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This only feels surprising to me because in England, aristocratic houses tend to last only 100-200 years before losing their name by being subsumed into another
by true_religion 10y ago
This only feels surprising to me because in England, aristocratic houses tend to last only 100-200 years before losing their name by being subsumed into another, renaming due to politics, or vanishing in some other way.
The House of Windsor only formally dates back to 1910.
However if you trace it via the Mountbatten line, it'll rate as being as old as 1567, since it comes from a branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt in the Holy Roman Empire.
I think there's 3 things that might cause this:
- I am thinking that Florencian plutocratic houses simply never rename themselves. The Medici family for example continues to exist today, holding some minor titles.
- I think it also helps that Italian aristocrats were heavily involved in trade, and other mercantile professions so could continue to hold wealth and power after being deposed from statutory privilege. English aristocrats on the other hand, often only hold value in land.
- The English have historically allowed women to inherit, so family names are lost due to inheritance, enriching others with the same bloodline but different names.
- caf 10y agoHolding value in land typically means involvement in agriculture, though.
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoYes, but agriculture became less a source of great wealth during the industrial revolution. Trade probably continued to be quite profitable, though.
- MagnumOpus 10y agoAgriculture isn't the way to riches anymore, but holding all the former farmland is. Say your ancestor Rich Grosvenor owned the village of Belgrave near Westminster Cathedral and the farmland around it - then just by holding on to it, watching it as it becomes prime urban real estate and living off the million-pound rents you and your children can't avoid becoming billionaires a dozen times over. Then you can proceed to buy and sell the British government and media at your pleasure, having been made a duke and a lord of the realm...
- pcrh 10y agoThis phenomenon is exacerbated by selling leases rather than freehold rights. A leasehold may expire after 99 years, at which point it reverts to the original freeholders and can be sold again. In this manner the same land can be sold repeatedly, generation after generation, and is how the Grovenor family acquired such huge wealth.
- joshuaheard 10y agoIn America, we call a version of this "redneck retirement" where a rural landowner is able to sell his property to a real estate developer when it is subsumed by urban sprawl.
- AnimalMuppet 10y agoThat only works if your land is located in the right place, though. I suspect it didn't work as well in, say, the Midlands.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bootload 10y ago"The House of Windsor only formally dates back to 1910." House of Wetten (1030) -> House of Hanover (1710) -> House of House of Saxe-Coburg and Goth (1826) -> House of Windsor. There is a long lineage for the Windsors. Note the name change in 1918 from Saxe-Coburg to Windor to avoid diplomatic incidents by association. To get an idea of the breakdown of English aristocracy and estates, read this insightful article by Charles Spencer, "Enemy of the Estate" ~ http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/01/english-aristocracy-201001 http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/01/english-aristocracy-2... "I am thinking that Florencian plutocratic houses simply never rename themselves." Yes, that's what it looks like.
- cannonpr 10y agoYour comment about the Medici line confused me a bit since I believed them to have ended quite a while back, however there do appear to be two cadet lines still around. When do you generally consider a line over for the purposes of the study ?
- cannonpr 10y agoYour comment about the Medici line confused me a bit since I believed them to have ended quite a while back, however there do appear to be two cadet lines still around. When do you generally consider a line over for the purposes of the study ?