Felix, married the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Charlotte of Orange. So the Bourbons of Parma became the ruling dynasty of the dwarf state of Luxembourg and lead a modest life, raising children, protecting wildlife and preserving the Luxembourgish language. The status of an offshore zone and 200 banks per microcountry allows them not to think about their daily bread.
Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein), since 1607
The most noble
Throughout its rich history - the house has been known since the 12th century - they have not gotten involved in big politics, perhaps because at the very beginning they realized that they could part with everything quite quickly. They acted slowly, carefully, helped the powers that be - they far-sightedly bet on the Habsburgs, created successful alliances, easily changed religion, either leading the Lutherans or returning to Catholicism. Having received the status of imperial princes, the Liechtensteins did not seek to intermarry with foreign families and strengthened their dynastic ties within the Holy Roman Empire.
Actually, Liechtenstein was at first a secondary possession for them, which they acquired, since their overlord was de jure the emperor, in order to enter the Reichstag and increase their political importance. Then they became related to the Habsburgs, who confirmed their homogeneity, and to this day the Liechtensteins are distinguished by great attention to dynastic ties, marrying only with high-ranking nobles. It is worth adding to the above that GDP per capita in Liechtenstein is second in the world after Qatar - $141,000 per year. This is not least due to the fact that the dwarf state is a tax haven where various companies can hide from the taxes of their countries, but not only. Liechtenstein has a thriving high-tech industry.
Grimaldi (Monaco), from 1659
The most rootless
Grimaldi is one of the four families that ruled the Genoese Republic. Since constant skirmishes took place there in the 12th – 14th centuries between supporters of the power of the pope, the Ghibellines, and the emperor, the Guelphs, Grimaldi had to periodically run around nearby Europe. That's how they found Monaco for themselves. In 1659, the owners of Monaco accepted the princely title and received the title of Dukes de Valentinois from Louis XIII. They spent almost all their time at the French court. But this is all in the past, and in 1733 the family was cut short, and those who are now Grimaldi actually descend from the Duke of Estuteville, who was obliged by the marriage contract to take his surname by the rulers of Monaco. The current Prince Albert and his sisters are descended from the marriage of Count Polignac with the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II, who ruled the principality from 1922 to 1949. But Albert’s lack of nobility more than makes up for it with the publicity he works for the principality.
Princes of Andorra - Bishops of Urgell, from the 6th century
The most ancient
Since 1278, Andorra has had two prince-rulers - the Bishop of Urgell and someone from France, first the Count of Foix, then the King of Navarre, and now the president of the republic. Episcopal rule is a historical atavism of the secular rule of the Catholic Church. The Urgell, or, more correctly, Urgell diocese was founded in the 6th century, and since then the bishops have traced their genealogy. The current prince is Bishop Joan-Enric Vives i Sisilla, a theologian, practicing priest and public figure. But for us, of particular interest in the history of Andorra and the bishops of Urgell is 1934, when they were removed from the throne by the Russian adventurer Boris Skosyrev. He came to Andorra, proclaimed himself king, and either the instigated or bribed General Council of the country supported him. The new king issued a lot of liberal documents, but when he decided to make a gambling zone there, the previously loyal bishop rebelled. And although King Boris I declared war on him, he still won, calling reinforcements from Spain of five national guards.
Spanish Bourbons (since 1713)
The most extensive
About what's in Lately The Spanish Bourbons are the most disgraced, everyone knows, but they are also the most extensive of the Bourbons historically. They have as many as six lateral branches, including the most significant - Carlist - from the Infanta Don Carlos the Elder. IN early XIX century, he was the purest contender for the Spanish throne, but due to the pragmatic sanction of Ferdinand VII in 1830, who transferred the throne to his daughter Isabella, he remained out of work. A strong party formed behind Carlos, he started two wars, called Carlist (his grandson Carlos the Younger participated in the third). The Carlist movement in Spain was significant until the 1970s; formally it still exists, but it has no significance in politics, although they have their own contender for the throne - Carlos Hugo.
The most famous royal dynasties of Europe
Habsburgs-The first reliable ancestor of the Habsburg family is considered to be Guntram the Rich, mentioned in 938, who owned lands in the Swiss regions of Aargau and Thurgau. The county of Habsburg, which gave the family its name, is located in Switzerland. The dynasty became royal in 1273, when Count Rudolf of Habsburg, after a long period of “kinglessness,” was elected king of Germany (1273-1291). He managed to move the center of his possessions to the east, acquiring in the 1280s. Austrian and Styrian duchies.
The first crowned Holy Roman Emperor from the Habsburg family was Frederick III (1440-1493). From that time on, the imperial crown remained in the Habsburg family.
The Habsburgs' ability to successfully arrange marriages became proverbial. The son of Frederick III, Maximilian I, thanks to his marriage in 1477 with the only heiress of the Duchy of Burgundy, Mary, turned out to be the owner of the Netherlands and a claimant to the entire “Burgundian inheritance,” which gave rise to a century-long dispute between the Habsburgs and the French dynasty.
The son of Maximilian and Maria, thanks to his marriage to Infanta Juana, was King of Castile (Philip I) in 1504-1506; their eldest son Charles inherited the Spanish throne in 1516 (Charles I), and in 1519, after the death of his grandfather Maximilian, was elected emperor under the name Charles V (1519-1556), combining imperial authority with the resources of the huge Spanish colonial power.
Charles's brother Ferdinand was married to the sister of Louis II Jagiellon, king of Hungary and Bohemia, and, after his childless brother-in-law fell in battle with the Turks at Mohács in 1526, he occupied both thrones.
In 1556, Charles V abdicated the throne and divided his domains. Spain, along with the Netherlands, Franche-Comté and lands in Italy, went to his son Philip II, and brother Ferdinand, king of Hungary and the Czech Republic, received the imperial dignity with the ancestral Austrian duchies; This is how the contours of the future Austro-Hungarian monarchy were first outlined. From here came the division of the Habsburgs into two branches - Spanish and Austrian, which were in the closest political and dynastic union with each other, claiming political hegemony in Europe as defenders of Catholicism.
The Spanish branch of the Habsburgs died out in 1700, giving way to the Bourbons. And 40 years later, after the death of Emperor Charles VI in 1740, the only heir to the Austrian branch was his daughter Maria Theresa. The latter's rights were disputed by her cousin, the Bavarian Elector of the Wittelsbach family, the husband of another Austrian princess. The pan-European War of the Austrian Succession began, during which the Elector was crowned Emperor Charles VII in 1742, but after his death in 1745, Maria Theresa and her husband Francis I, Grand Duke of Tuscany and former Duke of Lorraine took possession of the imperial crown.
With the death of Maria Theresa in 1780, the Habsburg family died out, but her and Franz’s descendants, representatives of the House of Lorraine, took the name of the extinct dynasty (for accuracy, their house is called Habsburg-Lorraine.
Plantagenets(Plantagenets) (Angevin dynasty), royal dynasty in England from 1154-1399. The most famous representatives: Henry II, Richard I the Lionheart, John the Landless, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II. Lateral branches of the Plantagenets are Lancasters and Yorks.
Wittelsbach- (Wittelsbacher), a South German princely family who ruled 1180-1918 in Bavaria. It got its name from the burg (castle) of Wittelsbach, located on the Paar River in Upper Bavaria. Wittelsbach was first mentioned in 1115. In 1180, Count Otto VI Wittelsbach (d. 1183), an ally of Emperor Frederick I Staufen, received the Duchy of Bavaria from him, after Henry the Lion was deprived of his possessions.
In 1208 Wittelsbach Castle was destroyed. A church and an obelisk now stand in its place. In 1214, Otto II Wittelsbach acquired rights to the Rhine Palatinate through marriage. In 1329, the Wittelsbachs were divided into two lines: the elder, established in the Rhineland and Upper Palatinate (from 1356 - electors), and the younger (in the Duchy of Bavaria), to which in 1623, after the defeat of Frederick V of the Palatinate at the White Mountain (during the Thirty Years' War ), passed on the title of Elector.
The plots of the representatives of the family changed their sizes several times. With the end of the Bavarian Wittelsbach family (1777), the Palatinate Wittelsbachs united Bavaria and the Palatinate in 1779 after the War of the Bavarian Succession. In 1806-1918 they were the kings of Bavaria. Three representatives of the House of Wittelsbach were German and Swedish kings and Holy Roman Emperors: Louis IV of Bavaria, Ruprecht of the Palatinate (reigned 1400-1410, was not crowned), and Charles VII (reigned 1742-1745). Representatives of one of the Wittelsbach branches also laid claim to the Spanish crown.
Grimaldi(Grimaldi), the ruling dynasty in the Principality of Monaco, the oldest among the sovereign houses of Europe. The Grimaldi family has been known since the 12th century. and comes from Genoa, where he was once one of the most powerful in the Guelph party. The Principality of Monaco has been under the control of the Grimaldi family since the end of the 13th century, with short interruptions. Since 1949, the principality has been headed by Prince Rainier III.
Hohenzollern- The family of Prussian kings originates from the southern German land of Swabia, where their direct ancestor Burkhard von Zollern (Zollern) is known in the middle of the 11th century. His great-grandson became burgrave of the wealthy Nuremberg in 1192. Already in the next generation, in the 13th century, the house was divided into two lines: one retained its ancestral lands in Swabia, the other (Franconian) established itself in Nuremberg. It was this latter that had a great future ahead of it.
The Hohenzollerns were relatively unnoticeable until the beginning of the 15th century, when the Burgrave of Nuremberg, Frederick VI, bought the Electorate of Brandenburg from Emperor Sigismund and became Elector Frederick I (1415-1440). In Franconia, around Nuremberg, the lands of the Hohenzollerns remained - the Margraviates of Ansbach and Bayreuth, which were transferred into the possession of the younger branches of the family. In December 1510, young Albrecht of Hohenzollern, cousin Elector, was elected Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. After 15 years, the Reformation won in the lands of the order. Having accepted Lutheranism, Albrecht announced the secularization of the order's possessions and their transformation into a secular state. Thus, in 1525, the Duchy of Prussia arose with its center in Königsberg under the hereditary rule of the Hohenzollerns.
After the death in 1618 of his son Albrecht, who had no male offspring, Prussia was inherited by the Brandenburg Elector Johann Sigismund (1608-1619) as the head of the family and also the son-in-law of the late Duke.
The Brandenburg electors became kings in 1701, when Elector Frederick III received the crown of Prussia from Emperor Leopold I, who needed his military assistance; the former duchy was thereby elevated to the rank of a kingdom.
The political center of the state remained in Brandenburg, but it is significant that Frederick (from now on he became known as King Frederick I) took the royal dignity from his Prussian possessions, which were not part of the Holy Roman Empire - this emphasized his independence. The name Prussia has become the common name of the country; the Prussian lands themselves are now increasingly called East Prussia. Just three years before the Great French Revolution, King Frederick II the Great died and was succeeded on the throne by his nephew, Frederick William II (1786-1797), who cannot withstand any comparison with his highly gifted uncle. In terms of physical and mental make-up, this narrow-minded, corpulent giant resembles the Bourbon monarchs of his time - with the difference that piety and sentimentality do not prevent him from being a bigamist, although he enters into morganatic marriages with ladies-in-waiting with the consent of the queen and with the indispensable approval of the Lutheran consistory. As a reaction to the style of Frederick II, the new king cannot stand French culture and Enlightenment skepticism.
