What's the difference between a House and a Dynasty?

Why is it called "House of Plantagenet" or "House of Lancaster", instead of "Dynasty of Plantagenet" or "Dynasty of Lancaster"? What's the difference between house and dynasty?

Solution 1:

House is a only a dynasty with reference to its noble family:

1.2 A noble, royal, or wealthy family or lineage; a dynasty:

Dynasty refers to the ruling power over a country or some other field of influence:

noun (plural dynasties)

1.0 A line of hereditary rulers of a country:

1.1 A succession of people from the same family who play a prominent role in business, politics, or another field:

In English terminology, the ruling power of a nation can move from house to house, and the reign of each house is referred to as a dynasty. The House of Stuart enjoyed the Stuart Dynasty from 1603-1714. The House of Hanover extended the Hanover Dynasty from 1714-1901. The Windsor Dynasty began with King George V (formerly Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) and has ruled through the House of Windsor in Great Britain to the present.

English seems to use dynasty a little more freely for ancient foreign rulers. Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan in Mongolia, established the Yuan Dynasty when he conquered China. The house of Kahn ruled in China from 1271 to its collapse in 1368.

The Empire of the Great Ming was the last dynasty of the ethic Han through Ming Taizu, who ruled from 1368-1398, and established the throne of his grandson Zhu Yunwen before he died. The house of Ming ruled in the Ming Dynasty until it was overthrown in 1644.

Nurhaci established the Qing Dynasty in 1644, and the house of Nurhaci ruled in China until it was displaced by the communist revolution and the Republic of China in 1912.

Solution 2:

IMO, the stress in "house" is on the family connection

house

a family of ancestors, descendants and kindred : a race of persons from the same stock; especially : a noble family

the great houses of England

Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary

the one in "dynasty" is on genealogy/lineage in terms of exercising power:

a succession of rulers of the same line of descent

Solution 3:

Simple answer. One ruler to the next, not blood-related : it's a change of dynasty. But one ruler to the next, blood-related though very distantly (nth degree cousin, etc.), or when a sovereign queen takes her husband's name: it's a change of house. Not to mention when the family decides to change name altogether (Saxony Coburg Gotha to self-chosen Windsor).

Examples. Harold to William the Conqueror, it's a change of dynasty. But Anne (Stuart) to George 1st (Hanover), her distant relative, it's a change of house. Likewise, Victoria (born Hanover, spouse Saxony-Coburg-Gotha) to Edward VII, her son : change of house. But Edward VIII to George VI, his brother, no change at all. Do expect a change of house to Mountbatten (also self-translated from original german Battenberg) when Charles (III ?) follows Elizabeth II.