Dynasties past and present

Dynasties enjoy a mixed reputation. Enlightened opinion associates traditional royalty with militant triumphalism, despotism, pomp, squandering, ineptitude, and corruption. Yet at the same time, there is a continuing fascination with royalty. This is not surprising: royal dynasties magnify common tribulations of family life; they present all human appetites, weaknesses, and strengths in overstated form. Numerous books have been written about kings and queens, yet the collective history of kingship and dynasty has remained a terra incognita. ‘Dynasties past and present’ discusses the close connections between kingship and dynasty, and explains how this VSI weaves together different threads of scholarship.

6. The dynastic impulse in the modern world

The turbulent decades around 1800 did not spell the end of dynasty, but they carried the message that alternative forms of power might in the long run gain ascendancy. While royal legitimacy was now openly contested, republics remained the exception until 1918. ‘The dynastic impulse in the modern world’ considers the breakdown of empires that led to the creation of new states, many of them monarchies. It shows how modern autocrats mimic forms of dynastic representation, promoting their families, and designating their own successors. Finally, it highlights the remarkable continuities of dynastic practice in ‘political families’ and family businesses around the world.

Epilogue

Throughout history, elites have developed instruments to consolidate the status of their families, by enlarging their patrimony, educating their scions, and seeking strategic alliances. Modern elites in all spheres of life conform to this rule, though heredity of supreme political office is now no longer commonly accepted. The Epilogue invites readers to reconsider the present from the long-term perspective of dynastic power. Too often, the dynastic muddle has been used largely to highlight the achievements of modern political leadership. Traditional dynasties have disappeared into the margins of politics, yet the dynastic impulse persists and there is little reason to assume that it will diminish.

5. Persistence and change

The never-ending lists of kings imparted the view of an unbroken chain extending into the past, but they also suggested the repeated rise and fall of ruling houses. Did dynasties necessarily follow the organic trajectory of birth, growth, maturity, old age, and death? ‘Persistence and change’ compares cyclical views of dynastic power throughout history and across the globe. It also asks how scale, change over time, and regional variety impacted dynasties. Finally, it considers the rise of Europe: royalty worldwide would undergo the impact of modernization first and foremost in the shape of European military and commercial dominance.

1. Shaping the family

A dynasty is a line of kings reaching back into the past, yet it also is the extended group of relatives around a living sovereign. These vertical and horizontal aspects of families could be shaped in many ways: depending on ideas about bloodlines, practices of procreation, and rules for succession, dynasties could comprise a handful or thousands. Fathers and sons dominate king-lists, yet in an estimated 30 per cent of societies worldwide, royalty could be transmitted only through the blood of women. ‘Shaping the family’ traces the profound consequences of matrilineal succession, polygyny, and monogamy for dynasty. It also examines the problems of handling the members of the horizontal family.

4. Embedding the family

Newcomers to power needed to prove to themselves as well as to others that their house was worthy to carry the mantle of kingship. In different proportions, royal descent, martial valour, and moral rectitude formed part of the recipe. Moreover, rulers sought confirmation by cultivating links to earlier dynastic legacies and by seeking the approbation of religious authorities. ‘Embedding the family’ considers the role of pedigree, bravery, and divine favour in royal legitimacy. It shows how courts and palaces helped establish the power of new rulers, and discusses some of the tensions of court life. All rulers needed to actively perform their status through ceremonies as well as through the distribution of honours.

3. Women and dynastic power

Dynasties took shape in very different ways, yet they all viewed government first and foremost as a male prerogative. Only rarely did women preside over the council and lead armies into war. No lasting examples of matriarchy can be found in the annals of dynastic history, but queens did rule. These queens-regnant were weighed down not only by the substantial burdens of kingship: they were wedged in by the tensions between their gender role and the requirements of power holding. While queens-regnant remained the exception, powerful women were almost always present around the throne. ‘Women and dynastic power’ asks where, when, and why women rose to power, and examines the roles that women have played in dynasties around the world as queens-regnant, queen-mothers, spouses, mistresses, and concubines.

2. Paterfamilias

Kings held responsibility for matters far larger than their lives; royal rule placed considerable demands on the shoulders of the incumbent. Kings needed to maintain order in their house and preserve the family domains bequeathed to them. They were expected to learn and respect the traditions of the lands they governed. Yet their toughest challenge undoubtedly originated in the divine mandate of kingship. ‘Paterfamilias: it’s hard to be the boss’ outlines the challenges of a lifetime on the throne and describes what was expected from kings around the world and through different millennia. It shows that the façade of awesome power often hid frailty and discomfort, and explains how the elevated status of kingship circumscribed the lives of incumbents.