We have already mentioned the close dynastic ties between the Hohenzollerns and the English House of Hanover. Marriages with the Danish Oldenburgs are even more traditional: they go back to the 15th century: the Brandenburg princess Dorothea was the wife of the first Danish king from the Oldenburg family. Let us also note connections with the Swedish dynasties (Maria Eleonora, the wife of the famous king Gustav Adolf, came from the Hohenzollern family, and the sister of Frederick II, Louise Ulrika, was also the Swedish queen) and with the Orange house of the Dutch Stathouders (the “Great Elector” Frederick William in the 17th century was married to princess of the House of Orange, and the sister of King Frederick William II was married to Stadthouder Willem V). At the same level and in the same circle, the princesses of the lateral branches of the house, Bayreuth and Ansbach, conclude their marriages: the first in the 18th century gave the Queen of Denmark (wife of Christian VI), the second - the Queen of England (wife of George II). Since 1769, after the suppression of the Bayreuth branch, both margraviates have been united by a union, and the margrave will abdicate power already in 1791, transferring his possessions to Prussia, which for the first time will acquire a bridgehead in southern Germany.
Princes from the Swabian line of the family lead an inconspicuous existence on the ancestral lands of the Hohenzollerns. IN late XVIII centuries there have been two branches of this line, Ehingen and Sigmaringen. The latter would give rise to the royal dynasty of Romania in the 19th century.
Bourbons- (Bourbon) - an old French family, which, thanks to its relationship with the royal house of the Capetians, occupied the French and other thrones for a long time. Its name comes from the castle of B. in the former province of Bourbonnais. The first lord of this family mentioned in history was Adhemar, who founded the priory of Souvigny in Bourbonnais in 921. His fourth successor, Archambault I, changed the name of the family castle, adding his name to it, resulting in Bourbon l "Archambault. Under his heirs, B.'s possessions increased significantly so that Archambault VII could already receive the hand of Agnes of Savoy, which made him Louis's brother-in-law Tolstoy His son Archambault VIII had only one daughter Mago, and his possessions, therefore, passed after a long dispute in 1197 to Guy de Dampie, her second husband.
Their son, Archambault IX, was so powerful that Countess Blanca of Champagne made him protector of her county for life, and King Philip Augustus elevated him to constable of Auvergne. — Archambault X left two daughters, Mago and Agnes, who both married into the House of Burgundy. Only the second of them left an heiress in the person of Beatrice, who in 1272 married Robert, the sixth son of Saint Louis, King of France. Having thus been united by ties of kinship with the royal house of the Capetians, the Bourbons, as a subsidiary branch of this family, acquired, after the death of the last male descendant of the other branch, the Valois, legal rights to the French throne. Beatrice and Robert's son, Louis I the Lame, inherited the County of Clermont from his father. Charles the Fair made him duke in 1327. His eldest son, Peter I, second Duke of Bourbon, was killed in the battle of Poitiers, where he covered with his own body and thereby saved King John. His son and heir, Louis II, called the Good, had to follow the captive king to England as a hostage and returned to France only after the peace concluded at Bretigny in 1360. After the death of Charles V (1380), Louis, along with 3 other royal princes, was elected guardian of the young Charles VI. In 1391, he undertook a naval expedition with 80 ships against the robber states on the North African coast. John I, the fourth Duke of B., distinguished by his knightly refined treatment, was captured at the Battle of Agincourt and taken to England, where he died.
Charles I, Duke of B., took an active part in concluding the Peace of Arras, then several times rebelled against Charles VII. John II, Duke of B., nicknamed the Good, fought the English in 1450 at Formigny and in 1453 at Castiglione, died childless; he was succeeded by his brother Charles II, cardinal and archbishop of Lyon, who died a year later, after which all the property and possessions of the main branch of Beaujeu passed to the side line of Bourbon-Beaujeu, namely to Peter, Count of Beaujeu. The latter, a favorite and personal friend of Louis XI, married his daughter Anne, and was one of the regents of France during the childhood of Charles VIII. He was the eighth Duke of Bourbon, although he is better known as sire de Beaujeu. The rights of his daughter Suzanne to the inheritance, however, began to be disputed by Charles Bourbon, the famous constable. Wanting to reconcile both sides, Louis XII united them in marriage, after which Charles became the ninth Duke of B. Because he entered into an alliance with Emperor Charles V against France, the independence of the Duchy of B. was destroyed in 1523, and it was included in states.
Of the various collateral lines of the same family, after the expulsion of the constable, the Vendome line acquired particular importance. It originates from Jacob B., Comte de la Marche, the second son of Louis the Lame, and through the marriage of Anton B., Duke of Vendome, with Jeanne d'Albret, first reached the Navarre throne, and then, after the death of the last representative of the house of Valois, occupied the French throne, in the person of Henry IV, and finally, through marriage and happy wars, the Spanish and Neapolitan throne.
Other lateral lines include Montpensier, Condé, Conti and Soissons. Only individual members of these lines bore the surname B.; such, for example, is Cardinal Charles de B., who, under the name Charles X, was nominated by the Catholic League as a candidate for the French throne.
B.'s dynasty on the French throne begins with Henry IV, son of Anton, Duke of Vendôme and King of Navarre, who, after the death in 1589 of Henry III, the last Capetian from the house of Valois, became, according to the Salian law of succession, the direct heir to the French throne. From his second wife, Marie de' Medici, Henry IV had five children, including Louis XIII, who succeeded him in 1610, Gaston, Duke of Orleans, who died without male issue; of Henry's three daughters, Henrietta Maria married Charles I of England.
Louis XIII, married to Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III of Spain, left two sons: Louis XIV, and Philip, who received the title of Duke of Orleans and became the founder of the younger Bourbon dynasty. The son of Louis XIV from his marriage to Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Philip IV, Dauphin Louis, nicknamed Monsieur, died already in 1711, leaving three sons from his marriage to Maria Anna of Bavaria: 1) Louis, Duke of Burgundy; 2) Philip, Duke of Anjou, later (from 1700) King of Spain, and 3) Charles, Duke of Berry.
Duke Louis of Burgundy died already in 1712; his wife, Maria Adelaide of Savoy, gave birth to 3 sons, two of whom died in early childhood, and the survivor became the heir of Louis XIV in 1715, under the name Louis XV. The latter had from Maria Leshchinskaya, daughter of the deposed Polish king Stanislaus, son of the Dauphin Louis, who married Marie-Joséphine of Saxony and died in 1765, leaving 3 sons: 1) Louis XVI, who was succeeded in 1774 by his grandfather, Louis XV; 2) Louis Stanislas-Xavier, Count of Provence, who in 1814 took the French throne under the name of Louis XVIII Charles-Philippe, Count of Artois, who succeeded his newly named brother under the name Charles X. From the wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette of Austria, were born: 1) Dauphin Louis, who died in 1789; 2) Louis, called Louis XVII and died in 1795, in 3) Maria - Theresa-Charlotte, called Madame royale, later Duchess of Angoulême who died in 1851. Louis XVIII had no children, while Charles X left two sons: 1) Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, who was considered the Dauphin before the revolution of 1830 and died without issue in 1844, and 2) Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, killed in 1820. The latter left two children: 1) Marie-Louise-Theresa, called Mademoiselle d'Artois, who married the Duke of Parma and died in 1864; 2) Henri-Charles-Ferdinand-Marie Diedonnet, Duke of Bordeaux, who later became the Count of Chambord as a representative senior branch B. His followers called him Henry V, since his uncle ceded his rights to the throne.With his death in 1883, the senior line of Bourbons died out.
Orleans line, ascended the French throne in 1830 and was deposed in 1848, traces its origins to the second son of Louis XIII and brother of Louis XIV, Duke Philippe I of Orleans d. in 1701. He left from his second marriage to Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Philip II Duke of Orléans, regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. The latter's son Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, † 1752, left a son. also Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, who died in 1785. His son Louis-Joseph-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, nicknamed Egalite, died in 1793 on the scaffold.
His eldest son Louis-Philippe, who during his father's lifetime bore the title of Duke of Chartres, and then Duke of Orleans, from 1830 to 1848 was the king of France and mind. 1850
Spanish line. Louis XIV placed his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, on the Spanish throne in 1700, and he, under the name of Philip V, laid the foundation for the Spanish Bourbon dynasty. He was succeeded by his son Ferdinand, who died childless; then reigned Charles III, brother of Ferdinand, and Charles IV, son of Charles III, overthrown by Napoleon. The eldest son of Charles IV, after the fall of the empire, ascended the Spanish throne under the name Ferdinand VII; and the second son, Don Carlos, had long been a contender for the Spanish crown. After the death of Ferdinand VII, two daughters remained: 1) Isabella Maria Louise, who, having ascended the Spanish throne under the name of Isabella II, was forced to renounce it in 1868; her son, Alphonse, took the throne again in 1875, under the name Alphonse XII; and after his death, which followed in 1885, the now reigning 5-year-old son Alfonso XIII succeeded. 2) Louise Marie Ferdinande, wife of Duke Anton Montpensier.
Neapolitan line. As a result of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies passed from Philip V of Spain to Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg. After the Peace of Vienna, Philip V's youngest son, Don Carlos, became King of the Two Sicilies in 1735 under the name Charles III. When the latter was to succeed his brother Ferdinand VI on the Spanish throne, he granted the crown of Naples and Sicily to his third son, named Ferdinand IV, with the condition that this crown should not henceforth be united with the crown of Spain. In 1806, Ferdinand IV had to flee from Naples, but after the fall of Napoleon he again became king of the Two Sicilies under the name of Ferdinand and. He was succeeded by his son Francis I, who left the throne to his son Ferdinand II, who was succeeded by his son under the name of Francis II. Francis II lost his throne in 1860, and his possessions passed to the new Kingdom of Italy.
The duchies of Parma and Piacenza were given by Austria at the Peace of Aachen in 1748 to the youngest son of Philip V, Don Philip, with the condition that, in the absence of male offspring, or if they have one, the throne of the two Sicilies or the Spanish one, both duchies pass back to Austria . Philip was succeeded in 1765 by his son Ferdinand. The latter's son, Louis, received Tuscany in 1802 with the title of King of Etruria; he was succeeded by his son Karl Ludwig Ferdinand, who was soon, however, forced to renounce the throne (Etruria passed to France). At the Congress of Vienna, Parma and Piacenza passed to Napoleon's wife Marie-Louise, and the Parma Bourbon line was given the Duchy of Lucca in return. After the death of Marie Louise (1847), Parma and Piacenza again went over to the line of B., which, for its part, had returned the Duchy of Lucca to Tuscany even earlier. Its representative at that time was Charles III, who was killed in 1854. From his marriage with the daughter of the Duke of Berry, four children remained, of whom the eldest, Robert-Charles-Louis-Maria, succeeded his father, and control of the state passed to the mother regent .
Přemyslid, Czech princely and royal dynasty in the 9th-14th centuries. (named after the legendary ancestor of the Czechs - the peasant plowman Přemysl). The most famous representatives: Wenceslas the Holy, Přemysl I, Přemysl II, Wenceslas II.
Arpads(Arpad), dynasty of Hungarian princes (889-1000) and kings (1000-1301). Major representatives: Istvan I, Laszlo I, Bela IV.
Saxon dynasty(Liudolfings, Liudolfing), in the Middle Ages a noble Saxon family, later a dynasty of German kings in 919-1024 and Holy Roman Emperors in 962-1024. Sometimes called the Ottonian dynasty after its three most prominent representatives: Otto I, Otto II, Otto III.
