A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,[1] usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A "house" is an imperial, royal or noble family, not always ruling. Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations, such as the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 1453), Imperial Iran (678 BC – AD 1979), Ancient Egypt (3100–30 BC), and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned.
Before the 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world were traditionally reckoned patrilineally, such as those that followed the Frankish Salic law. In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through a female.
The word "dynasty" (from the el|δυναστεία, dynasteía "power", "lordship", from dynástes "ruler") 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, or any family with a legacy, such as a dynasty of poets or actors. It is also extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team.[2]
The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house",[3] which may be styled as "imperial", "royal", "princely", "ducal", "comital" or "baronial", depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members, but it is more often referred by adding the name afterwards, as in "House of Habsburg".
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 after 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 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, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles (although he is entitled to reclaim the former royal dukedom of Cumberland). 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.[4] 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 succession to the British throne.[5] That exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts before triggering it by marriage to a Roman Catholic.[4]
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.[6] For example, the marriage of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, making their eldest child, Princess Catharina-Amalia, the heir apparent to the Crown of the Netherlands. The marriage of his younger brother, Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, in 2003 lacked government 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.
The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 was an edict issued by Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI on 19 April 1713 to ensure that the Habsburg monarchy could be inherited by his daughter undivided (→ agnatic-cognatic primogeniture).[7] In 1736, Francis Stephen of Lorraine married Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the sole heir of Emperor Charles VI. With the marriage of Maria Theresa, the only offspring of the House of Austria, she became together with her husband the founder of the new dynasty of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Since 1740 he was her co-regent in the Habsburg hereditary lands and from 1745 he was Holy Roman Emperor as Francis I, but was hardly involved in government affairs.[8] Francis was as Duke of Lorraine the last non-Habsburg monarch of the Holy Roman Empire. The couple were the founders of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, which ruled until 1918. Empress Maria Theresa of the Habsburg dynasty had her children married into various European dynasties. Habsburg marriage policy amongst European dynasties led to the Pax Austriaca.[9] [10]
Historians periodize the histories of many states and civilizations, such as Ancient Iran (3200 BC – 1979 AD), Ancient Egypt (3100–30 BC) and Ancient and Imperial China (2070 BC – AD 1912), 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 artefacts of that period (e.g., "a Ming dynasty vase"). 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.[11]
Before the 18th century, most dynasties throughout the world had traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as those that followed the Frankish Salic law. In polities where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband's family name. This has changed in all of Europe's remaining monarchies, where succession law and conventions have maintained dynastic names de jure through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor is 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 and Gotha-Koháry, but whose descendants remained members of the House of Braganza, per Portuguese law;, since the 1800s, the only female monarch in Europe who had children belonging to a different house was Queen Victoria and that was due to disagreements over how to choose a non German house. 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 (or polydynastic) system—that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.
