Duke
Duke is a usually
hereditary title of nobility which sometimes referred to the male
monarch of certain
Continental European principalities, called
duchy after his title; in other cases to a
nobleman of high rank (e.g. the highest titular
rank in
France,
Portugal,
Spain, the
United Kingdom, and
Italy (except in
Naples, where the title of
principe was held to be higher); or to a high rank of nobility in Slavic and central European monarchies. It has also often been borne by
cadet princes of reigning
dynasties, conferred as an individual title or
appanage in Britain, Scandinavia, and Latin Europe, or inherited by right in some
German monarchies. A woman who rules a duchy, or is the wife of a duke, is styled
duchess.
Originally
Dux (Latin for leader) was a title given in Latin 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 a formal Roman title in the
Roman Empire over 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; this Roman rank was below the similar
Comes rei militaris (the rank of
Comes, which also had various court and other civilian uses, 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
Anhalt,
Brunswick-Lüneburg,
Nassau (state),
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,
Saxe-Meiningen, and
Saxe-Altenburg in
Germany survived Napoleon's reorganization.
Since the unification of Italy in
1870 and the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918, there have no longer been any
reigning dukes in Europe;
Luxembourg is ruled by a
grand duke, a higher title, just below King.
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 position 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: they hold dukedoms, not duchies. 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).
The second term is the female form, meaning duchessNearly all either derive from Latin
Dux or (especially within the Holy Roman Empire) are cognate with German
HerzogGermanic languages
*German Herzog /Herzogin
*Danish Hertug /Hertuginde
*Dutch Hertog /Hertogin
*Icelandic Hertogi /Hertogafrú
*Luxemburgish Herzog /Herzogin
*Norwegian Hertug /Hertuginne
*Swedish Hertig /HertiginnaRomance 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 /DuquesaSlavic 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 /HertsoginyaOther linguistic families
*Albanian Dukë /Dukeshë
*Estonian Hertsog /Hertsoginna
*Finnish Herttua /Herttuatar
*Greek (New) Doukas /Doukissa
*Hungarian Herceg /Hercegnő
*Irish Diúc /Bandiúc
Various 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 titles, nominal dukedoms without any actual authority, often even without an estate. Such titles are still conferred on royal princes or princesses in the current European monarchies of Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Other historical cases occurred for example in Denmark, Finland (as Sweden, in personal union) and France, Portugal and some former colonial possessions such as Brazil and Haiti.
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 dukedoms are
Cornwall and
Rothesay (both held by the
Prince of Wales),
York,
Edinburgh,
Gloucester, and
Kent. The former King
Edward VIII was created
Duke of Windsor after his abdication; however, given its history, that title is unlikely to be revived. 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 monarch also holds and is entitled to the revenues of the
Duchy of Lancaster, and within the borders of Lancaster is saluted as "The Duke of Lancaster" (even when the monarch is a queen).
Other dukedoms that have often been awarded to members of the British royal family in the past include those of
Albany,
Cambridge,
Clarence, and
Cumberland. The dukedoms of
Connaught,
Kendal and
Sussex have also been royal dukedoms, but more briefly.
The
Hanoverians occasionally combined two territorial designations into a single royal dukedom -- for example, the Duke of
York and Albany. Other combinations included
Cumberland and Strathearn,
Clarence and St. Andrews,
Kent and Strathearn,
Cumberland and Teviotdale,
Connaught and Strathearn and
Clarence and Avondale. The idea was often to combine an English title with a Scottish one, emphasizing the unity of the (then new) United Kingdom. Such Hanoverian Dukes were generally also given an Irish title.
Titles potentially available for future royal dukes include Clarence, Cambridge, Connaught, Kendal, Sussex, Avondale, Strathearn and Teviotdale. The dukedoms of Albany and Cumberland are not vacant but were suspended in 1917, as their holders were loyal to Germany during
World War I; there still exist heirs to these titles who could apply for their restoration. Earl of St. Andrews is now a subsidiary title of the
Duke of Kent. Connaught is an unlikely choice because of its Irish origins. There was speculation that
Prince Edward would receive a dukedom such as Cambridge or Sussex upon his marriage in 1999, but instead he received the lesser title
Earl of Wessex. At the same time as his appointment as Earl of Wessex, it was decreed that Prince Edward will succeed his father as Duke of Edinburgh on his father's death. Presumably, the Dukedom of Edinburgh will become a non-royal dukedom with Prince Edward's grandchildren [see below].
