A dynasty (/ˈdɪnəsti/, /ˈdaɪnəsti/) 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. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "house"; which may be styled "royal", "princely", "comital", etc., depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members. Historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends, and artifacts of that period ("a Ming-dynasty vase"). The word "dynasty" itself is often dropped from such adjectival references ("a Ming 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 increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, the Yamato dynasty, whose reign is traditionally dated to 660 BC.
Dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husband's ruling house. However, some states in 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 multidynastic (or polydynastic) system – that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.
The word "dynasty" is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but, 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 via Latindynastia from Greek dynastéia (δυναστεία), where it referred to "power", "dominion", and "rule" itself. It was the abstract noun of dynástēs (δυνάστης), the agent noun of dynamis (δύναμις), "power" or "ability", from dýnamai (δύναμαι), "to be able".
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 a right to succeed 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 or other royal privileges. The marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. 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 left his children without dynastic rights.
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 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 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, Viscount Linley, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II through her sister, Princess Margaret, is in the line of succession to the British crown: in that sense he 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), a male-line descendant of George III of the United Kingdom, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles (although he is entitled to re-claim the once-royal dukedom of Cumberland), was born in the line of succession to the British crown 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, in 1999 he requested and obtained formal permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. 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 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 Catholic.
Warring States period (445–221 BC) (Several of the dynasties in the Warring States were descended from the Zhou royal family)
State of Qin
State of Qi
State of Chu
State of Yan
State of Han
State of Zhao
State of Wei
State of Jin – Same royal family as Zhou dynasty
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 Yue claimed descent from the royal family of the Xia dynasty.
State of Wu – Same royal family as Zhou dynasty
State of Ba (barbarian state, non sinicized)
Qin dynasty (221–206 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 AD)
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 (Southern Yue) - founded by Qin general Zhao Tuo.
Xin dynasty (9 AD – 23 AD) – Xin dynasty interrupted the Han dynasty, splitting it into east and west periods
Three Kingdoms (220–265 AD) (The emperor of Shu was a descendant of the Han dynasty royal family)
Cao Wei (220–265 AD)
Shu Han (221–263 AD)
Eastern Wu (229–280 AD)
Jin dynasty (265–420 AD)
Sixteen Kingdoms (304–439 AD)
Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589 AD)
Liu Song dynasty (420–479 AD)
Southern Qi (479–502 AD)
Liang dynasty (502–557 AD)
Chen dynasty (557–589 AD)
Northern Wei (controlled northern China to the Huai river) (386–534 AD)
Eastern Wei (534–550 AD)
Western Wei (535–557 AD)
Northern Qi (550–577 AD)
Northern Zhou (557–581 AD)
Sui dynasty (581–618 AD)
Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) (The Tang Emperors were members of the Li family, descended from a ruler in the Southern and Northern Dynasties)
Second Zhou dynasty (690–705 AD) Interrupted Tang dynasty
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960 AD)
Later Liang (907–923 AD)
Later Tang (923–936 AD)
Later Jin (936–946 AD)
Later Han (947–950 AD)
Later Zhou (951–960 AD)
Former Shu (907–925 AD)
Wu (907–937 AD)
Wuyue (907–978 AD)
Chu (907–951 AD)
Southern Han (917–971 AD)
Min (909–945 AD)
Jingnan (924–963 AD)
Later Shu (934–965 AD)
Southern Tang (937–975 AD)
Northern Han (951–979 AD)
Liao dynasty (Khitan) (916–1125 AD) (controlled the 16 prefectures)
Song dynasty (960–1279 AD)
Western Xia (1038–1227)
Jin dynasty (Jurchen) (controlled northern China to the Huai river) (1115–1234)
Mauli dynasty, Dharmasraya and Pagaruyung kingdoms
Rajasa dynasty, Singhasari kingdom (1222–1292) and Majapahit empire (1293 – ca. 1500)
Four successor dynasties to Sultanate of Mataram : Pakubuwono, Hamengkubuwono, Paku Alaman, and Mangkunegaran (18th century - present)
Japan
Yamato dynasty, Imperial house of Japan (660 BC (legendary) - present, with power fluctuating between absolute ruler to ceremonial figurehead to constitutional monarch)
Kingdoms after the Union of the Crowns (1603–1707)
The crown of the Kingdom of England and Ireland merged with that of the Kingdom of Scotland to form a personal union between England-Ireland and Scotland (the former a personal union itself)
House of Stuart (1603–1707)
Personal union between Great Britain and Ireland (1707–1801)
House of Stuart (1707–1714)
House of Hanover (1714–1801)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1921)
House of Hanover (1801–1901)
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1901–1917)
House of Windsor (1917–1921)
Personal union of the UK [of GB and NI] and several other Irish states (1921–1949)
House of Windsor (1921–1949)
UK [of GB and NI] (without the personal union with Ireland) (1949-present)
Though in elected governments rule does not pass automatically by inheritance, political power often accrues to generations of related individuals in republics. Eminence, influence, tradition, genetics, and nepotism may contribute to this phenomenon.
Family dictatorships are a different concept, in which political power passes within a family due to the overwhelming authority of the leader, rather than informal power accrued to the family.