The founder of the dynasty, Count Liudolf (d. 866), probably came from Thuringia. Having acted on the side of Charlemagne during the Saxon War, he received a significant part of the confiscated lands in the valley of the Leine River (a tributary of the Aller River). The need to protect the lands from Slavic and Hungarian raids, as well as the close relationship of the Liudolfings with the Carolingian house, contributed to their rapid acquisition of ducal dignity.
In the middle of the 9th century, Liudolf already had ducal power in Eastphalia, and under his sons the influence of this family spread throughout Saxony. Ludolf's grandson, the future king Henry I of Saxony, having become engaged to Matilda, became related to the Saxon Duke Widukind, thereby establishing his dominance in Westphalia.
In 919 in Fritzlar, Duke Henry was elected king of the East Frankish kingdom. The details of this event, which is considered to be the beginning of the German kingdom itself, are not known for certain. There is no clear answer even to the question of whether the election took place with the knowledge of Conrad I, Henry I's predecessor on the royal throne, as Widukind of Corvey tells, or whether this is a later legend designed to justify the usurpation of power by the Ludolfings.
Under the Ottonians, who relied on the system of the imperial church they created, the German kingdom became the most powerful in Western Europe. Otto I, the son of Henry I, achieved the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which became a support for the implementation of the Otton missionary plans among the Slavs. During the reign of Otto II, a rebellion by representatives of the Bavarian branch of the Ludolfings under the leadership of Duke Henry the Ruffnut plunged the empire into crisis. The latter’s ambition, which prompted him to begin the fight for the royal crown during Otto III’s childhood, however, encountered resistance from part of the German nobility, led by Archbishop Willigis of Mainz. Royal power came to the Bavarian Ludolfings in the person of Henry the Bully's son, Henry II, only in 1002 after the death of Otto III, who left no heirs.
During the almost century-long rule of the Liudolfings in the East Frankish kingdom, the process of the formation of the German state was largely completed. It was during the reign of the Ottons that Saxony, which had previously been nothing more than a peripheral region of the Frankish state, finally became culturally an integral part of the Christian West.
The Ottones contributed to the flourishing of the sciences and arts, which coincided with the time of their reign. The brother of Otto I, Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, engaged in the education of the clergy, laid the foundation for the “imperial service” of bishops. On the ancestral lands, Ludolf and his wife Oda founded the convent of Gandersheim, as well as the Quedlinburg Abbey, where the remains of Henry I and Matilda rested.
The strong monarchical power, which ensured Germany not only peace and tranquility, but also political dominance in Europe, contributed to the flourishing of culture. The formation of a specific style, characteristic of the Ottonian Renaissance, coincided in time with the military successes of Otto I. It was most clearly manifested in book miniatures, fresco painting and bone carving. The style inherent in the architecture of this period is usually called Proto-Romanesque. The customers of Ottonian art, as well as Carolingian art, under whose noticeable influence it was formed, were emperors and church hierarchs. Images of these high-ranking persons are preserved in manuscript miniatures; among them, in addition to representatives of the ruling dynasty, are bishops Egbert of Trier, Berward of Hildesheim, Heron (future archbishop of Cologne); Abbots Rembold of the monastery of St. Emmeram and Humbert of Echternach, Abbesses Hitda of Meschede and Uta of Niedermunster. The largest manuscript workshops of the Ottonian era were located in Regensburg, Reichenau, Cologne, Echternach, and Fulda. The most luxurious and richly illustrated manuscripts were produced in monastic scriptoria, most often at Reichenau or Echternach. From the sculpture of this time, mainly crucifixes and reliquaries have reached us; the traditions of artistic casting were continued by the creators of the bronze gates of the Hildesheim and Mainz cathedrals.
Carolingians(Karolinger, Carlovingiens, Karolingiens) - members of the dynasty of Charlemagne. Their older generations (before Charlemagne) are sometimes called, after Pepin of Geristal, the Pipinids, or, after the name of the ancestor of K., Bishop of Metz, St. Arnulf - Arnulfingami. Arnulf (died 631) came from a noble family - probably Frankish. Together with the Austrasian mayor Pepin the Elder or Lanzensky (died 639), he took a prominent part in political life Merovingian kingdom. His son Anzegiz or Anzegizil married Pepin's daughter, Begge. Anzegisile occupied a prominent position at the Austrasian court (according to some reports, he himself was a majordomo), but soon after the death of his father he was killed. Anzegisil's son, Majordomo Pepin of Geristhal (died 714), united Austrasia and Neustria under his rule, although he did not eliminate the Merovingian kings.
This unification was strengthened by Pepin's son, Charles Martell. After his death (741), power was shared, with the title of mayordomos, by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, who elevated Childeric III to the Merovingian throne. After the death of Carloman and the imprisonment of Childeric in the monastery, Pepin became king (752 - 768). After his death, his two sons were proclaimed kings - Charlemagne (766 - 814, emperor from 800) and Carloman (died 771). Of the sons of Charlemagne (Charles, Pepin, Louis), only Emperor Louis the Pious (814 - 840) survived him. The discord that arose between his sons Lothair, Pepin (died 838), Louis the German and Charles the Bald ended in 843 with the Treaty of Verdun. The K. dynasty was divided into several branches.
Here are their main representatives: 1) the branch of Lothair, the eldest son of Louis the Pious, who received the title of emperor, Italy, part of Burgundy, Provence, Alsace and present-day Lorraine (died in 855). His sons: a) Louis II, imp. (died 875), received Italy, died without sons; the son of his daughter Ermengarde - Louis III the Blind, king of Italy (died 905); b) Lothair II received Lorraine (from him it took this name; died in 869); after his death, Lorraine was captured by Louis the German and Charles the Bald; c) Charles received the kingdom of Provence. 2) Branch of Louis the German, who received Germany - sons: a) Carloman, king of Bavaria and (from 877) Italian (died in 880); he has an illegitimate son, Arnulf, king of the Germans (887 - 899); Arnulf has a son, Louis III the Child, king of the Germans (900 - 911; last K. in Germany); Arnulf's daughter, Glismut, was married to Conrad, Duke of the Franks; from this marriage the son Conrad I, king of the Germans (911 - 918); b) Louis II the Young, received Franconia and Saxony, died in 882, without issue; c) Charles III the Thick, king of Allemania from 876, of Italy from 880, of all Germany - after the death of his brothers, from 881 - emperor, from 884 and king of France, thus again uniting the monarchy Charlemagne; deprived of power 887, died in 888. 3) Branch of Charles the Bald, who received France. His son, Louis II, Louis de Begue, died in 879; he has sons from his 1st marriage: a) Louis III (died in 882) and b) Carloman (died in 884), who ruled jointly, and from his 2nd marriage c) Charles the Simple (died in 929), first bypassed by the French barons in favor of Charles the Tolstoy (see above), elevated to French kings only in 893, then deprived of power in favor of Rudolf of Burgundy. Charles the Simple has a son, Louis lV Overseas, cor. from 936, died in I954; he has sons: a) Lothair 1 French. (died 986); b) Karl, Hertz. Lower Lorraine (died 991). Lothair I had a son, Louis V the Lazy (died 987), the last of the Kings who reigned in France. On the female side, K. were related to many German ducal houses, to Italian kings and to the Capetian house. -- See Warnkoenig et Gerard, "Histoire des Carolingiens" (1862); Bonvel, "Die Anfaenge des Karolingischen Hauses" (1866); Fustel de Coulanges, “Des transformations de la royaute pendant I epoque Carolingienne” (1892); M. Stasyulevich, “History of the Middle Ages in its writers and the research of the latest scientists” (vol. II, 2nd ed. 1886).
Capetians(Capetiens), the third dynasty of French kings, representatives of the direct line of which ruled the kingdom from 987 to 1328
In 987, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected king of France (987-96). His direct descendants remained on the throne throughout the mature Middle Ages: Robert the Pious (996-1031), Henry I (1031-60), Philip I (1060-1108), Louis VI (1108-37), Louis VII (1137-80) , Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), Louis VIII (1223-26), Louis IX the Saint (1226-70), Philip III the Brave (1270-85), Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314), Louis X (1314- 16), John I (1316), Philip V the Long (1316-22), Charles IV the Handsome (1322-28). Representatives of the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, who successively replaced the Capetians in the administration of the French state, were the offspring of younger, lateral lines of this family.
Merovingians(Latin Merovingi), the first royal dynasty in Frankish state(late 5th century - 751). Named after the semi-legendary founder of the family - Merovian, who was considered the son of a sea monster (a motif depicting a serpentine monster is found in the earliest works of art of the Merovingian period). The actual founder of the dynasty was Childeric I (ruled 457-481).
The most famous representative is Clovis I. Having inherited power over the Salic Franks (who lived in the valley of the Meuse River), he subjugated the Ripuarian (Rhenish) Franks who inhabited the middle reaches of the Rhine. In 486, at the Battle of Soissons, he defeated the troops of the Roman governor Syagrius, who controlled the remnants of Roman settlements in central Gaul. From the Visigothic kingdom, Clovis conquered lands from the Loire to the Garonne and successfully fought with the Burgundians and Alemanni. In 507, Aquitaine was annexed to his possessions. The Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I recognized Clovis's conquests and granted him the official title of consul. In 496 Clovis was baptized according to the Roman rite, along with 3 thousand of his associates. This most important event secured him the support of the Roman clergy, since the other barbarian kings at this time were all Arians. Under Clovis, the first written set of Frankish laws was created - “Salic Truth”.
After Clovis's death, the kingdom was divided among his four sons. During the reign of Chlothar I (558-561), the kingdom was briefly united as Chlothar's brothers died. After the second collapse, Austrasia, Burgundy and Neustria gradually separated from the kingdom, and Aquitaine was considered disputed territory. The next unification of the Frankish kingdom took place in 613 under Chlothar II (ruled 584-628, in Neustria until 613). In the 630s. it fell apart again.
Already in the conflict preceding the accession of Chlothar II (the story of Brünnhilde), the increased independent role of the nobility was clearly reflected. With his edict of 614, Chlothar granted a number of privileges to large and small feudal lords: counts (royal local administrators) were to be appointed only from among local landowners, and significant tax benefits were provided.
King Dagobert I (reigned 629-638) tried to find a way out in the secularization of church lands, but spoiled relations with the clergy, who turned the people against him.
Dagobert's heirs received the nickname "lazy kings", since the real power in different parts the kingdom passed to the mayors. The last Merovingian - King Childeric III - was overthrown with the support of the Pope by Majordomo Pepin the Short. Childeric and his son were forcibly tonsured monks.
Monuments of Merovingian art include mainly the art of the northern and central regions of France. In the monuments of the Merovingian period, late antique traditions, Gallo-Roman and barbarian styles are clearly visible. For architecture, the most typical are baptisteries, crypts, and basilica-type churches. Antique marble columns were often used in buildings. The Frankish influence was most pronounced in works of decorative and applied art. Features of animal and geometric style merged with late antique motifs. Flat-relief stone carving (sarcophagi), baked clay reliefs for decorating churches, and the manufacture of church utensils and weapons, richly decorated with gold and silver inserts and multi-colored precious stones, were widespread. Characteristic features include brooches, belt buckles, and details of horse harness.
