Which European Royal House is the Greatest of All Time? | Top 10 Countdown

today i'm going to attempt to answer the question which european royal house is the greatest of all time in order to accomplish this i'm going to do a countdown of 10 dynasties which i've chosen and ranked according to their greatness now obviously at the end of the day my picks are subjective but i did try to go about it in a somewhat scientific way i basically looked at three criteria first longevity so houses that are really old and or survived for a really long time were more likely to rank higher second i considered dynasties that reigned in several different countries greater than those that reigned in only one or two finally i considered the overall power of the dynasty so royal houses that reigned during a particular nation's period of dominance tended to rank higher okay sit back and get ready to learn about 10 great european royal houses [Music] [Music] so first of all let me explain what a royal house is a royal house is basically a family and generally speaking in europe royal houses are based on the father's family not the mothers so for example queen victoria was from the house of hanover but when her son edward the seventh became king the reigning house in the uk changed to the house of saks coburg and gota this is because that was the house of victoria's husband albert they later changed the name to windsor but really it's the same house so basically royal houses are kind of like last names the last name or house of royal family stays the same until we get a female monarch at that point when the female monarch dies the next monarch will be from a different house because they will have taken their father's quote-unquote last name not their mother's i should also point out that this video is concerned with royal houses only not noble houses in general the word royal refers to the rank of king or queen or anyone even higher such as an emperor or empress although in those cases the term imperial house can also be used so keep in mind that houses that only reigned at the duke or prince level were not considered okay let's begin number 10 the house of savoy the founder and oldest male line ancestor of this family was a man named humbert the white-handed who was the first count of savoy and who lived over 1 000 years ago you can see on the map that the region of savoy is located in the northwest corner of italy the heads of this house reigned for many centuries as the counts and later dukes of savoy but it wasn't until the 18th century that they rose to the rank of royalty during the war of the spanish succession they ended up supporting the habsburgs and for this they were rewarded with the crown of sicily although after just seven years they were forced to trade sicily for sardinia and it was in sardinia that they reigned the longest however through the process of italian unification the kingdom of sardinia eventually evolved into the kingdom of italy and at that point the savoys finally came to reign over a major power there was even a few brief years when a junior member of the family sat on the throne of spain as well but that did not last number nine the house of vittelsbach this house traces its roots to a bavarian count named otto and the first major crown they came to hold was a major one the crown of the holy roman emperor in fact they were elected to the position three times throughout history but each time they were unable to hold onto it for more than one generation similarly a member of this house was also elected to reign in denmark norway and sweden during the period of the khalmar union and then also in bohemia during the 30 years war but again in both these cases the reigns were short-lived it wasn't until a branch of the family known as the house of palutenate zuebruken came to hold the throne in sweden in 1654 that they were able to establish a bit of a dynasty finally during the napoleonic era the kingdom of bavaria was formed in their home territory and the heads of the house of vitelsbach served as independent kings there until bavaria joined the german empire in 1871 at that point they continued to serve as kings but as part of the greater empire up until 1918. number eight the house of nassau here we have another house that started with a german count and then briefly rose to the rank of holy roman emperor however in this case it was the latter branch of the family known as the house of orange nassau that came to be a major player in europe a member of that branch known as william the silent led the dutch revolt and hence the house became the de facto rulers of the dutch republic although as leaders of a republic they were not actually kings however they did eventually obtain that title when the netherlands became a kingdom in 1815. officially the house of orange nassau still reigns in the netherlands however the branch that the current king belongs to is not ignatic or male only the agnatic branch ceased to reign at the death of queen wilhelmina in 1948. finally there was a brief period in which the house of orange nassau reigned as co-monarch in both england and scotland that was when king william iii and queen mary the second were crowned following the glorious revolution number seven the house of evrea also known as the ansar kids here we have a very old house once again with origins in northwest italy in fact one of their members behringer ii ruled as king of italy back in the days when the carolingians were still on the throne of france but at that time they lost the crown of italy to the man who many consider to be the first true holy roman emperor otto the great however berenger's grandson ended up becoming count of burgundy and one of his descendants through a marriage to empress oraca of castile and lyon set the stage for the house to rule in iberia instead there the dynasty is sometimes called the house of burgundy although it should not be confused with the