In the United Kingdom, there is nothing about the particular dukedom that makes it 'royal'. Rather, these peerages are called "royal dukedoms" because they are held by a member of the royal family who is entitled to the style
Royal Highness. Although the term "royal duke" therefore has no official meaning
per se, the category "duke of the
Blood Royal" was acknowledged as a rank conferring special
precedence at court in the unrevoked 20th clause of the
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/order_precedence.htm#1520 Lord Chamberlain's order of 1520. This decree accorded precedence to any peer related by blood to the Sovereign above all others of the same degree within the peerage. The order did not apply within
Parliament, nor did it grant precedence above the
Archbishop of Canterbury or other
great officers of state such as is now enjoyed by royal dukes. But it placed junior dukes of the Blood Royal above the most senior non-royal duke, junior earls of the Blood Royal above the most senior non-royal earl, etc. It did not matter how distantly related to the monarch the peers might be (presumably they ranked among each other in
order of succession to the Crown). Although legally "time does not run against the King", so that the 1520 order is theoretically still in effect, in fact the "Blood Royal" clause seems to have fallen into
desuetude sometime in the 19th century. Thus peers of the Blood Royal who are not grandchildren of a Sovereign no longer enjoy precedence above other peers.
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 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".
The marriages of the eldest daughter of the Sovereign, known as the Princess Royal, has created interesting situations. Princess Louise, Princess Royal to her father King Edward V11, married a commoner in 1900. Her husband was created Duke of Fife, so that she could be styled HRH The Duchess of Fife. The dukedom was a non-royal one, as it continues today. Princess Mary, Princess Royal to her father King George V, married Viscount Lascelles -succeeded as 6th Earl of Harewood - in 1922, retaining her HRH. There was no elevation to a dukedom. Princess Anne, Princess Royal to Queen Elizabeth 11, has taken no title for herself or either of her commoner husbands, though there is absolutely nothing to impede her mother creating a title - almost certainly an earldom, as for HRH Princess Margaret on her marriage to a commoner as Earl of Snowden in 1961 - at any time. Camilla, second wife of the current Prince of Wales, is styled HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and when in Scotland HRH Duchess of Rothesay, being two of the subsidiary titles of the Prince of Wales.
Addressing British 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
Belgium
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 awarded preferentially to the eldest son and
heir presumptive of the King, other male dynasts receiving various lower historical titles (much older than Belgium, and in principle never fallen to the Belgian crown), such as Count of Flanders (king Leopold III's so-titled brother held the title when he became the realm's temporary head of state as
Prince-regent) and Prince of Liège (a secularised version of the historical
Prince-bishopric; e.g. the present king Albert II until he succeeded his older brother Baudouin=Boudewijn I)
Denmark
Denmark's kings gave appanages in their twin-duchies of
Schleswig-Holstein (now three-fourths of them is part of Germany, but then the Holstein half of it was part of HRE in personal union with Denmark proper) to younger sons and/or their male-line descendants, with a specific though not sovereign title of Duke, e.g.
Duke of Gottorp,
Duke of Sonderburg,
Duke of Augustenborg,
Duke of Franzhagen,
Duke of Beck,
Duke of Glucksburg and
Duke of Norburg.
Spain
Spanish
infantes and
infantas were usually given a dukedom upon marriage. This title is nowadays not hereditary but carries a
grandeza de España. 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).
Finland and Sweden
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.
In Finland, while a nominal realm in personal union with Sweden, the ducal title
herttua was equally reserved for (Swedish) princes of the blood, without actual feudal estates.
France and other former monarchies
See
appanage (mainly for the French kingdom) and the list in the geographical section below, which also treats special ducal titles in orders or national significance.
For Portugal, see belowThe 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 coronation, 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:
*
Duke of Angouleme*
Duke of Anjou*
Duke of Auvergne*
Duke of Bourbon*
Duke of Brittany (considered a sovereign state until personal union with France, by the marriage of
Anne of Brittany with the French kings Charles VIII and Louis XII and of her daughter Claude with Renaissance King
Francis I, who conclude the 1553 treaty rendering the union permanent while granting some autonomy)
*
Duke of Broglie*
Duke of Guise*
Duke of Lorraine*
Duke of Montpensier*
Duke of Savoy (although
Haute Savoie is now part of France, the Dukes of Savoy were Princes of the
Holy Roman Empire, not peers of France.)
See also List of French dukedomsWhen 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.