Book miniatures were important for Merovingian art. The coloring of the initials and frontispieces was dominated by bright, simple color combinations. Merovingian italics were also subordinated to ornamental and decorative purposes. Habsburg Emperor Grimaldi Valois
Nemanjići, dynasty of rulers in Serbia in the 2nd half. 12th century -- 1371. Founder - Stefan Nemanja. Major representatives: Stefan Pervovenchanny, Milutin, Stefan Dusan.
Hohenstraufen(STAUFEN) (Staufen, Hohenstaufen), a dynasty of German kings and emperors of the “Holy Roman Empire” in 1138-1254, in 1197-1268 also kings of the Kingdom of Sicily.
They first appeared on the historical scene in the second half of the 11th century, when in 1079 Emperor Henry IV transferred the Duchy of Swabia to Frederick I Staufen. At the same time, Frederick was married to the only daughter of Henry IV, Agnes. In 1097, a peace was concluded in Mainz, according to which, after a long war with Berthold, the son of Rudolf of Swabia, and Berthold of Zähringen, who laid claim to the Duchy of Swabia, Swabia was finally assigned to Frederick. Emperor Henry V confirmed the rights of Frederick I's eldest son, Frederick One-Eye, to Swabia, and granted the youngest, Conrad, the Duchy of Franconia. With the death of the childless Henry V, his inheritance passed to the Staufens.
The elections held in Mainz disappointed the hopes of Frederick One-Eye for the throne - Lothair III of Saxony (1125-37), a longtime opponent of Henry V, became the German king. The election of Lothair of Saxony as king led to wars between supporters of Lothair and the Staufens, during which Conrad Staufen in 1127 was proclaimed king of Germany and Italy.
In Italy he was crowned by the Archbishop of Milan, but in the same year Conrad was excommunicated by Pope Honorius II. Having encountered resistance in Italy and realizing the weakness of his power in Germany, Conrad was forced to submit to Lothair III. The Staufen brothers and their troops accompanied the emperor during the next Italian campaign.
After the death of Lothair III in December 1137, Conrad's main competitor in the fight for the crown became the representative of the powerful House of Welf, Duke Henry the Proud of Bavaria, the son-in-law of the late emperor. Despite the fact that in 1138 Conrad Staufen was elected king (under the name Conrad III, 1138-1152), the Welf family remained for many years the main rival of the Staufens in Germany.
In the policy of the Staufens in the 12th - first half of the 13th centuries, two priority directions can be distinguished - military expeditions to Italy and participation in the crusading movement. The nephew of Conrad III, Frederick I Barbarossa (emperor from 1155), to whom the German crown passed due to the infancy of his son Conrad III, made six campaigns in Italy, ruining Milan in 1162, but after defeat in the Battle of Legnano (1176) he was forced to abandon from his claims to Italy. Frederick's son, Henry VI (1191-1197), inherited the Sicilian crown and united the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Sicily under his rule.
During the reign of Henry VI, the Staufen dynasty entered into short period the height of his power. Despite the fact that Henry VI failed to achieve the right to hereditary transfer of the crown, after his death his two-year-old son Frederick II was recognized as emperor.
During the childhood of Frederick II, the royal throne was occupied by Henry VI's younger brother, Duke Philip of Swabia (1198-1208), and after his murder the crown passed to the Staufens' rival, Otto of Brunswick, who was supported at that moment by the pope. Upon reaching adulthood, Frederick II (1220-1250), following the policies of his predecessors, tried to subjugate Italy to his influence. Unlike his father and great-grandfather, who did not achieve significant results in the Crusades, he managed, through diplomatic negotiations, to achieve the transfer of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to Christian rule in 1229 and to establish for himself the title of King of Jerusalem.
During Frederick's stay in the East, his son Henry VII, to whom control of Germany was transferred, united with Frederick of Austria, rebelled against his father, but after his return he was deposed and exiled to Apulia, where he died at the age of 31.
After Frederick's death in 1250, the period of decline of the Staufen dynasty began. Frederick was succeeded by his youngest son Conrad IV (1237-1254), who met strong resistance to his power in both Germany and Italy. He managed to pacify the rebels, but in 1254 he died before he could reap the benefits of his victory.
The Kingdom of Sicily passed into the hands of the eldest of the illegitimate sons of Frederick II - Manfred, governor of Sicily during the reign of Conrad IV. Frederick's other illegitimate son, Enzio, ruled the Sardinian kingdom, and other sons served as vicars general in Tuscany, Romagna, Marche Ancona and Spoleto. Manfred fell in battle with Charles of Anjou, who invaded Sicily in 1266, and seized the Sicilian throne after Manfred’s death. In 1268, the last legitimate scion of the Staufen family, the Swabian Duke Conradin, barely out of adolescence, tried to recapture the Kingdom of Sicily, but was captured and beheaded by order of Charles I of Anjou. The deaths of Manfred and Conradin were avenged by Peter III of Aragon, who married Manfred's daughter Constance, and conquered Sicily in 1282.
Babenbergs(Babenberger), an ancient Germanic family, from 976 margraves of the Bavarian East March (that was the name of the lands that later received the name of Austria), in 1156-1246 dukes of Austria, and in 1192-1246 also of Styria. The name was given after the family castle Babenberg, located in Franconia, west of the city of Bamberg.
Valois(Valois) - a small county of medieval France, in the province of Ile-de-France, and now divided between departments. Ains (Aisne) and Oise (Oise). The old counts of V. belonged to the younger line of the Vermandois family. The last heiress of this family married Hugo, son of Henry I of France, and brought him V. and Vermandois as a dowry. From this marriage came the Capetian Vermandois clan, which ceased in the 6th generation, after which the county of V. was annexed by Philip Augustus (1215) to the crown. King Philip III the Brave transferred the enlarged county of V., in 1285, to his son Charles. This Charles V., brother of King Philip IV the Fair, was the founder of the royal family of V. Pope Martin V in 1280 granted him the kingdom of Arragonia, which he, however, renounced in 1290. His first marriage brought him the counties of Anjou and Maine; on the basis of the rights of his second wife, Catherine de Courtenay, he assumed the title of Emperor of Constantinople. Charles took an active part in affairs during the reign of his brother and died in 1325 in Nogent. He left two sons, the youngest of whom, Charles, Count of Alençon, who died in 1346, was the founder of the Valois line of Alençon. It ended in 1527, in the person of Constable Charles.
After the three sons of Philip IV the Fair died without leaving any male offspring, in 1328 the eldest son of Charles V., Philip VI, ascended the French throne. as the closest descendant of the Capetians. This rise of the house of V. was the cause of long wars between England and France. Philip VI had 2 sons: his successor John the Good and Philip; the latter was declared Count of Valois and Duke of Orleans in 1375, but died without issue. John the Good, who reigned from 1350 to 1364, had 4 sons, including his successor, Charles V, and Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy, who became the founder of the younger Burgundian house. Charles V (d. 1380) had two sons, Charles VI and Prince Louis.
Prince Louis received the title and lands of the Duke of Orleans and the Count of Angoulême and V. Under him, V. was made a duchy-peerage in 1406. Louis, known in history as the Duke of Orleans, during the unhappy reign of his brother Charles VI, argued about power with the Duke of Burgundy and was killed in 1407. His grandson Louis, Duke of V. and Orleans, after the childless death of the last representative of the senior line of V. , Charles VIII (after Charles VI his son reigned, Charles VII, who was succeeded by his son Louis XI, the father of Charles VIII), ascended the throne under the name of Louis XII (1498) and thus united the gr. V. with a crown. Subsequently, V. was repeatedly granted to the princes of the Valois, then the House of Bourbon, but always in. union with the Duchy of Orleans. The House of Orleans lost the ducal title of V. only during the Revolution of 1789, but partially retained the lands associated with the title.
The youngest son of the Duke of Orleans and Valois, who was killed in 1407, John, Count of Angoulême, had a son, Charles, who, in turn, had a son who took over. French throne, after the childless death of Louis XII, under the name of Francis I (1515). His son, Henry II, had four sons, of whom three reigned (Francis II, Charles IX, Henry III), and the fourth was Duke of Alençon; none of them left legitimate offspring, and the French throne passed, after the assassination of Henry III (1589), to Henry IV, a representative of the House of Bourbon, also descended from the Capetians. The sister of the last kings of the house of V., Margaret, the divorced wife of Henry IV, died in 1615, as the last legitimate scion of the house of Valois.
Savoy dynasty, a dynasty of rulers of Savoy (counts from the 11th century to 1416, dukes in 1416-1720), kings of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720-1861), kings of the united kingdom of Italy (1861-1946).
The first Count of Savoy about whom there is reliable information was Humbert the White Hand (died between 1042 and 1051). Kings of the Kingdom of Sardinia: Victor Amedee II (reigned 1720-1730), Charles Emmanuel III (1730-1773), Victor Amedee III (1773-1796), Charles Emmanuel IV (1796-1802), Victor Emmanuel I (1802-1821) , Karl Felix (in 1821-1831), Karl Albert (1831-1849), Victor Emmanuel II (in 1849-1861, from 1861 king of a united Italy). Kings of Italy: Victor Emmanuel II (1861-1878), Umberto I (1878-1900), Victor Emmanuel III (1900 to May 9, 1946), Umberto II (May 9 to June 13, 1946, June 5, 1944 to 9 May 1946 Royal Viceroy).
Vases(Vasa; Vasa), royal dynasty of Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1523-1668.
The founder of the dynasty, Gustav I Vasa, was the Swedish king in 1523-1560. He was succeeded by his sons Eric XIV (1560-1568), Johan III (1568-1592) and grandson Sigismund (1592-1604). In 1604, another son of Gustav I, Charles IX (1604-1611), became king of Sweden. He was succeeded by his son Gustav II Adolf (1611-1632) and granddaughter Christina Augusta (1632-1654).
In 1587, the son of the Swedish king Johan III Vasa and Catherine Jagiellonka, daughter of the Polish king Sigismund I the Old, became king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the name of Sigismund III.
In 1592, he also became the king of Sweden, thus uniting the two states under his rule. However, the union actually existed until 1599, and in 1604 a new king was elected in Sweden - Sigismund's uncle - Charles IX. In Poland, Sigismund III was succeeded by Wladyslaw IV (1632-1648) and Jan Casimir (1687-1668).
Jagiellonians (Jagiellonowie), royal dynasty in Poland in 1386-1572, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1377-1401, 1440-1572, Hungary in 1440-44, 1490-1526, Czech Republic in 1471-1526. Founder - Jagiello.
Palaiologists(Palaiologoi) - a noble Byzantine family, which even before reaching the throne played a prominent role in the history of Byzantium. Nikephoros P., governor of Mesopotamia, granted the title Hypertimos, rendered great services to the emperor. Nikephoros Botaniatus, and after the latter’s abdication - Alexei Komnenus and died in 1081 under Dyrrhachium besieged by the Normans. His son, George P., was an active assistant to Alexei Komnenos during the capture of Constantinople, and courageously defended Dyrrhachium, besieged by the Norman Duke Robert Huiscard. Another representative of the P. family, Michael (probably the son of George P.), victoriously fought in Lower Italy with King William of Sicily. Other representatives of this family are remarkable: a contemporary of the previous one, George P., who performed various diplomatic missions of the Emperor. Manuel Komnena, Alexey - son-in-law and heir of the emperor. Alexei Angelos, who died, however, before his father-in-law, Andronikos, who, like his descendants, took the name Komnenos and was invested with the rank of Megas Domestikos at the courts of Theodore Lascaris and John Vatatzes. His son Michael Ducas Angel Komnenos P. reached the throne in 1259 as co-ruler of the young John IV Lascaris, and in 1261 destroyed the Latin empire. He was the founder of the last dynasty, the Byzantine emperors. List of emperors who belonged to this dynasty. The niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI P. Zoya (Sophia), married Grand Duke John Vasilyevich. According to the will of Margrave John of Montferrat, who died childless in 1305, the Margraviate of Montferrat was inherited by his sister Iolanta (from the Greeks Irina), the wife of the Emperor. Andronika II P., and her son Theodore was the first margrave of the P. family. The last margrave was John George Sebastian (1488-1533). Another branch of the P. ruled in Morea from 1383 to 1460. When the peninsula was conquered by the Turks, the P. retired to Italy; Constantine XI's nephew, Andrew II., ceded his rights to the Byzantine throne to Charles VIII of France, and after the latter's death to Ferdinand the Catholic and Isabella of Castile (in 1502). P.'s last (male) descendant, Prince Giovanni Lascaris P., died in 1874 in Turin.
