Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. Alternative terms for "dynasty" may include "house", "family" and "clan", among others. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, otherwise known as the Yamato dynasty, whose reign is traditionally dated to.
The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house", which may be styled as "imperial", "royal", "princely", "ducal", "comital", "baronial" etc., depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members.
Historians periodize the histories of many nations and civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, and also to describe events, trends and artifacts of that period. The word "dynasty" itself is often dropped from such adjectival references.
Until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty: that is, to expand the wealth and power of his family members.
Prior to the 20th century, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. In nations where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's ruling house. This has changed in some places in Europe, where succession law and convention have maintained dynasties de jure through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant. The earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. This also happened in the case of Queen Maria II of Portugal, who married Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but whose descendants remained members of the House of Braganza, per Portuguese law. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance. Less frequently, a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic system—that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.
Not all feudal states or monarchies were or are ruled by dynasties; modern examples are the Vatican City State, the Principality of Andorra, and the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. Throughout history, there were monarchs that did not belong to any dynasty; non-dynastic rulers include King Arioald of the Lombards and Emperor Phocas of the Byzantine Empire. Dynasties ruling subnational monarchies do not possess sovereign rights; two modern examples are the monarchies of Malaysia and the royal families of the United Arab Emirates.
The word "dynasty" is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but are, for example, members of a family with influence and power in other areas, such as a series of successive owners of a major company. It is also extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team.
Etymology
The word "dynasty" derives from Latin , which comes from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to "power", "dominion", and "rule" itself. It was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, "power" or "ability", from dýnamai, "to be able".Dynast
A ruler from 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 a right to succeed to a throne. For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication.In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a "dynast" is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy's rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife, their son Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg, was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Even since the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian 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 only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, and sometimes to include 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, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II, is in the line of succession to the British crown; making him a British dynast. On the other hand, since he is not a patrilineal member of the British royal family, he is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor.
Comparatively, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover, a male-line descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles. He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain's Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on 26 March 2015. Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the roman catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999. Yet, a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who marry roman catholics are considered "dead" for the purpose of succession to the British throne. That exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Roman Catholic.
A "dynastic marriage" is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, so that the descendants are eligible to inherit the throne or other royal privileges. The marriage of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to Queen Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, making their eldest child Princess Catharina-Amalia the heir apparent to the Crown of the Netherlands. However, the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau in 2003 lacked governmental support and parliamentary approval. Thus, Prince Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession to the Dutch throne, and consequently lost his title as a "Prince of the Netherlands", and left his children without dynastic rights.
Gallery
Extant dynasties ruling sovereign monarchies
There are 44 sovereign states with a monarch as head of state, of which 42 are ruled by dynasties.Dynasty | Realm | Reigning monarch | Dynastic founder | Dynastic place of origin |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Windsor | Queen Elizabeth II | King-Emperor George V | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Khalifa | King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa | Sheikh Khalifa bin Mohammed | Najd | |
House of Belgium | King Philippe | King Albert I | Thuringia and Bavaria | |
House of Wangchuck | Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck | Druk Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuck | Bhutan | |
House of Bolkiah | Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah | Sultan Muhammad Shah | Tarim | |
House of Norodom | King Norodom Sihamoni | King Norodom Prohmbarirak | Cambodia | |
House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg | Queen Margrethe II | Duke Friedrich Wilhelm | Glücksburg | |
House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg | King Harald V | Duke Friedrich Wilhelm | Glücksburg | |
House of Dlamini | King Mswati III | Chief Dlamini I | East Africa | |
Imperial House of Japan | Emperor Naruhito | Emperor Jimmu | Nara | |
House of Hashim | King Abdullah II | King Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi | Hejaz | |
House of Sabah | Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah | Sheikh Sabah I bin Jaber | Najd | |
House of Moshesh | King Letsie III | Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe I | Lesotho | |
House of Liechtenstein | Prince Hans-Adam II | Prince Karl I | Lower Austria | |
House of Luxembourg-Nassau | Grand Duke Henri | Grand Duke Adolphe | Nassau | |
Bendahara dynasty | Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdullah | Bendahara Tun Habib Abdul Majid | Johor | |
House of Grimaldi | Prince Albert II | François Grimaldi | Genoa | |
Alaouite dynasty | King Mohammed VI | Sultan Abul Amlak Sidi Muhammad as-Sharif ibn 'Ali | Tafilalt | |
House of Orange-Nassau | King Willem-Alexander | Prince William I | Nassau | |
House of Said | Sultan Haitham bin Tariq | Sultan Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi | Oman | |
House of Thani | Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani | Sheikh Thani bin Mohammed | Najd | |
House of Saud | King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | Emir Saud I | Diriyah | |
House of Borbón-Anjou | King Felipe VI | King Philip V | Bourbon-l'Archambault | |
House of Bernadotte | King Carl XVI Gustaf | King Charles XIV John | Pau | |
Chakri dynasty | King Vajiralongkorn | King Rama I | Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya | |
House of Tupou | King Tupou VI | King George Tupou I | Tonga | |
House of Nahyan | President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan | Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa Al Nahyan | Liwa Oasis |
Political dynasties in republics and constitutional monarchies
Though in elected governments, rule does not pass automatically by inheritance, political power often accrues to generations of related individuals in the elected positions of republics, and constitutional monarchies. Eminence, influence, tradition, genetics, and nepotism may contribute to the phenomenon.Family dictatorships are a different concept in which political power passes within a family because of the overwhelming authority of the leader, rather than informal power accrued to the family.
