ascendencies

The Sultan's eldest brother, who had been set aside in his favour, was intriguing against him; the usual Cherifian Pretender was stirring up the factious tribes in the mountains; and the European powers were attempting, in the confusion of an ungoverned country, to assert their respective ascendencies.

In Morocco Edith Wharton 1899

What subtle essence is it, apart from hair and eyes and skin, that spreads an atmosphere of conquest over these natures, and how is it that men have no ascendencies of this sort -- nothing that imparts to their superiority the sense that worship of them is in itself an ecstasy?

Lord Kilgobbin Charles James Lever 1839

Instead of prating about Protestant ascendencies, Protestant Parliaments ought, in my opinion, to think at last of becoming patriot Parliaments.

The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 06 (of 12) Edmund Burke 1763