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Dynasty
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A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations. A dynasty is also often called a "house", e.g. the House of Saud or House of Habsburg. In the histories of Europe, much of Asia and some of Africa, ruling and noble houses have usually been patrilineal; inheritance and kinship being predominantly viewed and legally calculated through descent from a common ancestor in the male line. Often, however, if the male lineage died out, descendants through females (and sometimes the females themselves) were recognized as entitled to inherit the dynasty's realms and/or wealth.
The term "dynasty" is also used to explain the era during which a family reigned, as well as events, trends and artifacts of that period, e.g.

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A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations. A dynasty is also often called a "house", e.g. the House of Saud or House of Habsburg. In the histories of Europe, much of Asia and some of Africa, ruling and noble houses have usually been patrilineal; inheritance and kinship being predominantly viewed and legally calculated through descent from a common ancestor in the male line. Often, however, if the male lineage died out, descendants through females (and sometimes the females themselves) were recognized as entitled to inherit the dynasty's realms and/or wealth.
The term "dynasty" is also used to explain the era during which a family reigned, as well as events, trends and artifacts of that period, e.g. "Ming dynasty vase". In such cases, often the "dynasty" is dropped but the name may be used adjectivally, e.g. "Tudor style", "Ottoman expansion", "Romanov decadence".
Historians traditionally consider a state's history within a framework of successive dynasties, particularly with such nations as China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire. Much of European political history was dominated, successively and together, by dynasties such as the Carolingians, the Capetians, the Habsburgs, the Stuarts, the Hohenzollerns and the Romanovs. Until the nineteenth century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth and power of family members.
Dynastic names may not be the same as individual surnames, in that titles are customarily used instead. Or the name of the dynasty may follow the throne by descending through females, e.g. the current heads of the dynasties of Grimaldi, Habsburg, Orange and Romanov actually descend paternally from, respectively, the houses of Polignac (Chalençon), Lorraine, Lippe and Oldenburg. Also, often a new dynastic name does not signal an altogether different family, so much as a new branch of the dynasty that has obtained the throne: kings of the House of Anjou, Bourbon, Valois and Burgundy dynasties were all male-line descendants of Hugh Capet of France and are collectively called Capetians. Thus, by a royal decree of 1960 the British ruling dynasty remains the House of Windsor, despite the present Queen having married Philip Mountbatten, who is by birth a prince of the reigning Danish dynasty of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, itself a branch of the House of Oldenburg, of which the Romanovs descended from Peter III were also agnatic descendants.
Dynasties may change due to war, but also when a king fails to produce an heir, sometimes resulting in a maternal relative's succession. The dynasty usually then takes the name of that successor's paternal family name.
Dynasts
A ruler in a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a dynast, but this term is also used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains succession rights to a throne. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a dynastic member of the House of Windsor.
A "dynastic marriage" is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, so that the descendants are eligible to inherit the throne and/or other royal privileges. For instance, the 2002 marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange to Máxima Zorreguieta was dynastic, and their eldest child is expected to eventually inherit the Dutch crown. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support and parliamentary approval. Thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and his children have no dynastic rights.
In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, dynastic describes a family member who would have succession rights if the monarchy's rules were still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife Sophie von Hohenberg, their son Max was bypassed for the Austrian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position.
The term "dynast" is sometimes used to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, and sometimes to those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II through her late sister, Princess Margaret, is in the line of succession to the British crown, and in that sense is a British dynast. Yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor.
On the other hand, the German aristocrat Ernst August, Prince of Hanover (born 1954), although a male-line descendant of George III of the United Kingdom, is a remote descendant with no legal British titles and styles (although he is entitled to re-claim the once-royal dukedom of Cumberland). Yet he was born in the line of succession to the British crown and is bound by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained formal permission from Elizabeth II to marry Princess Caroline of Monaco. But immediately upon marriage he forfeited his (remote) claim to the British throne because she is a Roman Catholic and Ernst August is also bound by the English Act of Settlement 1701 which permanently deprives dynasts of succession rights upon marriage to a Roman Catholic. However, the couple's daughter, Princess Alexandra of Hanover (born 1999), remains a legal dynast of both the United Kingdom and Monaco, not to mention her father's claim to dynasticity as pretender to the former royal crown of Hanover.
Dynasties by region
- Idrisid dynasty (780-974)
- Maghrawa dynasty (987-1070)
- Almoravid dynasty (1073-1147)
- Almohad dynasty (1147-1269)
- Marinid dynasty (1258-1420)
- Wattasid dynasty (1420-1554)
- Saadi dynasty (1554-1659)
- Alaouite dynasty (1666- current)
- Tounes dynasty (1860–1862)
- Hurin dynasty (1197 - c.1350)
- Haran dynasty (c.1350 - 1572)
- House of Iturbide (1822 - 1823)
- House of Habsburg (1864 - 1867)
Pacific
Burma
- Five Emperors(2852 BCE - 2205 BCE)
- Xia Dynasty (2100 BC–1600 BC)
- Shang Dynasty (1600 BC–1046 BC)
- Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC–256 BC)
- Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC)(Several of the Dynasties in the Warring States were descended from the Zhou royal family)
- State of Song (part of warring states) The rulers of the state of Song were descendants of the Shang royal family.
- State of Yue (part of warring states) The kings of Yueh claimed descent from the royal family of the Xia dynasty.