Some political dynasties in republics:
- Family of Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh
- Family of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh
- Family of Aung San of Myanmar
- House of Medici of Florence
- Nehru–Gandhi family of India
- Jinnah family of Pakistan and India
- Bhutto family of Pakistan
- Sharif family of Pakistan
- Chiang family of the Republic of China
- Family of Sukarno of Indonesia
- Koirala family of Nepal
- Somoza family of Nicaragua
- Lee family of Singapore
- Family of Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka
- Family of John Churchill of the United Kingdom
- Trudeau family of Canada
- Adams family of the United States
- Bush family of the United States
- Clinton family of the United States
- Cuomo family of the United States
- Harrison family of Virginia of the United States
- Kennedy family of the United States
- Lee family of the United States
- Long family of the United States
- Roosevelt family of the United States
- Taft family of the United States
- Udall family of the United States
Influential and wealthy families
- The Agnelli family
- The :Category:Ambani family|Ambani family
- The Anheuser family
- The Arison family
- The :Category:Asper family|Asper family
- The Astor family
- The Bamford family
- The Bacardi family
- The Bancroft family
- The Baring family
- The Bazalgette family
- The Berenberg-Gossler-Seyler family
- The Bertarelli family
- The Botín family
- The Bonnier family
- The Bronfman family
- The Bulgari family
- The Burke family
- The Bush family
- The :Category:Busch family|Busch family
- The Cabot family
- The Cadbury family
- The Carnegie family
- The Cholmondeley family
- The Churchill family
- The Cojuangco family
- The :Category:Conran family|Conran family
- The :Category:Curzon family|Curzon family
- The Darwin–Wedgwood family
- The :Category:Desmarais family|Desmarais family
- The Disney family
- The Du Pont family
- The Egerton family
- The Fabergé family
- The :Category:Fleming family|Fleming family
- The Florio family
- The Forbes family
- The Forbes family
- The Ford family
- The Forte family
- The Freud family
- The Fugger family
- The Getty family
- The Goldsmith family
- The :Category:Gooderham family|Gooderham family
- The Gough-Calthorpe family
- The Grosvenor family
- The Guggenheim family
- The Guinness family
- The Gyllenhaal family
- The :Category:Hearst family|Hearst family
- The :Category:Heinz family|Heinz Family
- The :Category:Harmsworth family|Harmsworth family
- The Hilton family
- The Howard family
- The Irving family
- The Kennedy family
- The Keswick family
- The Kim family
- The Krupp family
- The :Category:Lascelles family|Lascelles family
- The Latsis family
- The Lee family
- The Lehman family
- The Li family
- The Livingston family
- The Louis-Dreyfus family
- The Mason family
- The McCormick family
- The Medici family
- The Mellon family
- The Mendelssohn family
- The Merck family
- The :Category:Mirvish family|Mirvish family
- The Mittal family
- The Molson family
- The Molyneux family
- The Montefiore family
- The Morgan family
- The Murdoch family
- The :Category:Newhouse family|Newhouse family
- The :Category:Oppenheimer family|Oppenheimer family
- The Packer Family
- The Pattison family
- The Peugeot family
- The Porsche family
- The Premji family
- The Pritzker family
- The Rausing family
- The :Category:Redpath family|Redpath family
- The Roosevelt family
- The Rothschild family
- The Rockefeller family
- The Rupert family
- The Sackler family
- The Sainsbury family
- The Sassoon family
- The Sawiris family
- The Schröder family
- The Shinawatra family
- The Spencer family
- The Stroganov family
- The :Category:Sulzberger family|Sulzberger family
- The :Category:Swire family|Swire family
- The Taft family
- The Taittinger family
- The Tata family
- The :Category:Thomson family|Thomson family
- The Thynn family
- The Thyssen family
- The Tjin-A-Djie family
- The Tolstoy family
- The :Category:Toyoda family|Toyoda family
- The Trump family
- The Vanderbilt family
- The Villiers family
- The Wallenberg family
- The Walton family
- The Warburg family
- The Welser family
- The Weston family
- The Whitney family
- The Wittgenstein family
- The Zobel de Ayala family