Duke

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Alternateuses

The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Portugal, Spain and France (in Italy, principe is held to be the highest grade). The wife of a duke, or a woman who rules a duchy, is known as a duchess.

Contents

[edit]

History

Originally Dux (Latin for leader) was a title given by the Romans to a general commanding a single military expedition and holding no other power than that which he exercised over his soldiers. The designation, first applied to barbaric tribal leaders and various military commanders, became of formal Roman title in time. Upon the separation of the civil and military functions in the fourth century the dux became commander of all the troops cantoned in a military territory, often corresponding to one or more Roman provinces; note that this Roman rank was below the similar Comes rei militaris (the rank of Comes survives in the title Count, which is lower in the feudal hierarchy). To avoid the connotations of the modern "dukes", Roman military leaders are usually called duces.

The Germanic Franks converted, under Roman influence, the Germanic concept of Herzog (literally: "war-leader", commonly translated as "duke"), the temporarily elected general for a major expedition of warfare, into military governors for units of up to a dozen counties. In the 7th century these units developed into hereditary clan-duchies of Bavarians, Thuringians, Alemanni, Franks and other Germanic tribes, which Charlemagne crushed in 788, converting the border provinces into margraviates (which however soon emerged as clan-margraviates: Saxony, Bavaria, Swabia, Lorraine...).

The dissolution tendency was counteracted by the appointment of younger sons of the monarchs (royal dukes) as military governors of the important border provinces, which however also soon developed into hereditary duchies and a source of intrigues against the monarch (see for instance: History of Schleswig-Holstein). The medieval dukes had a strong position in the realms they belonged to. Like the margraves, they were responsible for the military defence of an important region, and had strong arguments for retaining the Crown's tax incomes of their duchy to fund their military force.

In early Medieval Italy, the Dukes of Benevento and of Spoleto were independent territorial magnates in duchies originally created by the Lombards.

In the 19th century, the sovereign dukes of Parma and Modena in Italy, and of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Anhalt, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg in Germany survived Napoleon's reorganization.

Since the unification of Italy in the 1870, there have no longer been any sovereign duchies in Europe, for Luxembourg is a grand duchy.

The Black Prince was created Duke of Cornwall in 1337. He was the first proper Duke in England.

There were no Anglo-Saxon duchies in the feudal sense, only individual duces; the Middle English duke derives from the Old French duc, which in turn came from the Latin dux/ducis deriving from the verb ducere, meaning "to lead". The Genoese and Venetian elective, 'crowned republican' title "doge" is derived from the same origin.

In the late Roman Empire, dux was a military title. Latin chroniclers applied it to the leaders of Lombard warbands. When this title appeared in the Carolingian empire, stem dukes ruled over non-Frankish nations (dukes of the Alamans, of the Bavarians, of the Aquitans), while counts ruled over a region in the Frankish realm.

In the United Kingdom, the inherited office of a duke along with its dignities, privileges, and rights is a dukedom. However, the title of duke has never been associated with independent rule in the British Isles. Dukes in the United Kingdom are addressed as 'Your Grace' and referred to as 'His Grace'. Currently, there are twenty-seven dukedoms in the peerages of England, Scotland, Great Britain, Ireland and the United Kingdom, held by twenty-four different people (see List of Dukes in order of precedence).

[edit]

Equivalents in other European languages

The second term is the female form, meaning duchess Nearly all derive either from Latin Dux or (especially within the Holy Roman Empire) from German Herzog

Germanic languages

  • German Herzog /Herzogin
  • Danish Hertug /Hertuginde
  • Dutch Hertog /Hertogin
  • Icelandic Hertogi /Hertogafrú
  • Luxemburgish Herzog /Herzogin
  • Norwegian Hertug /Hertuginne
  • Swedish Hertig /Hertiginna

Romance languages

  • French Duc /Duchesse
  • Catalan Duc /Duquessa
  • Italian Duca /Duchessa
  • LATIN (feudal) Dux
  • Maltese Duka /Dukessa
  • Monegasque Düka /Düchessa
  • Portuguese Duque /Duquesa
  • Rhaeto-Romanic Duca /Duchessa
  • Romanian Duce /Ducesă
  • Spanish Duque /Duquesa

