House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden
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| House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden Haus Loxstedt-Höveden | |
|---|---|
| Royal dynasty | |
 Coat of arms of the Aldenic Branch (1160) | |
| Country | List
|
| Founded | 1059 |
| Founder | Karl, Count of Loxstedt-Hoeveden |
| Current head | none |
| Final ruler | Ludwig XIV (Aldenic agnatic line) Alexander III (Dulebian cognatic line) Maximilian III (Tudonian cognatic line) |
| Titles | List
|
| Estate(s) | Loxstedt Castle (historic) Hoeveden Castle (historic) Kamianets Imperial Palace Ulich Imperial Palace Kingsham Palace |
| Deposition | Agnatic line: 1712 (Cuthish Empire) Cognatic line: 15 February 1914 (Dulebian Empire) |
| Cadet branches | Aldena
Dulebia
Dulebia
|
The House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden (Hesurian: Haus Loxstedt-Höveden), also known officially as the House of Aldena (Hesurian: Haus Aldena), was a major royal house of Berea. It was one of the most influential houses in medieval and modern Berea. Members of the various branches of the Loxstedt family occupied the thrones of several of the most important empires and kingdoms in Berean history, those including the Kingdom of Aldena, the Aldeno-Erjarvian Commonwealth, the First Cuthish Empire, and the Dulebian Empire, all in different time periods. Apart from that, representatives of the royal family occupied the thrones of numerous smaller historical states in Berea, spanning from Lavaria to Mascylla.
The house was established in the 11th century, after the unification of the early Medieval noble houses of Loxstedt and Hoeveden in the Kingdom of Aldena, both bearing roots from the barbaric kingdom of the Aldens of the 6th century CE. The Loxstedt-Hoevedens grew in power in the early 12th century, and in 1156 a member of the family was crowned King of Aldena, the most influential state in Berea at the time. Following the formation of the Aldeno-Erjarvian Commonwealth, the Loxstedts increased their assets with the Duchy of Erjarvia and later the Duchy of Tambovia. In 1440 Maximilian the Handsome, the King of Aldena, was crowned as King of Cuthland as Godric II, forming the First Cuthish Empire, ultimately making him the most powerful monarch in Berea. During the almost 3 century-long rule of the Loxstedts in Cuthland, the family experienced its first split with the separation of the Cuthish branch from the agnatic Aldenic line. Following a number of dynastic marriages and inbreeding during the 15th-17th centuries, the Loxstedts inherited the thrones of a number of smaller states in Mascylla, Rovina and Tambovia, establishing a number of smaller branches of the royal family.
Following the collapse of the Loxstedt rule in Cuthland in the early 18th century, the Aldenic branch became the last surviving major agnatic branch within the royal family. The family nearly went extinct in the 17th century, but was saved by a dynastical marriage between the sister of the last King of Aldena, Ludwig XIV, and the first Emperor of Dulebia, Peter II, in 1724, establishing a new branch known as Loxstedt-Hoeveden-Zhdanovy, which ruled the Dulebian Empire and its assets until the fall of the monarchy during the Dulebian Civil War. The execution of the Dulebian royal family in February 1914 effectively ended the line of the Loxstedts, with the Aldenic branch ending with the death of Ludwig XIV and the Tudonian branch going extinct as a result of the Mascyllary Revolution in the 1920s. Today, several nobles in Dulebia and Mascylla claim the title of head of the Loxstedt-Hoeveden, however, it is widely accepted by historians that the dynasty ceased to exist in the early 20th century. Several nobles in the Cuthish and Mascyllary royal families have common ancestry with the branches of the Loxstedts, the most notable example being current Queen Dorothea of Mascylla.
The Loxstedt-Hoeveden is widely regarded as one of the most influential noble families in Berea. Its diplomacy led to a number of important conflicts that shaped modern-day Berea and the world as a whole, with the best example being the Great War of 1911-1916. While controlling some of the biggest and most powerful states in the world's history, the Loxstedts established very ethnically-diverse empires, which managed to withstand a number of nationalistic revolutions and wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, but eventually collapsed in the 20th century as a result of the Great War. Relying heavily on diplomacy throughout their rule, the Loxstedts were one of the main reasons behind the geopolitical climate of the Late Modern and Contemporary Berea.
History
Early Medieval history
Counts of Loxstedt-Hoeveden
Kings of Aldena
Emperors of Cuthland
Emperors of Dulebia
Family tree
Early Loxstedts
Aldenic line
Cuthish line
Dulebian line
Other lines
Monarchs of the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden
Kings of Aldena
Emperors of Cuthland
Dukes and Grand Dukes of Tudonia
Emperors of Dulebia
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Officially, the first monarch directly related to the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden to rule the Dulebian Empire was the son of Peter II, Paul. The dynasty established itself in Dulebia after the marriage of the first Dulebian emperor to Princess Anastasia, second daughter of King Alfred II of the Kingdom of Aldena. Paul was crowned Emperor of Dulebia on 17 February 1738. The dynasty ruled Dulebia up until its collapse in 1914 during the Dulebian Civil War. The Dulebian branch soon became known as the House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden-Zhdanovy, with the latter name coming from the House of Zhdanovy, the royal family that ruled the country from 1352 and of which Peter II was a member.
- Paul I (1738–1772)
After his death, Paul I left no successors to the throne, and thus the position of Emperor was given to his wife, Anastasia. She became the first empress in the history of Dulebia. Her early reign was crippled by a crisis of power in the country, but she eventually managed to stabilize the country and ruled until her death in 1789:
- Anastasia Zhdanova (1772–1789)
Her successor on the throne, Alexander I, participated in the Cuthish Revolution. During his reign, the Kingdoms of Aldena, Erjarvia, the Duchy of Tambovia and Rovinian lands were added to the imperial assets and treated as personal lands of the emperor:
- Alexander I (1789–1823)
- Alexander II (1823–1850)
- Paul II (1850–1869)
- Nicolas I (1869–1871)
For the second time in the imperial history of the country it was ruled by a woman of non-Loxstedt origin after the death of Nicolas I, when his wife from the Mascyllary House of Ahnern was crowned empress. Although she was formally accepted into the family, she shared no bloodline with the previous Dulebian rulers. She formed the new and last branch of the Dulebian Loxstedts, the Anhern-Loxstedt-Hoeveden-Zhdanovy.
- Mary Zhdanova (1871–1886)
- Alexander III (1886-1914)