Dynasties lasting at least 200 years include the following. Legendary lineages that cannot be historically confirmed are not included.
| Dynasty | Years Ruled | Corrected Length of Rule | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 500 CE – present | ~1,500+ years | Continuous, mostly ceremonial since 12th century; pre-500 CE emperors semi-legendary, exact start uncertain.[12] [13] | ||
| Wessex/England/Britain | c. 520 CE – present | ~1,500 years | Non-continuous; was deposed in 1066 but survived through marriages and cadet branches. | |
| c. 200 BCE – 1100 CE | ~1,300 years | Estimation; fragmented early records, gaps likely.[14] [15] | ||
| c. 300 BCE – 900 CE | ~1,200 years | Estimation; intermittent rule after 900 CE, gaps in continuity.[16] [17] | ||
| c. 950 CE – present | ~1,075 years | Estimation; title changed in 1865, constitutional now.[18] [19] | ||
| 987 CE – present | 1,038 years | Continuous through cadet branches (e.g., Bourbon); active in Spain.[20] | ||
| 780 CE – 1801 CE | ~1,021 years | Georgian royal house; ended with Russian annexation.[21] | ||
| 566 CE – 1537 CE | ~971 years | Mewar rajputs; ceremonial after 1537.[22] [23] | ||
| 57 BCE – 935 CE | 992 years | Korean kingdom; estimation for early start.[24] | ||
| c. 1700 BCE – 722 BCE | 978 years | Neo-Assyrian period; estimation.[25] | ||
| 498 CE – 1434 CE | ~936 years | Odisha rulers; diminished after 1434.[26] [27] | ||
| 665 CE – 1598 CE | 933 years | Tabaristan rulers.[28] | ||
| c. 300 BCE – 200 CE, 848–1279 CE | ~929 years | Non-continuous; interregnum ~200–848 CE; early period semi-legendary.[29] [30] | ||
| 1046 BCE – 256 BCE | 790 years | Nominal rule in later Warring States period; traditional dates.[31] | ||
| 750–1258 CE, 1261–1517 CE | 764 years | Non-continuous; caliphal rule, ceremonial after 1258.[32] | ||
| 862 CE – 1598 CE | 736 years | Kievan Rus to Tsardom of Russia.[33] | ||
| Sayfawa | c. 1085 CE – 1846 CE | ~761 years | Kanem–Bornu Empire
| |
| 37 BCE – 668 CE | 705 years | Korean kingdom; well-documented.[35] | ||
| 1270 CE – 1975 CE | 705 years | Ethiopian emperors; restored in 1270.[36] | ||
| 651 CE – 1349 CE | 698 years | Tabaristan rulers.[37] | ||
| 1128 CE – 1818 CE | 690 years | Jaipur rajputs; effective rule ended with British control.[38] [39] | ||
| c. 1360 CE – present | ~665 years | Brunei sultans; estimation for early start.[40] | ||
| 1299 CE – 1922 CE | 623 years | Sultans of Ottoman Empire.[41] | ||
| 543 BCE – 66 CE | 609 years | Sri Lankan kings; traditional dates.[42] | ||
| 1228 CE – 1826 CE | 598 years | Assam kingdom.[43] | ||
| 1448 CE – present | 577 years | Danish/Norwegian royals; active in Denmark.[44] | ||
| 1243 CE – 1818 CE | 575 years | Marwar/Jodhpur rajputs; ended with British control.[45] [46] | ||
| c. 1330 CE – 1855 CE | ~525 years | Kurdish principality; adjusted start date.[47] | ||
| 1392 CE – 1910 CE | 518 years | Korean rulers.[48] | ||
| 1278 CE – 1780 CE | 502 years | Line Agnatic: All are extinct (after death of Maria Theresa). | ||
| Shang | 1600 BCE – 1046 BCE | 496 years | Chinese royal rulers[49] | |
| 918 CE – 1392 CE | 474 years | Korean kingdom.[50] | ||
| 247 BCE – 224 CE | 471 years | Parthian Empire.[51] | ||
| 1154 CE – 1624 CE | 470 years | Oman imams.[52] | ||
| 202 BCE – 9 CE, 25–220 CE | 448 years | Non-continuous; Chinese emperors.[53] | ||
| 858 CE – 1301 CE | 443 years | Hungarian kings.[54] | ||
| 1586 CE – present | ~439 years | Indonesian sultans; estimation for continuity.[55] | ||
| 224 CE – 651 CE | 427 years | Persian Empire.[56] | ||
| c. 1010 BCE – 586 BCE | ~424 years | Kingdom of Judah; traditional dates.[57] | ||
| 220 CE – 638 CE | 418 years | Arab kingdom.[58] | ||
| 960 CE – 1370 CE | 410 years | Polish dukes/kings.[59] | ||
| c. 700 BCE – 309 BCE | ~391 years | Macedonian kings; adjusted start.[60] | ||
| 426 CE – 810 CE | 384 years | Maya city-state.[61] | ||
