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Dynasties
Despite the name, this
page is concerned more with territories than with people. What follows
is a listing of the more significant dynastic families existing in Europe,
together with the various titles they accumulated over the course of their
existence. Neither the catalogue of families, nor the holdings so listed,
should be considered complete; this is an ongoing work, and it is to be
anticipated that the information will be modified and added to.
The format is as follows:
An
entry will begin with a dynasty name. It will be tinted black for
extinct families, terra
cotta for families which still exist but no
longer rule, or red
for families which still hold active rulership of some state or states.
Inset after are listings of holdings that family controlled at one time
or another. They are presented in German Imperial precedence, ie. Emperor,
King, Archduke, Grand Duke, Duke, Prince, Margrave, Landgrave, Count. A
line will consist of a title and location, followed by the number of family
members holding that title at any time, followed by the years in which
the family had effective control of the region. If both males and females
held the title in their own right, that is indicated, and the number following
will be in the form (M/F). Certain titles will have the notation (var.),
followed usually by an extraordinarily large number of holders; these indicate
regions which were divided and subdivided among most male members of the
family, to produce very large numbers of very small domains.
Note well:
These listings are about titles and lands, not individuals. One person
may very well hold simultaneously any number of lands and titles; therefore
do not add up the numbers in a particular dynasty and conclude that that
family had X number of rulers, you will almost certainly be duplicating
individuals having more than one title. Also,
be aware that I am using "dynasty" in a very extended sense; I include
under the same family name all the various branches stemming from a common
ancestor which contained rulers. Thus "Plantagenet" includes within it
the branches of York and Lancaster, which are sometimes thought of elsewhere
as separate dynasties.
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