personal union

(noun)

The combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. It differs from a federation in that each constituent state has an independent government, whereas a unitary state is united by a central government. The ruler does not need to be a hereditary monarch.

Related Terms

(noun)

The combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. It differs from a federation in that each constituent state has an independent government, whereas a unitary state is united by a central government. Its ruler does not need to be a hereditary monarch.

Related Terms

Examples of personal union in the following topics:

  • The Hohenzollerns

    • He then ruled both territories in a personal union what came to be known as Brandenburg-Prussia.
    • Legally, Brandenburg was still part of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the Hohenzollerns in personal union with the Prussian kingdom over which they were fully sovereign.
    • He then ruled both territories in a personal union which came to be known as Brandenburg-Prussia.

  • Fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire

    • Charles initiated his reign in Castile and Aragon, a union which evolved into Spain, in conjunction with his mother.
    • The relationship between these separate inheritances would be defining elements of his reign and would make the personal union between the Spanish and German crowns short-lived.
    • The latter would end up going to a more junior branch of the Habsburgs in the person of Charles's brother Ferdinand, while the senior branch continued to rule in Spain and in the Burgundian inheritance in the person of Charles's son, Philip II of Spain.

  • Cromwell and the Roundheads

    • Elizabeth I's death in 1603 resulted in the accession of her first cousin twice-removed, King James VI of Scotland, to the English throne as James I of England, creating the first personal union of the Scottish and English kingdoms.
    • However, his son and successor, Charles I of England, did not share his father's personality and engaged in even more tense conflicts with Parliament.
    • Charles I avoided calling a Parliament for the next decade, a period known as the "personal rule" or the "eleven years' tyranny."
    • The overall outcome of the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of Charles II, and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53) and then the Protectorate (1653–59) under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule.

  • The European Union

  • Formation of the Soviet Union

  • Culture of the Soviet Union

  • The Union of South Africa

  • The Soviet Union's Aging Leadership

  • Unrest in the Soviet Union

  • Italy Under Mussolini

    • Over the next few years, Mussolini banned all political parties and curtailed personal liberties, thus forming a dictatorship.
    • In political and social economy, he passed legislation that favored the wealthy industrial and agrarian classes (privatizations, liberalizations of rent laws and dismantlement of the unions).
    • The Christmas Eve law ended this practice, and also made Mussolini the only person competent to determine the body's agenda.
    • A lavish cult of personality centered on the figure of Mussolini was promoted by the regime.
    • The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system.