What is the oldest _confirmed_ noble family that is still in existence?
I’ve heard the Imperial House of Japan is supposedly the oldest, going back to 660 B.C. but the earlier emperors are essentially legendary, with the first to have any possible historical evidence to back-up the claim being from 97 B.C.
The French House of Rochechouart on the other hand, is still extant and can confirm its decent back to 980 A.D. but which noble family is THE oldest on Earth?
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>Literally answering your own question.
Even if you do not believe Japan's legendary early history, the Yamato Clan has been ruling that place since the 100s AD. Even Chinese records testify to this.
Ok then, what's the 2nd oldest?
Depends what you mean by 'family'
I.e. line of descent of same name?
solomonic dinasty
Massimo family claimed descent from the Ancient Rome but it's not proven in any way
I heard that the English royal family can trace their ancestry to Alfred the great who ruled in late 9th century.
Possibly one the Chinese Imperial Clans. The Liu Clan for example, founders of Han Dynasty China.
But the Chinese do not give a shit about nobility due to Confucian Meritocracy and the Mandate of Heaven thing and each Chinese Emperor had shitloads of Children its descendants number at the millions nowadays.
Yes and that (probably) goes back to cerdic first king of wessex in 519 ad
I think he means the same family name, so a continuous paternal line.
When asked one of the Massimo's said "I'm not sure if it's true or not, but it's been a tradition in my family for millennia" [paraphrase]
>660 BC
Ahahaha those fuckers were basically hunter gatherers back then
The Bagrationi family, former kings of Georgia, has been around since the 6th century.
how did they avoid significant inbreeding? too few kids for incest?
My family from mother's side has bloodline from the extended Savelli family. My name is Savelly as well.
Its still the house of Yamato.
>Legendary founding: 600s BC.
>First confirmed by outsiders: By Wei China in late 100s AD/early 200s BC.
>Imperium over Honshu: 400-500 AD
>Conquest of Northern Japan and full centralization: 800s-900s AD
And still ruling to this day.
Probably the bloodline of Confucius
en.wikipedia.org
My family was ennobled in 1281 in Hungary. Although aristocracy was abolished in the 20th century so IDK if it counts.
400 BC? pretty impressive desu
The Danish royal family can trace its lineage to Gorm the Old, first recorded king of Danish history, who ruled in the 10th century.
>And still ruling to this day.
For much of that time they weren't particularly powerful, and were more like a Japanese inherited Papacy.
Japan is a pretty big place with several ethnicities on it, plus getting into the aristocracy was not an exclusive club for a few inbred idiots. The modern family is even explicitly half-Korean since they married into the Korean royal family to better their claims on that place while they still held onto it.
Not the main line tho
Well that wasn’t the point. And while the emperor was never very powerful he was very influential. To rule the country you needed a Shogun and emperor, and the emperor managed to keep and solidify his claim for literally a thousand years plus, it’s not powerful in the sense of the American President, but it is influential in the sense of a cultural icon
Besides, being the only family laying claim to that title in your political sphere as well as never managing to lose it? That’s pretty fucking impressive
I can trace my ancestry to Alfred the Great as well and I'm not even English...
Oh, I agree, I just thought that "ruling" wasn't the right term.
wtf is that thing on the right supposed to be?
Goes back to 900 BC according to claims by the Orthodox Church. Definitely older then Japan
not paternally, the current danish royal house is german
What about the Katoch dynasty? Alexander the Great wrote about them being a ruling clan when he invaded. Think they’re mentioned in the Mahabharata as well.
Isn't there a modern living descendant of Confucius?
IIRC the Confucius blood line also claims descent from the Shang emperors so that's going back to the 1000s to 1600s BC.
How?
>First confirmed by outsiders: By Wei China in late 100s AD/early 200s BC.
Not really,there's no definite proof whether Himiko or the Yamatai was ancestral to the Yamato. The early Japanese tried to claim noble ancestry from the former lower Yangtze polities of Yue and Wu.
It wasn't until the Chinese Southern dynasties that you see a plausible match between figures recorded in Chinese texts and early Japanese rulers.
The unicorn of scotland.