I am in the airport on the way back from Disneyworld! On the plane I'm going to do something which I will tell you about later.

How many times have I postponed things?

When you wish upon a star, your dreams will either come true or not.

I did it again

That's right, I did it again. I didn't post on Sunday. I think I'll have to start thinking about my posts much earlier and having them automatically post on Sunday. Today I'll just tell you about Latin Wikipedia, or more appropriately, Vicipædia Latina. It's basically Wikipedia in Latin.

It exists. Valētē!

Sorry about that description. I'm too lazy to do more.

MaoEG

Here's your mid-week post.

Medieval-and-on European Genealogy (MaoEG) is a great hobby of mine, especially finding houses. The unofficial genealogical definition of house is a group of people including and only including a person and all those who trace legitimate patrilineal or matrilineal descent to them. I will name houses by their common names, and in inventing my own give the place of birth or place of rule for their founder. Here I'm going to list some important ones.

And by important, I don't mean impact on history, but how many members they had. That's why you won't see the commonly known ones.

Have any with more people? Comment or contact.

Here's some things to know:

1. The founder is the person furthest tracable back. The MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) is the person from whom all current members descend. An ancient founder tells you that the house has been important for centuries; an ancient MRCA tells you that the house probably has members all over the place, as it dosen't just consist of a bunch of extinct branches.
2. The head is the person most senior descended from the founder via primogeniture.
3. Patrilineal means in the male-line, no female interuptions. Matrilineal means the oppisite.
4. And I hate branches that are called houses.

Patrilineal
House of Wettin
Founder: Dietrich I von Wettin, 10th Century, 1st generation (duh)
MRCA: Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, 1412 -- 1464, 16th generation
Head: Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, 1946 --, 33rd generation

If you look at the names, it looks German right away. Indeed, probably the supermajority of members were German. However, it has some non-Germans too: just look at Queen Elizabeth of the UK. She traces back through Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who was German (duh).

House of Este
Founder: Adalbert of Mainz, 9th/10th Century
MRCA: Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, 1497 -- 1546, 20th generation
Head: Person Confidential, 31st generation

Known more often as the House of Welf, it's founder was Italian, it's MRCA was German, and it has members from across the map. In Britain it was known as the House of Hanover.

It's late MRCA dosen't mean there was a 20-generation line that didn't go anywhere; there were in fact two great branches from 5th generation on, of Welf and of Italian Este, but the Italian Este branch died out 1803.

House of Oldenburg
Founder: Egilmar I, Count of Lerigau, 11th century
MRCA: Frederick I of Denmark and Norway, 1471 -- 1533, 13th generation
Head: Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, 1949 --, 27th generation

The early MRCA tells you already that this is a diverse house. It has two main branches: the main Glücksburg branch from the MRCA's older son, and the Holstein-Gottorp branch from his younger son. The Glücksburgs have produced Danish, Norwegian, and Greek monarchs, the consorts of the rulers of UK and Spain (the former meaning that the next king will be Glücksburg), and the Holstein-Gottorps have produced czars in Russia (the Romanovs weren't really Romanovs).

House of Capet
Founder: Robert II, Count of Worms, 770 -- 807
MRCA: Robert II of France, 972 -- 1031, 7th generation
Head: Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, 1974 --, 37th generation

There is a confusion as to the ancestry of Robert of Hesbaye, so I list him here as founder, though there are sources denoting parentage.

As 39 generations have proved, you can't extinguish the House of Capet. It has two main branches, Bourbon and Burgundy, and both are famous throughout history. Need I say more?

Charlemagneering
Charlemagne, as one of the most prominent figures of the dark ages, is the de facto standard dream-ancestor; in other words, you want to trace to him.

As it turns out, the MRCAs of all of these houses trace to him.

To Frederick II, Elector of Saxony:

1. Charlemagne, 742 -- 814, m. Hildegard of Vinzgouw
2. Louis I of France, 778 -- 840, m. Judith of Bavaria
3. Gisela of France, 9th century, m. Eberhard of Friuli
4. Ingeltrued of Friuli, 9th century, m. Henry of Franconia
5. Hedwiga of Franconia, 9th century, m. Otto I of Saxony
6. Henry I of Germany, 876 -- 936, m. Matilda of Ringelheim
7. Otto I of Germany, 912 -- 973, m. Edith of Wessex
8. Liutgarde, 10th century, m. Conrad, Duke of Lorraine
9. Otto I of Carinthia, 10th century, m. Judith of Bavaria
10. Henry of Speyer, 10th century, m. Adelaide of Alsace
11. Conrad II of Germany, 990 -- 1039, m. Gisela of Swabia
12. Henry III of Germany, 1017 -- 1056, m. Agnes of Poitou
13. Henry IV of Germany, 1050 -- 1106, m. Bertha of Savoy
14. Agnes of Germany, 1072 -- 1143, m. Frederick I of Swabia
15. Frederick II of Swabia, 1090 -- 1147, m. Judith of Bavaria
16. Frederick I of Germany, 1122 -- 1190, m. Beatrice I of Burgundy
17. Henry VI of Germany, 1165 -- 1197, m. Constance of Sicily
18. Frederick II of Germany, 1194 -- 1250, m. Isabella of England
19. Margaret of Sicily, 1241 -- 1270, m. Albert II of Meissen
20. Frederick I of Meissen, 1252 -- 1323, m. Elizabeth of Lobdeburg-Arnshaugk
21. Frederick II of Meissen, 1310 -- 1349

Ernest I's wife was actually a 6-greats granddaughter of Frederick II:

21. Frederick II of Meissen, 1310 -- 1349, m. Mathilde of Bavaria
22. Elisabeth of Meissen, 1329 -- 1375, m. Frederick V of Nuremburg
23. Elisabeth of Nuremburg, 1358 -- 1411, m. Rupert II of the Rhine
24. Margaret of the Palatinate, 1376 -- 1434, m. Charles II of Lorraine
25. Catherine of Lorraine, 1407 -- 1439, m. Jacob of Baden
26. Margarete of Baden, 1431 -- 1457, m. Albert III of Brandenburg
27. John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg, 1455 -- 1499, m. Margaret of Thuringia
28. Ursula of Brandenburg, 1488 -- 1510, m. Henry V of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
29. Sophie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1508 -- 1541, m. Ernest I of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Frederick I is also descended from Frederick II:

21. Frederick II of Meissen, 1310 -- 1349, m. Mathilde of Bavaria
22. Elisabeth of Meissen, 1329 -- 1375, m. Frederick V of Nuremburg
23. Frederick I of Brandenburg, 1371 -- 1440, m. Elisabeth of Bavaria
24. John of Brandenburg, 1406 -- 1464, m. Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg
25. Dorothea of Brandenburg, 1430 -- 1495, m. Christian I of Denmark
26. Frederick I of Denmark, 1471 -- 1533

Robert II of France traces via Henry I of Germany:

6. Henry I of Germany, 876 -- 936, m. Matilda of Ringelheim
7. Hedwig of Saxony, 910 -- 965, m. Hugh the Great
8. Hugh of France, 939 -- 996, m. Adelaide of Aquitaine
9. Robert II of France, 972 -- 1031

Matrilineal lines next.