Piasts(Piasty), 1st dynasty of Polish princes (c. 960-1025) and kings (1025-79, intermittently; 1295-1370). The founder is the legendary peasant charioteer Piast. Major representatives: Mieszko I, Boleslaw I the Brave, Boleslaw III Wrymouth, Casimir I the Restorer, Casimir III the Great.
Macedonian dynasty, a dynasty of Byzantine emperors that reigned (867-1056).
The founder of the dynasty was Basil I the Macedonian (867-86), an Armenian peasant from the theme of Macedonia, who came to power as a result of the assassination of Michael III. In the 10th century To glorify him, genealogies were compiled, tracing Basil's family to the ancient Armenian and Macedonian kings. Outstanding representatives of the dynasty were the emperors Leo VI the Wise (886-912), Constantine VII (913-59), Vasily II the Bulgarian Slayer (976-1025). During the reign of these emperors, Byzantium reached its greatest power since the time of Justinian (6th century). The last ruler of the state from the descendants of Basil the Macedonian was the daughter of Constantine VIII - Theodora.
Flavian (Flavii), dynasty of Roman emperors in 69-96; Vespasian, Titus and Domitian belonged to the Flavians. They pursued a policy of broadly granting the rights of Roman and Latin citizenship to provincials, introducing their noble representatives into the Senate.
Hanover, English royal dynasty in the years 1714-1901. Replaced the Stuart dynasty on the throne. The founder of the Hanoverian dynasty, George I, reigned from 1701 to 1727. He was succeeded by George II (1727-1760), George III (1760-1820), George IV (1820-1830), William IV (1830-1837), Victoria (1837-1901). The son of Victoria and her husband, Prince Consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Edward VII became the first king of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (from 1917 - Windsor) dynasty.
Bernadottes, modern Swedish royal dynasty. The founder of the dynasty, Napoleonic Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, was elected heir to the Swedish throne in 1810 and in 1818 became King Charles XIV Johan of Sweden and Norway. Until 1905, the Bernadottes were kings of Sweden and Norway, after the break of the union of Sweden and Norway - only Swedish kings.
Tudors(Tudors), royal dynasty in England 1485-1603; replaced by the York dynasty.
The founder of the dynasty, Henry VII Tudor (king in 1485-1509), was descended from Welsh feudal lords on his father's side, and was a relative of the Lancastrians on his mother's side. The Tudor dynasty also includes the English kings Henry VIII (1509-1547), Edward VI (1547-1553), Mary I (1553-1558), Elizabeth I (1558-1603). With the exception of Mary I, all the Tudors supported the Reformation, adhered to a policy of protectionism, patronage of navigation, and the fight against Spain. The Tudor government was absolutist in nature; Parliament was an obedient instrument of the crown. However, already in the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I, the struggle of parliament against royal absolutism began. This struggle became especially acute during the next dynasty of English kings - the Stuarts.
Julio-Claudius, the first dynasty of Roman emperors in 14-68, from the descendants of Augustus. The most significant: Tiberius, Claudius, Nero. Under the Julius-Claudians, the centralization of power increased. They relied on the army and the bureaucratic apparatus and pursued a broad policy of conquest.
Stuarts(Stewarts, Stuarts), aristocratic Scottish family, royal dynasty in Scotland (1371-1707) and England (1603-1649, 1660-1714).
The ancestors of the Stuarts are known from the beginning of the 11th century, when the founder of the family, Alan (999-1055), became seneschal of the county of Dol in Upper Brittany. As was customary in the Middle Ages, the position was inherited by Alan's descendants from generation to generation. In the mid-12th century, Walter (Walter) (1104-1177) - the third son of the fourth Seneschal of Dol - came to Britain and entered the service of the Scottish king David I. Later he began to serve as court seneschal, and in 1157 under King Malcolm IV (1153-1165) officially confirmed as Lord Seneschal of Scotland. The position was passed down by inheritance to Walter's descendants for five generations until the first half of the 14th century. The surname of the family came from the name of the position (Stewart).
During the years of interregnum and the struggle for the Scottish throne, the fifth seneschal of the Stuart family, James, and his son Walter (died 1326) invariably sided with Robert the Bruce and fought with the British. The loyalty of the family of the new dynasty was rewarded: in 1315, Walter Stewart became the husband of the eldest daughter of King Robert I Bruce, Margery. This marriage gave their son Robert Stuart the right to take the Scottish throne after the death of his cousin, the childless King David II Bruce. In 1371, the first member of the Stuart dynasty was crowned Robert II. He remained on the throne until 1390, and then Robert III Stuart (1390-1406) reigned in Scotland.
Years of internecine struggle for the throne significantly weakened the authority of the central government in Scotland; local barons felt themselves to be independent rulers. The situation was complicated by relations with England, whose kings claimed supreme power over Scotland. The main goals of the first Stuarts were to repel the claims of the British and limit the freedom of their barons.
But the forces of the first Stuarts (Robert II and Robert III) were still too small and they essentially remained just spectators in the bloody civil strife of the Scottish clans. In addition, Robert III found himself pushed out of power by his younger brother Alexander.
Relations between England and Scotland constantly teetered on the brink of war and peace. The English kings had greater economic, military and human resources than their northern neighbors, but for many centuries they were unable to conquer Scotland. In the 15th century, England was unable to wage active war in the north due to the Hundred Years' War and later the Wars of the Roses, but English kings maintained formal claims to the Scottish throne. Armed conflicts broke out on the English-Scottish border. Hesitant to commit large-scale aggression, the British supported the rebellious barons and rebellious clans against the Stuarts. In turn, the Scottish kings sought to find allies in the fight against England. France, England's main enemy and its opponent in the Hundred Years' War, became such an ally. The alliance between France and Scotland was renewed several times throughout the 15th and 16th centuries and was called the "Old Alliance".
In 1406, immediately after the death of Robert III, his infant son James I Stuart (1406-1437) was captured at sea and brought to England. He spent most of his reign (until 1424) in captivity in Windsor Castle. His release was helped only by the marriage between the captive and a relative of the English king Henry VI of Lancaster, Joan Beafort. After the wedding, the Scottish king was released to his homeland for a large ransom. At home, James I managed to significantly strengthen the authority of royal power. The barons of Albany, Mar, March and the clans of the islands recognized his unconditional authority over them. James I was stabbed to death as a result of a conspiracy of the barons and his son James II Stuart (1437-1460) entered into a fierce struggle with the Douglas clan, which lasted for several decades.
The policy of limiting the willfulness of local barons could not but cause resistance from the Scottish nobility. The confrontation between the king and the barons was especially acute during the reign of James III Stuart (1460-1488), who, in the opinion of many of his subjects, did not live up to the ideal of a king-knight. Unlike his warlike ancestors, he did not personally participate in hostilities, was interested in music and architecture, and was also inclined to rely on advisers of humble origin. In 1488, a rebellion broke out against King James III and he was stabbed to death in one of the battles.
However, the rebel victory turned out to be an accidental success. The reign of the new king James IV Stuart (1488-1513) was a time of further strengthening of royal power. The king successfully continued the policy of pacifying the nobility and achieved the subjugation of the clans of Highland Scotland and the islands, which especially stubbornly resisted the central government. James IV did a lot to streamline the work of the courts and develop an efficient state mechanism. He supported the development of Scottish trade, began building a fleet, developed artillery, and founded the university in Aberdeen (1495). During his reign, the first printing presses appeared in Scotland (1507).
Meanwhile, the War of the Roses ended in England and the powerful and enterprising kings from the Tudor dynasty established themselves on its throne. There was a real threat of English conquest hanging over Scotland. King James IV managed to conclude a truce with England, and in 1502 he married the English princess Margaret, daughter of the English king Henry VII Tudor. However, the rise to power in England of the warlike Henry VIII Tudor, who entered the war with France, forced James IV to choose: remain faithful to the Old Alliance with France or bow to the will of the English king. The Scottish king decided to take the side of France; his army invaded English territory. In 1513, at the Battle of Flodden, the Scottish army was defeated and King James IV was killed.
His successor, the tenacious and energetic James V Stuart (1513-1542), remained faithful to the alliance with France, strengthened by his marriages to the French princesses Madeleine of Valois (1537) and Marie of Guise (1538).
The pro-French policy of the Stuarts led to another war with England: in 1542, the British attempted to invade Scotland, but were defeated. The Scots' return campaign ended in failure due to the betrayal of the barons; two of the king's sons died. King James V himself soon died. He was succeeded by his minor daughter Mary Stuart (1542-1567).
The suppression of the male line of the Stuart dynasty complicated the political situation in Scotland. Since the beginning of the 16th century, two opposing factions emerged at the top of Scottish society, which relied on the support of external forces: England or France. During Mary Stuart's minority, this confrontation intensified. The English party sought to force the queen to marry the heir to the English throne, Edward Tudor, and thereby unite the two countries. The French party tried to arrange Mary's marriage with the French prince and thereby preserve the actual independence of Scotland. The Francophiles won; France in 1548 provided Scotland with military assistance against England, and the young queen was betrothed to the Dauphin Francis of Valois (future King Francis II) and taken to France, where she was raised at the French court.
However, the dominance of the French party, the power of the Catholic queen regent Mary of Guise, who relied on detachments of French troops stationed in Scotland, gave rise to a strong opposition movement. Beginning in the 1520s, the ideas of the Reformation, brought by Calvinists from the continent, as well as English Protestants, began to actively spread in Scotland. By the 1550s, Protestants, led by preacher John Knox, had become the dominant force in the country. In 1560, supporters of the English party and Protestants forced the regent to withdraw French troops from the country. Catholicism was banned in Scotland and the Calvinist Church became the state religion.
In 1561, after the death of her husband, Queen Mary Stuart returned to her homeland. The first period of her personal reign (until 1565) was a period of peaceful coexistence between the Catholic queen and the Protestants and with England, where her cousin Queen Elizabeth I Tudor ruled. Mary's new husband was her distant relative, the Scottish Lord Henry Darnley. But soon the queen was overcome by ambitious dreams. A devout Catholic, she felt it was her duty to bring Britain back into the fold. Roman Catholic Church. Considering herself the legitimate heir to the English crown, Mary openly contested the throne from Elizabeth I. The Scottish queen maintained close ties with papal Rome, the Habsburgs, the Catholic League in France, and Irish Catholic clans, and was preparing to restore the rule of the Roman Church in Scotland. The queen's policy caused discontent within the country, skillfully fueled by England. The Scots' patience ran out after the murder of the queen's husband, Henry Darnley, for which she herself was accused, and her hasty new marriage to the Earl of Bothwell. The barons' revolt in 1567 forced Mary Stuart to flee to England, where she was arrested and spent many years in prison. In 1587 she was executed on charges of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I Tudor.
