I saw a video about the inbred Hapsburgs.

[raccoon]

And I thought wouldn’t people have known even centuries ago, about the dangers of inbreeding generation after generations? Wouldn’t they know that from livestock?

Or they knew but figured so what?

[Ocelot II]

1. A little inbreeding probably didn't matter to them as long as they could keep power in the family.

Their offspring could be ugly and dumb as long as they kept the hereditary line going. If you're royalty you can get away with being ugly and dumb because your power makes you attractive.

[Redleg]

2. I assume they had to know what could come of inbreeding

They rolled the dice and took their chances.

[Laurelin]

3. I'm not sure

I think the Nazis wanted to do some inbreeding on lippizannaner horses to make them better matched. I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly though.

[CountAllVotes]

4. Someone I know is married to a man

He is the product of cousin to cousin marriage.

Ewww ... what a mess he is. He has surgery on something or the other every other week it seems.

To make matters worse, he's also a devout know nothing MAGA. UGH!

[Bo Zarts]

5. Charles II of Spain comes to mind ..

Hapsburg Jaw

[electric_blue68]

8. Gah, I remember seeing paintings of them decades ago. It was a science book on genetics and stuff!

And there was an extremely funny cartoon about royal inbreeding.

[soldierant]

9. Was he the son of Philip II?

If so, being physically messed up was probably the least of his hereditary damage.

[sarge1943]

12. Philip IV

Charles' mother was Maria Anna of Austria. She was Philip's niece.

[soldierant]

14. Ouch. Yeah, that's scary.

[malthaussen]

6. They certainly knew, but didn't care.

Dynastic marriages are made to augment the power of a House, and the Hapsburgs were particularly good at it. By the eve of WWI, all the major royal families of Europe were closely related, which meant that a royal would end up marrying a cousin no matter what he did.

Besides, you're forgetting the superiority of Royal blood. Who cares if the kid has a club foot or the brains of a turnip? He has that Royal blood going for him, which makes him automatically superior to those horrible commoners grovelling in the earth. You know, when Edward VIII of Britain decided to marry a commoner in 1936, it created such an outrage he had to abdicate the throne. That's less than 100 years ago. (Yes, there were other objections, but Wallis Simpson's common birth was a major part of the outrage). If you find it hard to believe that actual people actually thought some bloodlines were "superior" despite the plain evidence that inbreeding could cause terrible problems, then you should take another look at the White Supremacist movement, which believes exactly the same thing today. When you know you're superior, nothing is going to change your mind.

-- Mal

[Kali]

7. inbreeding with livestock is commonly used to enhance desired traits

it obviously can have adverse effects, but it is also a useful tool for creating and maintaining various breeds.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2911

[soldierant]

10. If the cousin is distant enough (not all cousins are first cousins),

the kids can be all right. Franklin and Eleanor's kids turned out pretty good.

[raccoon]

11. Yeah, I know not all cousins are first cousins. Another thing, the Roosevelts didn't keep intermarrying for generations

[sarge1943]

13. Plus don't keep doing it for generations like the Spanish Hapsburgs did. n/t