House of Wettin
these families were sovereign duchys as part of the holy roman empire
they had huge tracts of land
everyone living on those tracts of land under a duchy (in particular the coburg, saxe, etc. duchys) were subject to the laws of the controlling family who was "immediate" meaning they only were subject to the authority of the roman emperor
it was like this until 1806
napoleon fucked their shit up
they kicked his ass
nation states as we know it were formed
controlling families remained in power
the nature of the take back implies nothing changed