The new king of Scotland was the son of Mary Stuart and Henry Darnley - James VI Stuart (1567-1625). During his first reign, the young king was a hostage to factions of nobles fighting for the title of regent of Scotland.
As an adult, James VI was carried away by the prospect of taking the English throne and devoted all his strength to the struggle for recognition as the heir of the childless Elizabeth I Tudor. His rights to the throne were based on the fact that he was the grandson of Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of the English king Henry VII Tudor. Jacob skillfully maneuvered between Catholics, to whom he promised protection and tolerance, and Protestants, and tried to maintain good relations with both England and the Catholic powers.
James VI's diplomatic game was crowned with success: in 1603, after the death of Queen Elizabeth Tudor, he took the English throne under the name of James I Stuart.
Having received the English crown, James became simultaneously the king of England and Scotland, marking the beginning of the unification of the two countries into one state. The problems of Scotland faded into the background for him, and the main task was to strengthen the Stuart dynasty in England. Meanwhile, already in the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I, the influence of the parliamentary opposition expanded. Unlike his predecessor, James I did not have widespread support in English society and could not maneuver political forces and manipulate parliament. In addition, he was a zealous supporter of the theory of the divine origin of the monarchy and unlimited royal power. These views conflicted with the English political tradition, where the role of parliament was extremely high. James I's political grievances caused a series of clashes with Parliament. The British were dissatisfied with foreign policy the king, his desire for reconciliation with Spain - the “national enemy” of England, attempts to arrange the marriage of the heir to the throne with a Catholic princess. The daughter of James I, Elizabeth Stuart (1592-1662), married Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate. A century later, her descendants took the English throne.
James's successor, his son Charles I Stuart (1625-1649), continued his father's unpopular policies. The escalating conflict between the king and parliament resulted in the English Revolution in the 1640s, which overthrew the monarchy. In 1649, Parliament passed a death sentence on King Charles I, who was executed on January 30, 1649. Following his execution, England was proclaimed a republic. After the death of the king, Scotland broke off relations with parliamentary England and recognized the son of the executed monarch, Charles II Stuart, as its king. Scotland became a royalist stronghold to continue the fight against Parliament. In 1651, the Royalist troops were defeated by Cromwell's troops, Charles II was forced to leave for the continent, and Scotland was forcibly united into one state with England.
In 1660, as a result of a military coup in England, the monarchy was restored and Charles II took the English and Scottish thrones (1660-1685). His reign was a time of economic growth and stability for England, but also a time of new political conflict between the monarchy and parliament. During the Restoration, the Whig and Tory parties emerged, which later became the basis of the two-party political system in Great Britain.
Charles II had no legitimate children (the Duke of Monmouth is the most famous among illegitimate ones) and was succeeded by his brother James II Stuart (1685-1688), during whose reign the conflict between the monarchy and parliament intensified.
The conflict was facilitated by the religious policy of the king - a fanatical Catholic who sought to equalize the rights of his co-religionists with Protestants. Such attempts were perceived by his subjects - mostly Protestants - as an attempt to return Britain to Catholicism, which was associated with the unlimited power of the monarch. A variety of political factions united against James II and he was overthrown in 1688.
The throne was transferred to the daughter of James II - Mary II Stuart (1689-1694) and her husband William III of Orange (1689-1702). Mary practically did not interfere in political affairs, and her husband, an intelligent and far-sighted politician, managed not only to avoid conflicts with parliament, but also to significantly increase the prestige of the monarchy in England. After William III, another daughter of James II, Anne Stuart (1702-1714), became queen. Under Queen Anne, England and Scotland were formally united into one state - Great Britain. Anna died childless and the throne was to pass to the son of James II - James III Stuart (1688-1760), who lived in exile and remained faithful to Catholicism.
But according to the Act of Succession to the Throne, adopted by the English Parliament in 1701, only a Protestant, and specifically the Duke of Hanover George (a descendant of the daughter of James I Stuart, Elizabeth), could be the king of Great Britain. Thus, the Stuart dynasty lost power in England and Scotland.
In emigration, the Stuarts found support in France. After the death of James II, the French king Louis XIV of Bourbon recognized James III as king of Great Britain. The challenger was known as the "Old Chevalier", or "Chevalier de Saint-Georges". He maintained contact with his supporters in the British Isles. In Scotland, which had lost its independence, James III became a symbol of the fight against England. Supporters of the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne were called Jacobites. With the help of France, armed Jacobite uprisings were organized in Scotland, in which representatives of the Stuart dynasty also took part. In 1715, James III undertook unsuccessful attempt seize power in Great Britain. The son of James III and Mary Sobieska, Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), known as the “Younger Chevalier,” led the detachments of the Scottish highland clans in 1745. On April 16, 1745, at the Battle of Culloden, the rebel troops were defeated by an English army that outnumbered them. Through severe repression, the British managed to suppress the Jacobite movement in Scotland. After the defeat, Karl-Edward lived in Rome for the rest of his life. King George III of England provided him with financial assistance. The Stuart dynasty finally came to an end in 1807, when its last representative, Charles Edward's younger brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, who held the rank of Cardinal of York, died in Rome.
Comneni, a dynasty of Byzantine emperors in 1081-1185, founded by Alexios I. In fact, the beginning of the dynasty was laid by Isaac Komnenos, emperor in 1057-59. The descendants of the last Komnenos - Andronikos I - ruled in 1204-1461 in the Trebizond Empire, taking the name "Great Komnenos".
Windsors, English royal dynasty, ruling since 1901 (until 1917 it was called Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). Representatives: Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II.
Holstein-Gottrops(Gottorp), German ducal dynasty, junior branch of the Oldenburgs; ruled 1544-1773 in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in 1751-1818 on the Swedish royal throne; descendants of the Gottorps occupied the Russian imperial throne in 1761-1917.
In 1761, Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, son of Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp and Russian Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, became Russian Emperor Peter III Fedorovich. In 1773 his son Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich exchanged his hereditary possessions in Schleswig-Holstein for Oldenburg and Delmenhorst belonging to Denmark.
Lancaster(Lancaster), royal dynasty in England in 1399-1461, branch of the Plantagenets.
The House of Lancaster is a junior branch of the Plantagenet dynasty and descends from John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III. In 1362, John of Gaunt married Blanca, daughter of Henry, 1st Duke of Lancaster, after whose death (1362) he inherited the title. John of Gaunt was married three times: the second marriage was concluded (1372) with Constance of Castile, daughter of King Pedro I (this marriage allowed Lancaster to claim the crown of Leon and Castile), the third wife of the Duke (from 1396) was Catherine Swynford. Numerous descendants of John of Gaunt from all three marriages laid claim to the English crown, as they were all descended from Edward III.
In 1399, shortly after the death of John of Gaunt, his eldest son Henry Bolingbroke took the English throne under the name Henry IV, deposing the last Plantagenet king, Richard II. In 1413, Henry IV was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry V, who in turn passed the throne to his only child, Henry VI, in 1422. For certain reasons, Henry VI could not be a strong sovereign (he inherited bouts of insanity from his maternal grandfather): at his court, the struggle for power was waged by two powerful parties, led by Queen Margaret of Anjou and Richard, Duke of York. The latter had completely legitimate grounds to lay claim to the crown himself. In 1461, Richard's son of York, with the support of Richard Neville, managed to seize the throne. In 1470, the same Richard Neville returned the crown to Henry, which he lost eight months later completely, along with his life. Henry VI's only son, Edward, died at the Battle of Tewkesbury. After the death of King Henry and Prince Edward, the House of Lancaster was headed by Henry Tudor, descended from the son of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford. Having won the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Henry Tudor, crowned Henry VII, not only finally returned the crown to the House of Lancaster, but was also able to end the civil war by marrying the heiress of the House of York, Princess Elizabeth.
Orleans(Dukes of Orleans), junior branches of the royal dynasties of Valois and Bourbon. The most famous representatives: the French kings Louis XII (reigned 1498-1515) and Louis Philippe (reigned 1830-48).
Yorkie(Yorks), royal dynasty in England in 1461-85, a lateral branch of the Plantagenet dynasty. The House of York was descended in the male line from Edmund, 1st Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III, and in the female line from Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. In the 1450s The opposition to Henry VI Lancaster was led by Edmund's grandson, Richard of York, who declared his claims to the throne. The conflict between supporters of York and Lancaster resulted in a long and bloody civil war, called the War of the Roses (the York coat of arms had a white rose, and the Lancaster coat of arms had a scarlet), during which a significant part of the English aristocracy (several large noble houses) died completely ceased to exist). Richard York died on December 30, 1460 at the Battle of Wakefield. And his eldest son, Edward IV, after the Battle of Towton became the first king of this dynasty.
Edward reigned until 1483, with an interval of eight months (1470-1471), when the rebellious Richard Neville sent him into exile, restoring Henry VI of Lancaster to the throne. Edward IV's son, twelve-year-old Edward V, was king in name only: immediately after his father's death, the young king was sent to the Tower by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Declared illegitimate, he was removed from the throne in favor of Edward IV's younger brother, Duke of Gloucester, who was crowned Richard III. In 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth, Richard died, and his army was defeated by the army of the new contender for the English crown, Henry Tudor, leader of the Lancastrian party.
In 1486, wanting to strengthen his grip on the throne, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, thus uniting the two houses. The last Yorkist claimant to the throne, Edward, Earl of Warwick (the son of the Duke of Clarence, another brother of Edward IV, who was executed for treason), was captured by Henry and eventually executed in 1499.
Despite the fact that we live in a world where there is more and more talk about democracy and the electoral system, dynastic traditions are still strong in many countries. All dynasties in Europe are similar to each other. Moreover, each dynasty is special in its own way.
Windsors (Great Britain), since 1917
The youngest
British monarchs are genealogically representatives of the Hanoverian and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasties, and more broadly of the Wettins, who had fiefdoms in Hanover and Saxony. During the First World War, King George V decided that it was wrong to be called in German and in 1917 a proclamation was issued, according to which the descendants of Queen Victoria, representing the Hanoverian dynasty, and Prince Albert in the male line - British subjects - were declared members of the new House of Windsor, and in 1952, Elizabeth II improved the document in her favor, declaring her descendants who are not descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the male line to be members of the house. That is, de facto, from the point of view of normal monarchical genealogy, Prince Charles and his descendants are not Windsors, the dynasty is interrupted by Elizabeth II, and they belong to the Glucksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg, which rules in Denmark and Norway, because Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, is from there. By the way, the Russian Emperor Peter III and all his descendants in the male line are also from the House of Oldenburg by blood.
Bernadotte (Sweden), from 1810
The most revolutionary
The son of a lawyer from Gascony, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte chose a military career and became a general during the French Revolution. His relationship with Napoleon did not work out from the very beginning; the ambitious Gascon considered himself better than Bonaparte, but he fought very successfully for the emperor. In 1810, the Swedes offered him to become the adopted son of a childless king, and, after he accepted Lutheranism, they approved him as crown prince, and soon as regent and de facto ruler of Sweden. He entered into an alliance with Russia and fought against the French in 1813-1814, personally leading the troops. So the current ruler, Carl XVI Gustav, is very similar to the Gascon with his nose.
