Ruling Houses and Dynasties

England

1066–1154	William I, William II, Henry I, Stephen, Matilda		Norman
1154–1391	Henry II, Henry III, Richard I, John, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II		Plantagenet
	Named after the broom plant (genista) which the founder of the dynasty – Henry of Anjou, father of Henry II – wore a sprig of in his bonnet (some sources say gentian)
1391–1461, and 1470–1	Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Henry VII by birth		Lancaster
1461–70, and 1471–85	Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III		York
1485–1603	Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I		Tudor
1603–1704	James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, Mary II, Anne		Stuart
1689–1702	William III (the dynasty that still rules the Netherlands)		Orange–Nassau
1704–1901	George I, George II, George III, George IV, William IV, Victoria		Hanover
1901–1915	Edward VII and George V (until he changed the name to Windsor)		Saxe–Coburg & Gotha
1915 to date	George V, George VI, Edward VIII, Elizabeth I		Windsor

China (selected)

206BC – 220AD	(with a break 9 – 23 AD when Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty took power) – a "golden age" of Chinese culture		Han
618 – 907 AD	Regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization		T'ang
1271–1368	Mongol dynasty founded by Kublai Khan; overthrown by Chu Yuan–chang, founder of the Ming dynasty		Yuan
1368–1644	Overthrown by the Manchus		Ming
1636–1911	China's last Imperial dynasty: overthrown by the revolution of 1911		Qing (Manchu)

France

Rulers of the Franks from the mid–5th century until AD 751: included Clovis I (ruled c. 481–511) and Clovis II (639–657), whose name evolved into Louis		Merovingians
Rulers of the Franks from AD 751 until the establishment of the Kingdom of France in 987; Pepin I (the Short) and his son Charles I (Charlemagne) were its first and third kings, but the founder of the dynasty was Charles Martel – father of Pepin, grandfather of Charlemagne, and de facto ruler from AD 718 until his death in 741, as the power of the Merovingians waned		Carolingians
Rulers of the Kingdom of France from its foundation in AD 987 until 1328 – subsequent houses, Valois and Bourbon, were its cadet branches		Capetians

Other

Berber dynasty that defeated the Almoravids c. 1140 but was defeated by the Christian kings of Spain in 1212 and in Morocco in 1269		Almohad
Berber dynasty that ruled much of Morocco and Spain, 1056–1147		Almoravid
Swedish royal family since 1818 – founded by a marshal in Napoleon’s army (invited by the Swedish parliament in order to maintain peace with Napoleon)		Bernadotte
Spanish royal family (current; ruled Navarre from 1555, Spain from 1700, with some interruptions) and French 1589–1793; also at times Naples, Sicily and Parma		Bourbon
Portuguese royal family (from 1640, until the declaration of the Republic in 1910)		Braganza
Monaco's royal family since 1297		Grimaldi
Ruled the Holy Roman Empire 1228–1806 (with some interruptions), Spain 1519–1700, and the Austrian Empire 1273–1918		Habsburg
Marie Antoinette's family, by birth
Several members (notably Charles I and Charles II of Spain, the former also Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) suffered from mandibular prognathism, a condition where the lower jaw outgrows the upper, commonly known as the ... lip or ... jaw, exaggerated by inbreeding
Ruled Prussia throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and Germany from 1871		Hohenzollern
Royal house of Luxembourg		Nassau–Weilburg
Principality formed 1163 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I; ceded to France under the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713		Orange
Dutch royal family (founded 1544 when William of Nassau became Prince of Orange)		Orange–Nassau
Russian royal family, 1613–1917		Romanov
Italy's last ruling house, from unification in 1860 until the declaration of the Republic in 1946		Savoy
Ruled Sweden from 1523 to 1654; now famous as the name of a warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, was raised in 1961, and is now on view in a purpose–built museum in Stockholm		Vasa

Country ruled by the Chakri dynasty since 1782

Thailand (Siam)

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22