Major European Dynasties Trivia Quiz

Answer: Habsburg

The House of Habsburg takes its name from a castle in Switzerland named for the hawks that flew above it, the German word for hawk being Habicht, thus "Habichtsburg," and "Habsburg." This castle goes back to the 1020s. The first noble to use the name was Otto II, the grandson of the castle's builder, Count Radbot of Klettgau. Otto referred to himself as the Count of Habsburg.

Wikipedia lists over 20 kingdoms and empires as having been ruled by the House of Habsburg through time.

Answer: the House of Orange

The name Orange is derived from the medieval principality of Orange in old Provence in southern France. In the 1100s, with the disintegration of the kingdom of Arles, the Counts of Orange became vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor and began to call themselves princes. With the death of Philibert de Chalon, Prince of Orange in 1530, the House of Orange became linked to the House of Nassau, a link which continues today.

Answer: Wittelsbach

Perhaps the most famous Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria was the "Mad King," Ludwig II, also known as the "Swan King," who built the beautiful fantasy castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau in the Bavarian Alps.

Other Wittelsbach kings included Christopher of Bavaria, who was king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and three Swedish kings, Charles X Gustav, Charles XI, and Charles XII. Otto I was made the first modern King of Greece in 1832. Two Wittelsbach Holy Roman Emperors were Louis IV and Charles VII.

Answer: Savoy

Savoy claims to being the longest surviving dynasty in Europe, having been installed as the ruling family of the County of Savoy by Rudolf III, King of Burgundy, in 1003. It ruled the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1860. Although the territory of Savoy went from France to the Kingdom of Sardinia and then back to France, Victor Emmanuel II, who became King of Sardinia in 1849, headed the Savoy Dynasty and began the unification of Italy.

Answer: Romanov

Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are undoubtedly the two most famous Romanovs, Peter for his stature (6 feet 8 inches) and the modernization of Russia, and Catherine for her legendary sexual appetites. But the end of the Romanov rule is also quite intriguing, from the mad monk Rasputin and the hemophiliac Tsarevich Alexei, to the rumors of the survival of little Anastasia.

Surviving Romanovs include Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia (born in 1953), as well as Prince Andrew Romanov, born in 1923, and his three sons, princes Alexis Andreevich (born in 1953), Peter Andreevich (born in 1961), and Andrew Romanov Jr. (born in 1963).

Answer: Bourbon

The Sun King, Louis XIV, ruled France for 72 years, and famously declared "I am the State." However, his successor, Louis XV, was the Sun King's great grandson! Louis Fifteen himself ruled for 59 years and was only succeeded by his GRANDson, as well, meaning that 14 & 15 together ruled for over 130 years, from 1643 to 1777!

Answer: House of Braganza

Also known as the Most Serene House of Braganza, this dynasty was the last of four houses that had ruled Portugal, following the Houses of Burgundy, Avis, and Habsburg. The kings of all four houses, however, all descended from the same monarch, Alfonso I of Portugal, who ruled the kingdom he founded from 1139 to 1185.

Of the four dynasties, Braganza ruled Portugal the longest, a total of 270 years, just 36 years longer than Burgundy.

Answer: the Spanish House of Habsburg

Hanover rule began when George I (who could not speak English) was brought to Britain when the last Stuart ruler, Queen Anne, died childless. To ensure a continued line of Protestant rulers, the German George of Hanover, was brought to England as king. Six monarchs ruled Britain for the Hanoverians.

Angevin rule began with Henry II and included only Richard the Lionheart and his brother John, also called Lackland, who signed the Magna Carta.

Edward VII was the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and while Victoria was the last Hanoverian monarch, Edward's father, Albert, was from the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During World War I, George V, son of and successor to Edward, changed the family name to Windsor due to anti-German sentiment. Elizabeth II is the fifth Windsor monarch.

The only ruler of England from the Habsburg family was Philip II, who married Mary I, but was only king in name, having never lived in England, and the couple had no children.

Answer: Hohenzollern

Like the Habsburg and Romanov empires, the German Empire of the Hohenzollerns was brought down by World War I. But unlike the other two large Eastern European states, the empire of the Hohenzollerns had only recently achieved its imperial status, as the German Empire of Wilhelm I and II had only been established in the 1870s.

Nonetheless, Hohenzollern branches and states go back as far as many other noble European families. Zollern counts, which were elevated to Hohenzollern in 1218, were first mentioned as nobles in the Holy Roman Empire in 1061. Albert of Prussia, the first Duke of Prussia in 1525 and a vassal to the King of Poland, was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. In 1701 Frederick, the Elector of Brandenburg, became the first King of Prussia.

Answer: Vasa

The House of Vasa was one of eleven dynasties to rule Sweden, beginning around 970 with Eric the Victorious of the House of Munsö. The Vasas ruled from 1521 until 1654 when Queen Christina, childless and unmarried, abdicated to her cousin Charles X Gustav of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch of the Wittelsbachs. Christina was the only legitimate child of the great Gustavus Adolphus, who died in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War, when Christina was only six.