- State of Wu Same royal family as Zhou dynasty
- State of Jin Same royal family as Zhou dynasty
- State of Ba (barbarian state, non sinicized)
- Qin Dynasty (221 BC–206 BC) (The royal family of Qin ruled the State of Qin during warring states) (They also claimed descent from one of the Five emperors, Zhuanxu)
- Han Dynasty (206 BC–220)
- Minyue - same royal family as state of yueh- they fled when conquered by Chu and established Minyue, Min yue coexisted with the Warring states period, Qin, and Han dynasty until han conquered it.
- Nanyue - Chinese royal family founded by chinese general Zhao Tuo
- Xin Dynasty (9 AD- 23 AD) Xin dynasty inturepted the han dynasty, splitting it into east and west periods
- Three Kingdoms (220–265) (The emperor of Shu was a descandant of the Han Dynasty royal family)
- Jin Dynasty (265–420)
- Northern Wei (controlled northern china to the huai river) (386-534)
- Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589)
- Sui Dynasty (581–618)
- Tang Dynasty (618–907) (The Tang Emperors were members of the Li family, descended from a ruler in the Southern and Northern Dynasties)
- Second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) Interrupted Tang dynasty
- Liao Dynasty (Khitan) (907-1125) (controlled the 16 prefectures)
- Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960)
- Song Dynasty (960–1279)
- Jin Dynasty (1115–1234) (controlled northern China to the huai river) (1115–1234)
- Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368)
- Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)
- Shun Dynasty (1644)
- Qing Dynasty (1644–1912)
- Empire of China (1915–1916)
- Hokuzan (1314–1419)
- Chuzan (1314–1429)
- Nanzan (1314–1429)
- First Sho Dynasty (1406-1469)
- Second Sho Dynasty (1469-1879)
- Hari Pun Chai dynasty (663-1293)
- Phra Roung dynasty (Sukhothai Empire) (1237-1438)
- Mangrai dynasty (1261- 1578)
- Eu Thong dynasty (1350-1370),(1388-1409)
- Suphanabhumi dynasty(1370-1350),(1409-1569)
- Phra Roung Dynasty (Ayuthaya Empire)(1569-1629)
- Prasart Thong dynasty(1629-1688)
- Bann Plu Luang dynasty(1688-1767)
- Thonburi dynasty(1767-1782)
- Chakri dynasty (1782-present)
Viet Nam
- House of Habsburg (1273-1918)
Belgium, Flanders
Belle Dynasty or Balliol Dynasty (960-to the present), (Traced back to the Treaty of Verdun signed in Thionville, anno 843)
- Merovingian Dynasty (481-751)
- Carolingian Dynasty (751-843)
- Arnulfings or Pippinids, mayors of the palaces
- See Early kings of the Lombards.
the Netherlands
- House of Orange (1772- to the present)
Ostrogoths
- Amal Dynasty (before 474-536)
Visigoths
- Carolingian Dynasty (843-911)
- Conradine dynasty (911-918)
- Saxon Dynasty or Ottonian Dynasty (919-1024)
- Salian Dynasty or Franconian Dynasty (1024-1125)
- Supplinburger Dynasty (1125-1137)
- Hohenstaufen Dynasty (1137-1254)
- Habsburg Dynasty (1273-1291, 1298-1308, and 1438-1740)
- House of Habsburg-Lorraine (1745-1806)
- House of Nassau (1292-1298)
- House of Luxemburg (1308-1313, 1347-1400, and 1410-1437)
- House of Wittelsbach (1314-1347, 1400-1410, and 1742-1745)
- Hohenzollern Dynasty (1871-1918)
- Herrman-Ott Dynasty (1165-1918)
- Liutpolding Dynasty 889-947
- Ottonian Dynasty 947-1017
- House of Luxembourg 1017-1026, 1039-1047
- Salian Dynasty 1026-1039, 1053-1061
- Welf Dynasty 1070-1138, 1156-1180
- Babenberg Dynasty 1138-1156
- Wittelsbach Dynasty 1180-1918
- Liudolfing Dynasty 843-961
- Billung Dynasty 961-1106
- Supplinburger Dynasty 1106-1127
- Welf Dynasty 1127-1138, 1142-1180
- Ascanian Dynasty 1138-1142, 1180-1422
- Wettin Dynasty 1422-1918
- Árpád Dynasty (c.895-1301)
- Premyslid Dynasty (1301-1305)
- House of Wittelsbach (1305-1308)
- Capetian Dynasty, House of Anjou (1308-1395)
- House of Luxemburg (1387-1437)
- Habsburg Dynasty (1437-1457, 1526-1918)
- Jagiellonian Dynasty (1440-1526)
- Zápolya Dynasty (1526-1571)
- Habsburg Dynasty (1526-1918)
Two Sicilies
- House of Wessex (802-1016 and 1042-1066)
- House of Denmark (1013-1014 and 1016-1042)
- Norman Dynasty (1066-1154)
- Plantagenet Dynasty (1154-1485)
- House of Tudor (1485-1603)
- House of Stuart (1603-1714) (Throne merged with Scotland)
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Kingdom of Ireland murged with the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England and Ireland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Political families in Republics Though in elected governments rule does not pass automatically by inheritance, political power often accrues to generations of related individuals even in Republics. Eminence, Influence, familiarity, tradition, genetics, and even nepotism may contribute to this phenomenon.
Family dictatorships are a slightly different concept, where political power passes within a family due to the overwhelming authority of the leader, rather than informal power accrued to the family.
Some political dynasties:
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