portuguese house of burgundy which has its origins in france anyway since the house of evria is primarily associated with spain you'll notice that i chose the coat of arms of castile and leon to represent it eventually an illegitimate branch of the dynasty known as the house of trustamara became the senior branch and then this branch split into two with one branch continuing to rule castile and the other branch coming to rule aragon and sicily a few generations later isabella queen of castile married her second cousin ferdinand king of aragon and the two crowns were united and became known as spain however because ferdinand and isabella did not have any sons the house of trastamara slash evreya came to an end in 1516 and the throne of spain passed to their eldest surviving daughter's son who belonged to a different house which we'll be discussing in a bit number six the house of hochenzalern the house of hohenzalern originated in the rhineland but came to inherit both the area around berlin known as brandenburg and an area called prussia which is near poland eventually the hohenzalern ruler of these two regions took the title king in prussia and then king of prussia during the rule of their most famous king frederick the great prussia became equal in power to the holy roman empire thus resulting in two major german powers existing at the same time several decades after the holy roman empire was dissolved and replaced with the austrian empire a new empire was formed called the german empire and the king of prussia was made german emperor or kaiser the house of hohenzalern held this title until the end of world war one in 1918. however the hohenzollerns ruled as kings past this point a junior branch of the family known as the house of hohenzalern sigmaringen had become kings of romania and they continued to reign there until that country became communist in 1947. number five the house of velf this is another house like vitelsbach and nassau that briefly held the title of holy roman emperor a long time ago but then came to rule in a different location many centuries later in this case the valves later known as the house of brunswick luneburg are best known for becoming the monarchs of great britain which then became known as the united kingdom during their reign there they became known as the house of hanover the house of hanover inherited the throne of great britain when the protestant heirs of the house of stuart died out it was during their tenure that the british empire reached its peak of power following the napoleonic era hanover itself became a kingdom first held in union with the uk but then with its own independent kings from 1837 to 1866 i'll also point out that the house of valve briefly held the title emperor of russia very briefly when the two-month-old ivan vi was given the throne only to have it taken away in a coup a year later you'll notice that i've labeled velf the first as the founder of the dynasty but i've also indicated an even older male line ancestor this is because both the house of valve and an italian noble house known as the house of este can trace their male lines back to boniface of tuscany a man appointed governor of italy by charlemagne himself so of all the dynasties on this top 10 list the house of valf is actually the oldest number four the house of veteran another german house you'll notice that most of these royal houses are of german or sometimes italian descent and that they originate with counts who originally served within the frankish empire during the carolingian period and then slowly rose to higher and higher positions often inheriting lands in other parts of europe far from where they originated in this case a little german town called vetten this is the first royal house that we've looked at that is still raining today both the house of windsor in the united kingdom and the house of belgium in belgium are branches of the house of saks coburg angota which in turn is a branch of the house of veton but the first place where the house of veten reached the rank of royalty was in the commonwealth of poland lithuania there a member of the house named augustus the strong was elected king and then later his son as well that same line went on to become the kings of saxony when that kingdom was created in 1806 however it was a different branch of the family called saks coburg angota that rose to even higher prominence throughout the 19th century members of that branch came to reign as kings in belgium portugal bulgaria and in 1901 the united kingdom this was the change that i mentioned earlier that occurred at the death of queen victoria so paternally the current queen elizabeth ii is a member of the house of veton and therefore it's the house of veton that sits on europe's most important throne today it's because of this and because of the fact that this house came to reign in such a wide variety of different countries that i ranked this particular royal house so high number three the house of oldenburg this house is not as well known as some of the others on this list but in my opinion it truly deserves to be in the top three because like the house of veten it came to hold the throne of many different countries although it originated in germany it is primarily associated with denmark where it has been sitting on the throne for a whopping 572 years although the original branch died out and was replaced with a junior branch known as the house of schleswig holstein sonderberg glooksburg or for short just glooksburg the house of glooksburg also currently reigns in norway and up until the 1970s it rained in greece however there was another junior branch of the house of oldenburg that rose to even higher heights the house of holstein gotorp that branch came to reign in both sweden and in the russian empire where it was known as holstein-gotorp romanov or simply romanov you'll notice that the original agnatic house of romanov did not make it on my top 