This website is the product of many years of research, travel, conversation with friends, and so on. I first became obsessed with dynastic history when my family and I visited Innsbruck, Austria, in 1984 and I saw the magnificent tomb of Emperor Maximilian I — who was this guy? who were these ancestors?
I was hooked on the Habsburgs, wrote papers about them as an undergraduate, then wrote about their relatives, the princes of Lorraine for my doctorate. This sparked the idea that there was more to just studying kings and queens, or the nobility of one particular nation or other. I wanted to do a much broader comparative study of those who were not fully royal (kings, queens, emperors), nor fully ‘local’ nobility (barons, counts). There was an in between category, the dukes and princes, who could easily move between the courts of Europe and had an identity all their own.
In addition to reading about all these families, I have continued in my initial desire to see the spaces in which they lived or were buried, so I have enjoyed many years of travel to locations all across Europe to visit country houses, palaces, or ruins. One of my favorite adventures was finding the Duke of Albemarle’s house in the remotest corner or Devon.
The blogs I write here will tell the stories of these families, from Spain to Russia, make comparisons, share photos of trips I have made to these properties, and so on. I hope you enjoy them!
Jonathan
Dukes and Princes 