| 1220 CE – 1597 CE | 377 years | Kandy kingdom, Sri Lanka.[62] | ||
| 661–750 CE, 756–1031 CE | 364 years | Non-continuous; caliphs.[63] | ||
| 1271 CE – 1635 CE | 364 years | Mongol China.[64] | ||
| 1057–1059 CE, 1081–1185 CE, 1204–1461 CE | 363 years | Byzantine emperors; non-continuous.[65] | ||
| Later Lê (Primitive and Revival Lê) | 1428–1527 CE, 1533–1789 CE | 355 years | Vietnamese emperors; non-continuous.[66] | |
| 1047–1375 CE, 1387–1412 CE | 353 years | Danish kings; non-continuous.[67] | ||
| 1277 CE – 1619 CE | 342 years | Jaffna kingdom.[68] | ||
| c. 268 CE – 602 CE | ~334 years | Arab kingdom.[69] | ||
| 1371–1651, 1660–1714 | 334 years | Scottish/British royals; non-continuous.[70] | ||
| Mughal | 1526 CE – 1857 CE | 331 years | Mughal Empire; cadet branch of Timurid dynasty.[71] [72] | |
| 1154 CE – 1485 CE | 331 years | English kings.[73] | ||
| 905 CE – 1234 CE | 329 years | Navarre/Aragon.[74] | ||
| 1699 CE – present | ~326 years | Pahang/Malaysia sultans; estimation.[75] | ||
| 960 CE – 1279 CE | 319 years | Chinese emperors.[76] | ||
| 1613 CE – 1917 CE | 304 years | Russian tsars.[77] | ||
| 916 CE – 1218 CE | 302 years | Khitan rulers.[78] | ||
| 1616 CE – 1912 CE | 296 years | Manchu China.[79] | ||
| 1368 CE – 1662 CE | 294 years | Chinese emperors.[80] | ||
| 962 CE – 1246 CE | 284 years | Austrian dukes.[81] | ||
| 305 BCE – 30 BCE | 275 years | Hellenistic Egypt.[82] | ||
| 618–690 CE, 705–907 CE | 274 years | Chinese emperors; non-continuous.[83] | ||
| 909 CE – 1171 CE | 262 years | Caliphs.[84] | ||
| 1230 CE – 1492 CE | 262 years | Granada emirate.[85] | ||
| Rajasa | 1222 CE -1478 CE | 256 years | Javanese rulers[86] | |
| c. 1550 BCE – c. 1295 BCE | ~255 years | Egyptian pharaohs.[87] | ||
| 1034 CE – 1286 CE | 252 years | Scottish kings.[88] | ||
| Bubastite | c. 945 BCE – c. 715 BCE | ~230 years | Egyptian pharaohs. | |
| 550 BCE – 330 BCE | 220 years | Persian Empire; adjusted start.[89] [90] | ||
| Bernadotte | 1818 CE – present | 208 years | Swedish monarchs; Norwegian monarchs from 1818 – 1905[91] |
There are 43 sovereign states with a monarch as head of state, of which 41 are ruled by dynasties. There are currently 26 sovereign dynasties.
See main article: Political family and List of political families.
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.
See also: Absolute monarchy.
Hereditary dictatorships are characterized by the dictator keeping political power within their family due to personal choice.[92] The successor may be groomed during their lifetime, as was the case for Bashar al-Assad and his brother Bassel,[93] or a member of their family may manoeuvre to take control of the dictatorship after the dictator's death, similar to the case of Ramfis Trujillo.[94]
| Kim family[95] [96] | Kim Il Sung | Kim Jong Un | 1948 | |||
| Gnassingbé family[97] |  Togo | Gnassingbé Eyadéma | Faure Gnassingbé | 1967 | ||
| Bongo family[98] [99] | Omar Bongo | Brice Oligui Nguema | 1967 | |||
| Nguema Family[100] |  Equatorial Guinea | Francisco Macías Nguema | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo | 1968 | ||
| Guelleh family[101] |  Djibouti | Hassan Gouled Aptidon | Ismaïl Omar Guelleh | 1977 | ||
| Hun family[102] [103] [104] |  Cambodia | Hun Sen | Hun Manet | 1985 | ||
| Déby family[105] |  Chad | Idriss Déby | Mahamat Déby | 1991 | ||
| Aliyev family[106] |  Azerbaijan | Heydar Aliyev | Ilham Aliyev | 1993 | ||
| Berdimuhamedow family[107] |  Turkmenistan | Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow | Serdar Berdimuhamedow | 2006 |
| López family[108] |  Paraguay | Carlos Antonio López | Francisco Solano López | 1844 | 1870 | 25 years, 293 days | |
| Trujillo family | Rafael Trujillo | Ramfis Trujillo | 1930 | 1961 | |||
| Somoza family[109] |  Nicaragua | Anastasio Somoza García | Anastasio Somoza Debayle | 1936 | 1979 | 43 years, 39 days | |
| Duvalier family |  Haiti | François Duvalier | Jean-Claude Duvalier | 1957 | 1986 | ||
| Castro Family |  Cuba | Fidel Castro | 1959 | 2021 | |||
| Kabila family | Laurent-Désiré Kabila | 1997 | 2019 | ||||
| Assad family[110] [111] | Hafez al-Assad | Bashar al-Assad | 1971 | 2024 |
See main article: List of wealthiest families.
See main article: Lists of dynasties.
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