10 list that's because they only reigned in one country russia and actually only reigned there for about a century after catherine the great all of the romanovs are technically members of this house the house of oldenburg so looking at it this way the oldenburgs actually ruled russia longer than the original romanovs but wait there's more the oldenbergs are set to inherit the most important throne still standing in europe today the united kingdom when queen elizabeth dies charles will become king and then probably william and if the monarch still exists many decades from now eventually george although officially they are from the house of windsor from a strictly agnatic point of view charles william george louie harry archie etc are all members of the house of prince philip the duke of edinburgh husband of queen elizabeth he was originally a prince from the royal family of greece which in turn is descended from the royal family of denmark which belongs to the house of oldenburg number 2 the house of habsburg so some of you might have been expecting to see this dynasty be given the number one spot but no i don't think they quite deserve it and i'll be giving my reasons for that in a bit obviously though the hasbergs are super important they held the title of holy roman emperor longer than any other dynasty and during most of that time they held the crowns of bohemia and hungary as well but what makes them so important is that from 1516 to 1700 they held a second major power as well spain which at the time included southern italy and for a period of 59 years portugal however due to their infamous tendency towards inbreeding the agnatic house of habsburg died out in spain in 1700 and in central europe in 1780 after that point the members of the house of habsburg who went on to be the emperors of austria were technically members of a different house the house of lorraine as are the heirs to the habsburg titles today so i haven't included them in these tallies okay here it is number one the house of kapay this house originally from france has a lot of branches but they are all male line branches and hence all part of the same house so the house of valois the house of bourbon the house of orleans they are all really the same house now there are several reasons why i believe the cape deserve to beat out the habsburgs for the number one spot for one thing it's a much older house it was founded by hugh capey count of paris but his line can be traced back even further via the reversions to a count who lived in the early days of the carolingian empire second it is still raining today not in france where it had an 800 year run but in spain where it has been raining except for one interruption for over 300 years third it's not only in france and spain where the house of capay made its mark in fact the house of capay has set on more independent thrones in europe than any other royal house let's go through the list the initial ruling house in portugal the house of burgundy as well as its illegitimate branch the house of avis were both male line descendants of the capacion the independent kings of navarre before that kingdom merged with france were male line capacion the second house of anjou which ruled in southern italy as well as in hungary during that country's peak of power was kapesyan the house that reigned in the kingdom of the two sicilies again in southern italy also capacion then of course there was the house of courtney a junior branch of the house of capay which achieved the rank of emperor in the short-lived latin empire which was established as a result of the fourth crusade's capture of constantinople there was also henry valois who was elected king of poland and finally there was louis the lion who captured half of england and was declared king there although later he agreed to say that he was never really legitimate for all of these reasons their antiquity their longevity and the fact that they set on so many different thrones i would say that the house of kapay the main rivals to the house of habsburg throughout most of european history is in fact the greater of those two houses so i've listed off 10 really great european royal houses and i've even ranked them from number 10 to number one let me know in the comments what you think feel free to disagree with my choices and let me know who you think i missed and who you would have ranked differently however before i go let me say one more thing i actually think there's one more european royal house that is even greater than the 10 i mentioned in this video greater even than the habsburgs and the capacies but in order to discover which one that is we have to think of royal houses in a slightly different way and for that you are going to have to wait until next week one week from today on this channel i will reveal something that i discovered while researching european royal lines something that's been there all along but has surprisingly gone unnoticed and once i reveal it to you we will finally have the answer to the question which european royal house is the greatest of all time thanks for watching

Channel: UsefulCharts

Views: 290,521

Rating: 4.9137802 out of 5

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Id: V-71KyQG7WQ

Length: 22min 25sec (1345 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 18 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Europa-Primum]

Habsburg due to its longevity and impact on all royal houses.

[u/marcos5102]

The Capets definitely are the greatest.

[u/Tyler_Thelen]

Hohenzollern

[u/Henryraptor2000]

Imma go crazy and say Bonaparte (If we're also counting imperial houses and not judging based on his criterion but my subjective opinion please don't kill me)

[u/Rozvelius]

House Lannister

[u/The_Bearabia]

House Oranje-Nassau is the greatest of course

[u/hawkeye6892]

Romanov

[u/Ghetto_Sausage]

Windsor.

[u/Blasphoumy69]

As a true patriot Brit must say house of Windsor