Slavic and Baltic languages

  • Belorussian Hertsag /Hertsaginya
  • Bulgarian Voyvoda, Hertsog /Hertsoginya
  • Czech Vévoda /Vévodkyně
  • Latvian Hercogs /Hercogiene
  • Lithuanian Hercogas /Hercogiene
  • Macedonian Voyvoda /Voyvotka
  • Polish Książę /Księżna
  • Russian Hertsog /Hertsogina
  • Serbo-Croatian Vojvoda /Vojvotkinja
  • Slovak Vojvoda /Vojvodkyňa
  • Slovene Vojvoda /Vojvodinja
  • Ukrainian Hertsog /Hertsoginya

Other linguistic families

  • Albanian Dukë /Dukeshë
  • Estonian Hertsog /Hertsoginna
  • Finnish Herttua /Herttuatar
  • Greek (New) Doukas /Doukissa
  • Hungarian Herceg /Hercegnő
  • Irish Diúc /Bandiúc
[edit]

Royal dukes

Four reigning European royal houses traditionally awarded (mainly) dukedoms to the sons and in some cases, the daughters, of their respective Sovereigns; others include at least one dukedom in a wider list of similarly granted principalities.

[edit]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, a royal duke is a duke who is a member of the British Royal Family, entitled to the style of Royal Highness. In the United Kingdom, the current royal dukes are The Prince of Wales, who is Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay; Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Andrew Duke of York; Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester; and Prince Edward Duke of Kent. The former king Edward VIII was created Duke of Windsor after his abdication. With the exceptions of the dukedoms of Cornwall and Rothesay (which can only be held by the eldest son of the Sovereign), these dukedoms are hereditary according to the Letters Patent that created them, which contain the standard remainder "heirs male of his body." The British Sovereign also holds and as such is entitled to the revenues of the duchy of Lancaster, and within the borders of Lancaster is saluted as The Duke/Duchess of Lancaster. Other dukedoms that have been awarded to members of the British royal family in the past include those of Albany (the heir male of the 2nd Duke as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, is entitled to request restoration of this title and so it is not free to be granted to another personage), Avondale, Cambridge, Clarence, Connaught, Cumberland (the heir male of H.M. George V King of Hanover, 2nd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, is H.R.H. The Prince Ernest Augustus V The Prince of Hanover who quarters the British Royal Arms, and is entitled to request restoration of these titles), Kendal, Strathearn, and Sussex. In the past, British sovereigns have combined several territorial designations into a single dukedom. For example, King George III created his second son, Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, third son Prince William Henry, "Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews" (afterwards King William IV), fourth son Prince Edward Augustus, "Duke of Kent and Strathearn" (Queen Victoria's father), fifth son Prince Ernest Augustus, "Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale" (later Ernest Augustus King of Hanover), and Queen Victoria bestowed the dukedom of Clarence and Avondale on her grandson, Prince Albert Victor of Wales. To date, Avondale, Strathearn, and St. Andrews (although St. Andrews was granted to King George V's youngest surviving son as Duke of Kent, Earl of St. Andrews and Baron Downpatrick), have not been granted as separate dukedoms. Once a particular peerage is granted to a member of the British royal family, it is not subsequently granted to anyone outside the royal family.

In the United Kingdom, there is nothing about the particular dukedom that makes it royal, even though the formal style of an ordinary duke is 'The Most High, Noble and Potent Prince'. Rather, these special peerages are called "royal dukedoms" because they are held by a member of the royal family who is entitled to the style Royal Highness. Under the November 20, 1917, Letters Patent of King George V, the titular dignity of Prince/Princess and the style Royal Highness are restricted to the sons of a Sovereign, the sons of a Sovereign's sons, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of a Prince of Wales. For example, when the current Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Kent are succeeded by their eldest sons, the Earl of Ulster and the Earl of St. Andrews, respectively, those peerages (or rather, the 1928 and 1934 creations of them) will cease to be royal dukedoms, instead the title holders will become ordinary, 'garden' Dukes. The third dukes of Gloucester and Kent will each be styled "His Grace" because as great grandsons of George V, they are not Princes and are not styled HRH. Similarly, upon the death of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (1850-1942), the third son of Queen Victoria, his only male-line grandson, Alastair Arthur Windsor, Earl of MacDuff (1914-1943), briefly succeeded to his peerages. However, as a duke, the second Duke of Connaught, a male-line great grandson of Queen Victoria, he was simply styled "His Grace" having been born His Highness under the previous Titles Act.

