House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden
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| House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden Haus Loxstedt-Hoeveden | |
|---|---|
| Royal dynasty | |
 Coat of arms of the Aldenic Branch | |
| Country | List
|
| Founded | 1159 |
| Founder | Karl, Count of Loxstedt-Hoeveden |
| Current head | none |
| Final ruler | Ludwig XIV (Aldenic agnatic branch) 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 branch: 1712 (Cuthish Empire) Cognatic line: 15 February 1914 (Dulebian Empire) |
| Cadet branches | Aldena
Dulebia
Dulebia
|
The House of Loxstedt-Hoeveden (Hesurian: Haus Loxstedt-Hoeveden), 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 of the Berean history, those included the Kingdom of Aldena, the Aldeno-Erjarvian Commonwealth, the 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 Kingo 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 royal families.
Following the collapse of the Loxstedt rule in Cuthland in the early 18th century, the Aldenic branch became the main 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 example being 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.