Glücksburg (Denmark, Norway), from 1825
The most Russian
The full name of the dynasty is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. And they themselves are a branch of the House of Oldenburg, the interweaving of whose descendants are extremely complex; they ruled in Denmark, Norway, Greece, the Baltic states, and even under the name of the Romanovs - in Russia. The fact is that Peter III and his descendants, according to all dynastic rules, are just Glücksburg. In Denmark, the Glucksburg throne is currently represented by Margrethe II, and in Norway by Harald V.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, from 1826
The most accommodating
The family of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originates from the ancient German house of Wettin. As was customary in the 18th-19th centuries, the descendants of various German branches of the ancient ruling houses were actively used in dynastic marriages. And so the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas did not spare their offspring for the common cause. Catherine II was the first to establish this tradition by marrying her grandson Konstantin Pavlovich, Duchess Juliana (in Russia, Anna). Then Anna betrothed her relative Leopold to the British Princess Charlotte, and his sister Victoria, married to Edward of Kent, gave birth to a daughter, Victoria, who would become the most famous British queen. And her son Prince Alfred (1844-1900), Duke of Edinburgh, married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, sister of Alexander III. In 1893, the prince inherited the title of Duke of Coburg and it turned out that an Englishman and a Russian were at the head of the German family. Their granddaughter Princess Alix became the wife of Nicholas II. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty is now genealogically on the British throne and completely, without any reservations, in the Belgian in the person of Philip Leopold Louis Marie.
Orange dynasty (Netherlands), from 1815
The most power-hungry
The descendants of the glorious William of Orange regained influence in the Netherlands only after the final defeat of Napoleon, when the Congress of Vienna established monarchical rule there. The wife of the second king of the Netherlands, Willem II, was the sister of Alexander I and the daughter of Paul I, Anna Pavlovna, so the current king, Willem Alexander, is the great-great-great-great-grandson of Paul I. In addition, the modern royal family, although it continues to consider itself part of the Orange dynasty, is in fact the grandmother of Willem Alexander Juliana belongs to the House of Mecklenburg, and Queen Beatrix belongs to the Westphalian princely House of Lippe. This dynasty can be called power-hungry because the three previous queens abdicated the throne in favor of their descendants.
Bourbons of Parma (Luxembourg), since 1964
The most seedy
In general, the Parma Bourbon line was at one time a fairly famous and ambitious Italian dynasty, but it fell into almost complete decline with the loss of its fiefs at the end of the 19th century. So she would have vegetated, being a more or less successful aristocratic family, but one of the offspring, Felix, married the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Charlotte of Orange. So the Bourbons of Parma became the ruling dynasty of the dwarf state of Luxembourg and lead a modest life, raising children, protecting wildlife and preserving the Luxembourgish language. The status of an offshore zone and 200 banks per microcountry allows them not to think about their daily bread.
Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein), since 1607
The most noble
Throughout its rich history - the house has been known since the 12th century - they have not gotten involved in big politics, perhaps because at the very beginning they realized that they could part with everything quite quickly. They acted slowly, carefully, helped the powers that be - they far-sightedly bet on the Habsburgs, created successful alliances, easily changed religion, either leading the Lutherans or returning to Catholicism. Having received the status of imperial princes, the Liechtensteins did not seek to intermarry with foreign families and strengthened their dynastic ties within the Holy Roman Empire. Actually, Liechtenstein was at first a secondary possession for them, which they acquired, since their overlord was de jure the emperor, in order to enter the Reichstag and increase their political importance. Then they became related to the Habsburgs, who confirmed their homogeneity, and to this day the Liechtensteins are distinguished by great attention to dynastic ties, marrying only with high-ranking nobles. It is worth adding to the above that GDP per capita in Liechtenstein is second in the world after Qatar - $141,000 per year. This is not least due to the fact that the dwarf state is a tax haven where various companies can hide from the taxes of their countries, but not only. Liechtenstein has a thriving high-tech industry.
Grimaldi (Monaco), from 1659
The most rootless
Grimaldi is one of the four families that ruled the Genoese Republic. Since constant skirmishes took place there in the 12th – 14th centuries between supporters of the power of the pope, the Ghibellines, and the emperor, the Guelphs, Grimaldi had to periodically run around nearby Europe. That's how they found Monaco for themselves. In 1659, the owners of Monaco accepted the princely title and received the title of Dukes de Valentinois from Louis XIII. They spent almost all their time at the French court. But this is all in the past, and in 1733 the family was cut short, and those who are now Grimaldi actually descend from the Duke of Estuteville, who was obliged by the marriage contract to take his surname by the rulers of Monaco. The current Prince Albert and his sisters are descended from the marriage of Count Polignac with the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II, who ruled the principality from 1922 to 1949. But Albert’s lack of nobility more than makes up for it with the publicity he works for the principality.
Princes of Andorra - Bishops of Urgell, from the 6th century
The most ancient
Since 1278, Andorra has had two prince-rulers - the Bishop of Urgell and someone from France, first the Count of Foix, then the King of Navarre, and now the president of the republic. Episcopal rule is a historical atavism of the secular rule of the Catholic Church. The Urgell, or, more correctly, Urgell diocese was founded in the 6th century, and since then the bishops have traced their genealogy. The current prince is Bishop Joan-Enric Vives i Sisilla, a theologian, practicing priest and public figure. But for us, of particular interest in the history of Andorra and the bishops of Urgell is 1934, when they were removed from the throne by the Russian adventurer Boris Skosyrev. He came to Andorra, proclaimed himself king, and either the instigated or bribed General Council of the country supported him. The new king issued a lot of liberal documents, but when he decided to make a gambling zone there, the previously loyal bishop rebelled. And although King Boris I declared war on him, he still won, calling reinforcements from Spain of five national guards.
Spanish Bourbons (since 1713)
The most extensive
Everyone knows that recently the Spanish Bourbons are the most disgraced, but they are also the most extensive of the Bourbons historically. They have as many as six lateral branches, including the most significant - Carlist - from the Infanta Don Carlos the Elder. At the beginning of the 19th century, he was the purest contender for the Spanish throne, but due to the pragmatic sanction of Ferdinand VII in 1830, who transferred the throne to his daughter Isabella, he remained out of work. A strong party formed behind Carlos, he started two wars, called Carlist (his grandson Carlos the Younger participated in the third). The Carlist movement in Spain was significant until the 1970s; formally it still exists, but it has no significance in politics, although they have their own contender for the throne - Carlos Hugo.
British monarchs are genealogically representatives of the Hanoverian and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasties, and more broadly of the Wettins, who had fiefdoms in Hanover and Saxony.
During the First World War, King George V decided that it was wrong to be called in German and in 1917 a proclamation was issued, according to which the descendants of Queen Victoria, representing the Hanoverian dynasty, and Prince Albert in the male line - British subjects - were declared members of the new House of Windsor, and in 1952, Elizabeth II improved the document in her favor, declaring her descendants who are not descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the male line to be members of the house. That is, de facto, from the point of view of normal monarchical genealogy, Prince Charles and his descendants are not Windsors, the dynasty is interrupted by Elizabeth II, and they belong to the Glucksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg, which rules in Denmark and Norway, because Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, is from there. By the way, the Russian Emperor Peter III and all his descendants in the male line are also from the House of Oldenburg by blood.
Bernadotte (Sweden), from 1810
The most revolutionaryThe son of a lawyer from Gascony, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte chose a military career and became a general during the French Revolution. His relationship with Napoleon did not work out from the very beginning; the ambitious Gascon considered himself better than Bonaparte, but he fought very successfully for the emperor. In 1810, the Swedes offered him to become the adopted son of a childless king, and, after he accepted Lutheranism, they approved him as crown prince, and soon as regent and de facto ruler of Sweden. He entered into an alliance with Russia and fought against the French in 1813-1814, personally leading the troops. So the current ruler, Carl XVI Gustav, is very similar to the Gascon with his nose.
Glücksburg (Denmark, Norway), from 1825
The most RussianThe full name of the dynasty is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. And they themselves are a branch of the House of Oldenburg, the interweaving of whose descendants are extremely complex; they ruled in Denmark, Norway, Greece, the Baltic states, and even under the name of the Romanovs - in Russia. The fact is that Peter III and his descendants, according to all dynastic rules, are just Glücksburg. In Denmark, the Glucksburg throne is currently represented by Margrethe II, and in Norway by Harald V.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, from 1826
The most accommodatingThe family of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originates from the ancient German house of Wettin. As was customary in the 18th-19th centuries, the descendants of various German branches of the ancient ruling houses were actively used in dynastic marriages. And so the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas did not spare their offspring for the common cause. Catherine II was the first to establish this tradition by marrying her grandson Konstantin Pavlovich, Duchess Juliana (in Russia, Anna).
Then Anna betrothed her relative Leopold to the British Princess Charlotte, and his sister Victoria, married to Edward of Kent, gave birth to a daughter, Victoria, who would become the most famous British queen. And her son Prince Alfred (1844-1900), Duke of Edinburgh, married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, sister of Alexander III. In 1893, the prince inherited the title of Duke of Coburg and it turned out that an Englishman and a Russian were at the head of the German family. Their granddaughter Princess Alix became the wife of Nicholas II. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty is now genealogically on the British throne and completely, without any reservations, in the Belgian in the person of Philip Leopold Louis Marie.
Orange dynasty (Netherlands), from 1815
The most power-hungryThe descendants of the glorious William of Orange regained influence in the Netherlands only after the final defeat of Napoleon, when the Congress of Vienna established monarchical rule there. The wife of the second king of the Netherlands, Willem II, was the sister of Alexander I and the daughter of Paul I, Anna Pavlovna, so the current king, Willem Alexander, is the great-great-great-great-grandson of Paul I. In addition, the modern royal family, although it continues to consider itself part of the Orange dynasty, is in fact the grandmother of Willem Alexander Juliana belongs to the House of Mecklenburg, and Queen Beatrix belongs to the Westphalian princely House of Lippe. This dynasty can be called power-hungry because the three previous queens abdicated the throne in favor of their descendants.
Bourbons of Parma (Luxembourg), since 1964
The most seedyIn general, the Parma Bourbon line was at one time a fairly famous and ambitious Italian dynasty, but it fell into almost complete decline with the loss of its fiefs at the end of the 19th century. So she would have vegetated, being a more or less successful aristocratic family, but one of the offspring, Felix, married the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Charlotte of Orange. So the Bourbons of Parma became the ruling dynasty of the dwarf state of Luxembourg and lead a modest life, raising children, protecting wildlife and preserving the Luxembourgish language. The status of an offshore zone and 200 banks per microcountry allows them not to think about their daily bread.
Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein), since 1607
The most nobleThroughout its rich history - the house has been known since the 12th century - they have not gotten involved in big politics, perhaps because at the very beginning they realized that they could part with everything quite quickly. They acted slowly, carefully, helped the powers that be - they far-sightedly bet on the Habsburgs, created successful alliances, easily changed religion, either leading the Lutherans or returning to Catholicism. Having received the status of imperial princes, the Liechtensteins did not seek to intermarry with foreign families and strengthened their dynastic ties within the Holy Roman Empire.