[edit]

France

See appanage and the list in the geographical section below, which also treats special ducal titles in orders or national significance.

[edit]

Elsewhere

In Belgium, the title of Duke of Brabant (historically the most prestigious in the Low Countries, and containing the federal capital Brussels), if still vacant, has been given to the oldest son and presumptive heir of the King, other throne candidates usually get lower titles, such as Count of Flanders (king Leopold III's brother became head of state as Prince-regent) and Prince of Liège (e.g. the present king Albert II before he succeeded his older brother Baudouin=Boudewijn I)

For Portugal, see below

Nowadays, Spanish infantes and infantas are usually given a dukedom upon marriage. This title is not hereditary. The current royal duchesses are: HRH the Duchess of Badajoz (Infanta Maria del Pilar), HRH the Duchess of Soria (Infanta Margarita) (although she inherited the title of Duchess of Hernani from her cousin and is second holder of that title), HRH the Duchess of Lugo (Infanta Elena) and HRH the Duchess of Palma de Mallorca (Infanta Cristina).

Main article: Dukes of Swedish Provinces.

Sweden had a history of making sons of its Kings real ruling princes of vast duchies, but this ceased in 1622. Title-wise, however, all Swedish princes since 1772, and princesses since 1980, are given a dukedom for life. Currently, there is one duke and three duchesses. The territorial designations of these dukedoms refer to four of the Provinces of Sweden.

[edit]

Addressing Dukes

  • Begin: My Lord Duke
  • Address: His Grace the Duke of _____
  • Speak to as: Your Grace

Royal Dukes:

  • Begin: Sir
  • Address: His Royal Highness the Duke of _____
  • Speak to as: Your Royal Highness
[edit]

Territory of today's France

The highest precedence in the realm, attached to a feudal territory, was given to the twelve original pairies, which also had a traditional function in the royal coronoation, comparable to the German imperial archoffices. Half of them were ducal: three ecclesiastical (the six prelates all ranked above the sixl secular peers of the realm) and three temporal, each time above three counts of the same social estate: The Prince-Bishops with ducal territories among them were:

  • The Archbishop of Reims, styled archevêque-duc pair de France (in Champagne; who crown and anoint the king, traditionally in his cathedral)
  • Two suffragan bishops, styled evêque-duc pair de France :
    • the bishop-duke of Laon (in Picardy; bears the 'Sainte Ampoule' containing the sacred ointment)
    • the bishop-duc de Langres (in Burgundy; bears the scepter)

The secular dukes in the peerage of the realm were, again in order of precedence:

  • the duc de Bourgogne, i.e. Duke of Burgundy (known as Grand duc; not a separate title at that time; just a description of the wealth and real clout of the 15th century Dukes, cousins of the Kings of France) (bears the crown, fastens the belt)
  • Duke of Normandy or duc de Normandie (holds the first square banner)
  • Duke of Aquitaine or duc d'Aquitaine or - de Guyenne (holds the second square banner)

Other duchies of note include:

See also List of French dukedoms

[edit]

Iberian pensinsula

When the Christian Reconquista, sweeping the Moors from the former caliphate of Cordoba and its taifa-remnants, transformed the territory of former Suevi and Visigothic realms into catholic feudal principalities, none of these war lords was exactly styled Duke, a few (as Portugal itself) started as Count (even if the title of Dux was sometimes added), but soon all politically relevant princes were to use the royal style of King.

[edit]

Portugal

This list refers only to the royal dukedoms

[edit]

Spain

No duchies as true politically important principalities, but many domanial or purely titular ones Many hold the court rank of Grande, i.e. Grandee of the realm, which had precedence over all other feudatories. Titles in Spain include (very often a single inheritance includes a whole list of ducal and other titles):

Some titles inherited by or conferred on historically important politicians, such as :

[edit]

American titles

In various American viceroyalties

[edit]

Holy Roman Empire

[edit]

Germany

At first, the highest nobles -de facto at par with several Kings/emperors- were the Dukes of each stem duchy:

Later, the precedence shifted to the prince-electors, the first order amongst the princes of the empire, regardless of the actual title attached to the fief. This college originally included only one Duke, the Duke of Saxony.

There were many other duchies, some of them insignificant petty states:

[edit]

The Low countries (Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg)

[edit]

Austria

[edit]

Italy

The earliest territorial titles in Italy rendered as Duke were officially styled Dux in Latin, as they were appointed under Byzantine suzerainty (in the Exarchate of Ravenna), notably in chief of the essentially republican virtual Tyrhenean port cities of Amalfi, Gaeta, Naples until the Germanic takeover by the Italian kingdom of the Longobards.

More conventional feudal dukedoms include:

  • Duchy of Spoleto, in the Longobard kingdom
  • Duchy of Savoy, originally a countship; also partly in present France and Switzerland
  • Dukes of Modena and Reggio
  • Duchies of Benevento (787-873 under Frankish suzerainty, then again Byzantine; later a principality, since 1051 held from the Pope) and Pontecorvo, both of which became part of the Papal states
  • special variant : the Doges of Genua and of Venice were elective crowned heads of commercial 'most serene republics', in style echoed by the minute Adriatic republic of Senarica
See also Historical states of Italy
  • Duke of Calabria was the primogeniture for the crown prince of the Neapolitan kingdom.

A unique napoleonic particularity was the creation by decree of 30 March 1806 of a number of duchés grand-fiefs. As the name suggests, these were duchies, but forming an exclusive order of 'great fiefs' (twenty among some 2200 noble title creations), a college nearly comparable in status to the original 'anciennes pairies' in the French kingdom. Since Napoleon I wouldn't go back on the Revolution's policy of abolishing feudalism in France, but didn't want these grandees to fall under the 'majorat' system in France either, he chose to create them outside the French 'metropolitan' empire, notably in the following Italian satellite states, and yet all awarded to loyal frenchmen, mainly high military officers:

In the Kingdom of Italy, in personal union with France, personally held by Napoleon I:

In the Principality of Lucca-Piombino, only Massa et Carrara: for Régnier, judge (ext. 1962); Massa and Carrara were separated from the kingdom of Italy by article 8 of the decree of March 30, 1806 and united to the principality of Lucca-Piombino by another decree of March 30, 1806.

In the Kingdom of Naples :

In the states of Parma and Piacenza, ceded to France by the treaty of Aranjuez of 21 March 1801, shortly before both territories were united to the French Empire on 24 May 1808:

[edit]

On the Baltic south coast

[edit]

Elsewhere

[edit]

Nordic

  • In Denmark, the main duchy being Schleswig, part of which later was transferred to Germany; its southern neighbour Holstein in personal union with the Danish crown was always a German principality.
[edit]

Greece

As the Catholic crusaders overran orthodox parts of the Byzantine empire, they installed several crusader states, two of which were of ducal rank:

After the post-Ottoman independence as kingdom of the Hellenes, the style of Duke of Sparta was instituted asn primogeniture for the diadochos, the royal crown prince

[edit]

Slavonic countries

  • in splintered Poland, notably Masovia
  • in Russia, before the imperial unification from Moscovia; sometimes even as vassal, tributary to a Tartar Khan; later, in the empire, the russification gertsog was used as the Russian rendering on the German ducal title Herzog, especially as (the last) part of the full official style of the Russian Emperor: Gertsog Shlesvig-Golstinskiy, Stormarnskiy, Ditmarsenskiy i Oldenburgskiy i prochaya, i prochaya, i prochaya "Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen and Oldenburg, and of other lands", in chief of German and Danish territories to which the Tsar was dynastically linked.
[edit]

Equivalents

The style Duke has, like many high nobility titles, also been used to render non-European styles that are seen, by analogy (there is no etymological or other direct link!), as roughly equivalent, especially in hierarchic aristocracies such as feudal Japan, useful as an indication of relative rank.