Actually, Liechtenstein was at first a secondary possession for them, which they acquired, since their overlord was de jure the emperor, in order to enter the Reichstag and increase their political importance. Then they became related to the Habsburgs, who confirmed their homogeneity, and to this day the Liechtensteins are distinguished by great attention to dynastic ties, marrying only with high-ranking nobles. It is worth adding to the above that GDP per capita in Liechtenstein is second in the world after Qatar - $141,000 per year. This is not least due to the fact that the dwarf state is a tax haven where various companies can hide from the taxes of their countries, but not only. Liechtenstein has a thriving high-tech industry.
Grimaldi (Monaco), from 1659
The most rootlessGrimaldi is one of the four families that ruled the Genoese Republic. Since constant skirmishes took place there in the 12th – 14th centuries between supporters of the power of the pope, the Ghibellines, and the emperor, the Guelphs, Grimaldi had to periodically run around nearby Europe. That's how they found Monaco for themselves. In 1659, the owners of Monaco accepted the princely title and received the title of Dukes de Valentinois from Louis XIII. They spent almost all their time at the French court. But this is all in the past, and in 1733 the family was cut short, and those who are now Grimaldi actually descend from the Duke of Estuteville, who was obliged by the marriage contract to take his surname by the rulers of Monaco. The current Prince Albert and his sisters are descended from the marriage of Count Polignac with the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II, who ruled the principality from 1922 to 1949. But Albert’s lack of nobility more than makes up for it with the publicity he works for the principality.
Princes of Andorra - Bishops of Urgell, from the 6th century
The most ancientSince 1278, Andorra has had two prince-rulers - the Bishop of Urgell and someone from France, first the Count of Foix, then the King of Navarre, and now the president of the republic. Episcopal rule is a historical atavism of the secular rule of the Catholic Church. The Urgell, or, more correctly, Urgell diocese was founded in the 6th century, and since then the bishops have traced their genealogy. The current prince is Bishop Joan-Enric Vives i Sisilla, a theologian, practicing priest and public figure. But for us, of particular interest in the history of Andorra and the bishops of Urgell is 1934, when they were removed from the throne by the Russian adventurer Boris Skosyrev. He came to Andorra, proclaimed himself king, and either the instigated or bribed General Council of the country supported him. The new king issued a lot of liberal documents, but when he decided to make a gambling zone there, the previously loyal bishop rebelled. And although King Boris I declared war on him, he still won by calling reinforcements from Spain of five national guards.
Spanish Bourbons (since 1713)
The most extensiveEveryone knows that recently the Spanish Bourbons are the most disgraced, but they are also the most extensive of the Bourbons historically. They have as many as six lateral branches, including the most significant - Carlist - from the Infanta Don Carlos the Elder. At the beginning of the 19th century, he was the purest contender for the Spanish throne, but due to the pragmatic sanction of Ferdinand VII in 1830, who transferred the throne to his daughter Isabella, he remained out of work. A strong party formed behind Carlos, he started two wars, called Carlist (his grandson Carlos the Younger participated in the third). The Carlist movement in Spain was significant until the 1970s; formally it still exists, but it has no significance in politics, although they have their own contender for the throne - Carlos Hugo.
Culture
In our world of inequality and endless struggle for money and power, there are always those who can be called the most powerful and strong, since they have titles and money. Since money and property are inherited, entire dynasties emerge that prosper with each new generation, increasing the wealth of their ancestors and maintaining their positions.
We invite you to learn about the most famous and powerful families in history.
1) Rodschild dynasty
The Rodschild dynasty (or Rodschilds) is a dynasty of bankers and financiers from Germany German origin, who founded and controlled banks throughout Europe and was ennobled by the Austrian and English governments. The founder of the dynasty is considered Mayer Amschel Rothschild(1744-1812), whose plans for the future were to keep the business in the hands of the family, which allowed them to keep the extent of their fortune and business achievements in complete secrecy.
Riches of the Rodschild dynasty
Mayer Rodschild successfully kept his fortune within the family. Carefully choosing spouses for your descendants from close relatives, Nathan Rodschild opened his bank in 1811 in London, called N. M. Rothschild and Sons, which still exists today. In 1818 the company provided a loan of £5 million to the Prussian government, and issuing bonds for the government loan provided the main support for a thriving business. The Rodschilds gained such a strong position in London that by 1825-26 they were able to mint coins for the Bank of England to enable it to ward off the threat of a market crisis.
2) Plantagenet Dynasty
If we compare the royal dynasties of the Plantagenets and the Tudors, the former left a much larger mark on history, since the development of English culture and the political system (which still remains) took place during their reign. The Tudors founded the Church of England and some have argued that they marked a Golden Age in English history, but the Plantagenets' significance is far more profound.
The Plantagenets were a royal house whose founder is considered Henry II, eldest son Geoffrey V Plantagenet. The kings of this dynasty began to rule England in the 12th century. From 1154 to 1485, a total of 15 Plantagenet monarchs ruled the state, including those who belonged to the junior lines.
Achievements of the Plantagenet dynasty
The Plantagenet era saw the birth of distinctive English culture and art, which was encouraged by the monarchs. Gothic style architecture and famous buildings such as Westminster Abbey And York Minster were built in this style.
There have also been some changes in the social sector, for example by the King John I was signed Magna Carta. This influenced the development of common and constitutional law. Political institutions such as Parliament of England and others were born precisely during the reign of the House of Plantagenet, and some famous educational institutions were also founded, for example Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
3) Nehru-Gandhi dynasty
The Nehru-Feroz Gandhi dynasty is a political dynasty whose representatives dominated the party Indian National Congress most of the early history of independent India. Three members of this dynasty ( Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi) were prime ministers of India, two of whom (Indira and Rajiv) were assassinated.
Running a country is a family matter
The fourth member of the dynasty, the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, is currently the leader Indian National Congress, and their son Rahul Gandhi is the youngest member of the family, who entered politics after winning a seat in the lower house of the Indian Parliament in 2004. The Nehru-Feroz Gandhi dynasty is not related to the leader of the struggle for Indian independence Mohandas Gandhi. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is the most prominent example of the tradition of dynastic governance in Asian democratic republics.
4) Khan Dynasty
Genghis Khan- founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest empire in history, uniting territories bordering each other. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After the founding of the Mongol Empire and declaring himself Genghis Khan, that is, the ruler, he began to launch attacks on neighboring territories, conquering peoples and appropriating their possessions.
Endless seizure of territories
During the reign of Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire occupied most of Central Asia. Before his death, Genghis Khan appointed his son as his successor Ogedei, and also divided the empire between his children and grandchildren into khanates. He died in 1227 after conquering the Tanguts. He was buried in an unknown grave somewhere in Mongolia.
His descendants continued to seize new lands and increase their possessions Mongol Empire in Eurasia, creating vassal states, among which were modern China, Korea, the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as a huge part of modern countries of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
5) Dynasties of Claudius and Julia
The two dynasties merged into one, becoming one of the most important families of Ancient Rome, which later became known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty, whose members were the most famous Roman emperors: Caligula, Augustus, Claudius, Tiberius And Nero. These five emperors ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 68 AD, with the last of them, Nero, committing suicide.
These five rulers were related either through marriage or adoption to the Julius and Claudians. Julius Caesar is sometimes inaccurately considered the founder of this dynasty, since he was not an emperor and had no connection with the Claudian family. Augustus should be considered the rightful founder of the dynasty.
General features of the reign of emperors
The reign of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty had similar features: they all came to power through indirect family ties. Each of them expanded the territory of the Roman Empire and started large-scale construction projects. They were generally well-liked by the people, but disliked by the senatorial class, according to ancient Roman historians. Ancient historians described the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty as crazy, sexually perverted and tyrannical individuals.
6) Ming Dynasty
Zhu is the surname of the emperors of the Ming Empire. First Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang began to call the Ming Dynasty, which means “diamond.” The Ming dynasty ruled China from 1368 to 1644 after the fall of the Mongol Yuan dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty was considered one of the greatest eras of social stability and good governance in human history. This one was last dynasty in China, led by ethnic Chinese. Although the capital of the Ming Empire, Beijing, fell in 1644 as a result peasant uprising headed by Li Zicheng, the regimes that were adopted during the reign of the Ming emperors lasted until 1662.
Grand construction of the Ming Dynasty
The Ming Empire possessed enormous military forces and had an army consisting of a million soldiers. She organized huge construction projects for those times, including restoration Great Wall of China and construction in Beijing "Forbidden City" in the first quarter of the 15th century. According to some estimates, the population in the last period of the Ming dynasty was between 160 and 200 million people. The reign of the Ming Dynasty is often considered as the most important pages in the history of Chinese civilization; it was during this dynasty that the first signs of capitalism arose.
7) Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg was an important royal house in Europe and is known to have ruled the Holy Roman Empire between 1452 and 1740, as well as long-time rulers of Spain and the Austrian Empire. Originally from Switzerland, the dynasty first came to rule Austria, which it ruled for more than 6 hundred years, but a series of royal marriages allowed the Habsburgs to also take over Burgundy, Spain, Bohemia, Hungary and other territories. This dynasty got its name from the Habsburg castle in the Swiss region of Aargau.
Large family and marriage ties
The motto of this dynasty was "Let others fight, and you, happy Austria, should get married", which indicated the Habsburgs’ talent for connecting representatives of their clan with other royal families through marriage, creating alliances and inheriting territories. Empress Maria Theresa, for example, remained in the history of Europe not only due to its political merits, but also as "Great Grandmother of Europe", 10 of whose children lived to adulthood and left heirs.
8) Ptolemaic Dynasty
The Ptolemies were a Hellenistic Macedonian royal dynasty that ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for approximately 300 years from 305 BC to 30 BC. Ptolemy was one of the commanders who served with Alexander the Great, who was appointed satrap of Egypt after the death of Alexander in 323 BC.
Egyptian Queen Cleopatra
In 305 BC he declared himself king Ptolemy I. The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. They ruled the country until the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The most well-known representative was the last queen of the family Cleopatra VII, famous for what she played important role in political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her suicide after the conquest of Egypt by Rome marked the end of Ptolemaic rule.
9) Medici Dynasty
The Medici family was a powerful and influential family of Florence, whose members were in power from the 13th to the 17th centuries. Among them were four Popes ( Leo X, Pius IV, Clement VII, Leo XI), a large number of rulers of Florence, as well as members of the royal families of England and France. They also dominated the city's government, taking control of Florence completely into their own hands, making it a city in which art and humanism flourished.
Great Renaissance
Together with other influential families of Italy, such as Visconti And Sforza from Milan, Este de Ferrara And Gonzaga from Mantua, the Medici contributed to the birth of the Italian Renaissance. The Medici Bank was one of the most prosperous and respected banks in Europe. At one time they were even called the richest family in Europe. Thanks to money, the Medici were able to gain political power, first in Florence, and then in Italy and throughout Europe.
10) Capetian Dynasty
The Capetian dynasty is the largest royal house in Europe. It includes direct descendants of the King of France Hugo Capeta. Spanish king Juan Carlos And Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg- members of the Capetian family, both from the Bourbon branch of the dynasty.
Over many centuries, the Capetians spread throughout Europe and stood at the head of a variety of units, from kingdoms to estates. Besides being the largest royal family in Europe, the Capetians are also one of the most incestuous, especially among the Spanish monarchs. Many years have passed since the Capetians ruled most of Europe, but still some members of this family remain kings and have many other titles.
Modern European kings
At present, the kingdom of Spain and Luxembourg is headed by the Capetians. Prince Luis Alfonso de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou, another member of the family, is a contender for the throne of France. There are still various branches of the Capetian dynasty in Europe.