[edit]

China

Under the Manchu (last imperial dynasty), there were ducal titles in both types of titled nobility:

  • within the imperial family (extended, but limited; such systematic tituature is unknown in Europe) there were fourteen ranks, arranged in the following descending order: Ho Shê Ch'in Wang, Prince of the Blood of the first rank, usually conferred on the sons of Emperors by an Empress; To Lo Chün Wang, originally Ho Shê To Lo Pei Lê "prince of the gift", enjoying the style of His Imperial Highness, with a name or locality (hao) attached to the title and the right to a posthumous name (shi) after death, usually conferred on the sons of Emperors by Imperial Consorts; To Lo Pei Lê Prince of the Blood of the third rank and enjoying the style of His Highness; Ku Shan Pei Tzu "Prince of the Banner", with the style of His Highness; Fêng Ên Chên Kuo Kung "defender duke": Prince of the Blood of the fifth rank with the style of His Highness; Fêng Ên Fu Kuo Kung "bulwark duke": Prince of the Blood of sixth rank with the style of His Highness; only these six highest ranks carried the right to the eight privileges or Pa Fen (to wear the purple button, a three-eyed peacock's feather, embroidered dragon plaque on court robes, to have red painted spears at the gates of their residences, to attach tassels to the accoutrements of their horses, to use purple bridle-reins, to have a servant carry a special teapot, to have a special carpet on which to seat themselves); below were: Pu Ju Pa Fên Chên Kuo Kung "lesser defender duke not to encroach on the Eight Privileges", Prince of the Blood of the seventh rank with the style of His Excellency; Pu Ju Pa Fên Fu Kuo Kung "lesser bulwark duke not to encroach on the Eight Privileges" Prince of the Blood of the eighth rank with the style of His Excellency; Chên Kuo Chiang Chün Noble of the Imperial Lineage of the ninth rank, divided into three grades (or Têng); Fu Kuo Chiang Chün Noble of the Imperial Lineage of the tenth rank, divided into three grades; Fêng Kuo Chiang Chün "supporter-general of the state" Noble of the Imperial Lineage of the eleventh rank, divided into three grades; Fêng Ên Chiang Chün "general by grace", noble of the Imperial Lineage of the twelfth rank; Tsung Shih Imperial clansman, the usual rank for male descendants, in the male line, beyond the twelfth generation, entitled to wear an Imperial Yellow Girdle denoting their descent from Emperor Hsien Tsu; Chio Lo collateral relatives of the Imperial clan, entitled to wear a distinctive Red Girdle denoting their descent from the collateral relatives of Emperor Hsien Tsu.
  • for lowerborn subjects: Kung, divided into three classes or Têng, often translated as Duke, or as Prince (but not of the blood), is the second of ten hereditary titles of Nobility (Chüeh Yin or Shih Chüeh) conferred on subjects and collateral members of the Imperial clan, only under Yen Shêng Kung ('sacred Prince', reserved for Confucius' posterity), but above all other ranks: Hou (also three classes, translated as Marquis) (these first three ranks were classed as "Eminent Ranks" Ch'ao P'in carrying honorific epiphets, Po (three classes, translated as Earl), Tzu (three classes, translated as Viscount), Nan (three classes, translated as Baron), Ch'ing Ch'e Tu Yü, Ch'i Tu Yü, Yün Ch'i Yü, Ên Ch'i Yü. All, except the ninth grade, were heritable for a specific number of generations, ranging from twenty-six generations for a first class Kung to one generation for a Yün Ch'i Yü. In certain instances, some titles were held by Right of Perpetual Inheritance Shih Hssi Wang T'i.
[edit]

Japan

[edit]

Korea

Korean titles of nobilty were similar to those in China, with ranks descending by one degree with each succeeding holder of the title. Of the seven main grades Kung (rendered as Duke) was the second, only under Gun Prince, but above Champan Marquis, Poguk Count, Pansoh Viscount Chamise Baron and Chusa (somewhat similar to the British Baronet).

[edit]

Vietnam

Male members of the Imperial clan received, in addition to a birth right-title by degree of parentage, one of nine senior titles of nobility, of which Quan-Cong Duke was the third, under Vuong King and Quoc-Cong Grand Duke, but above Cong Prince, Hau Marquis, Ba Count, Tu Viscount, Nam Baron and Vinh phong noble.

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Sources, references and External links

cs:Vévoda da:Hertug de:Herzog es:Duque eo:Duko fa:دوک fr:Duc nl:Hertog no:Hertug pl:Diuk pt:Duque ru:Герцог (титул) simple:Duke sv:Hertig

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Duke"