Portugal
This list refers only to the royal dukedoms*
Duque de Aveiro*
Duque de Barcelos*
Duque de Beja*
Duque de Bragança (the home principality of the
Portuguese royal dynasty after the post-
Habsburg restoration of independence), became the primogeniture for the royal crown prince
*
Duque de Coimbra*
Duque da Guarda*
Duque do Porto*
Duque de ViseuSpain
No duchies as true politically important principalities, but many domanial or purely titular onesMany 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):
*
Duque de Abrantes*
Duque de Ahumada*
Duque de Alagón*
Duque de Alba*
Duque de Albufera*
Duque de Albuquerque*
Duque de Alcalá de los Gazules*
Duque de Algeciras*
Duque de Algete*
Duque de Aliaga*
Duque de Almazán de Saint Priest*
Duque de Almenara Alta*
Duque de Almería*
Duque de Almodovar del Rio*
Duque de Almodovar del Valle*
Duque de Amalfi*
Duque de Andria*
Duque de Ansola*
Duque de Arco*
Duque de Arcos*
Duque de Arevalo del Rey*
Duque de Arion*
Duque de Arjona*
Duque de Astrico*
Duque de Atrisco*
Duque de Aveyro*
Duque de Badajoz*
Duque de Baena*
Duque de Bailén*
Duque de Baños*
Duque de Béjar*
Duque de Benavente*
Duque de Benvante*
Duque de Bivona*
Duque de Cádiz*
Duque de Camiña*
Duque de Canalejas*
Duque de Canovas del Castillo*
Duque da Cantábria*
Duque de Cardona*
Duque de Carrero Blanco*
Duque de Castro Enriquez*
Duque de Castro-Terreño*
Duque de Castroterreño*
Duque de Cea*
Duque de Ciudad Real*
Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo*
Duque de Croiy*
Duque de Dato*
Duque de Denia*
Duque de Atlixco*
Duque del Infantado*
Duque del Rubi*
Duque de Pinohermoso*
Duque de Soria*
Duque de Durcal*
Duque de Escalona*
Duque de Estremera*
Duque de Feria*
Duque de Fernán Nuñez*
Duque de Fernan-Nuñez*
Duque de Fernández-Miranda*
Duque de Fernandina*
Duque de Francavila*
Duque de Francavilla*
Duque de Franco*
Duque de Frías*
Duque da Galícia*
Duque de Galisteo*
Duque de Gandia*
Duque de Gor*
Duque de Granada de Ega*
Duque de Hernani*
Duque de Hijar*
Duque de Hornachuelos*
Duque de Hornes*
Duque de Huescar*
Duque de Huete*
Duque de Infantado*
Duque de Jerica*
Duque de la Alcudia*
Duque de la Conquista*
Duque de La Roca*
Duque de la Torre*
Duque de la Unión de Cuba*
Duque de la Vega*
Duque de la Victoria*
Duque de la Victoria de las Amézcoas*
Duque de las Torres*
Duque de Lecera*
Duque de Lerma*
Duque de Linares*
Duque de Linhares*
Duque de Liria*
Duque de Lorenzana*
Duque de los Castillejos*
Duque de Losada*
Duque de Lucca*
Duque de Lucera*
Duque de Lugo*
Duque de Luna*
Duque de Madrid*
Duque de Mandas*
Duque de Mandas y Villanueva*
Duque de Maqueda*
Duque de Marchena*
Duque de Maura*
Duque de Medina de las Torres*
Duque de Medina de Rio Seco*
Duque de Medina Sidonia*
Duque de Medinaceli*
Duque de Miranda*
Duque de Moctezuma*
Duque de Mola*
Duque de Monforte*
Duque de Montalto*
Duque de Montealegre*
Duque de Monteleón*
Duque de Montellano*
Duque de Montemar*
Duque de Montoro*
Duque de Montoroso*
Duque de Montpensier*
Duque de Najeda*
Duque de Nájera*
Duque de Noblejar*
Duque de Olivares*
Duque de Osuna*
Duque de Palata*
Duque de Palizzi*
Duque de Palma de Maiorca*
Duque de Parcent*
Duque de Pastrana*
Duque de Peñaranda*
Duque de Pinohermoso*
Duque de Plasencia*
Duque de Prim*
Duque de Primo de Rivera*
Duque de Regla*
Duque de Riansares*
Duque de Riánsares*
Duque de Ripalda*
Duque de Rivas*
Duque de San Carlos*
Duque de San Fernando de Quiroga*
Duque de San Juan*
Duque de San Lorenzo*
Duque de San Lorenzo de Villahermoso*
Duque de San Miguel*
Duque de San Pedro Galatino*
Duque de San Ricardo*
Duque de Sanlúcar la Mayor*
Duque de Santa Cristina*
Duque de Santa Elena*
Duque de Santa Isabel*
Duque de Santisteban del Puerto*
Duque de Santo Buono*
Duque de Santoña*
Duque de Segorbe*
Duque de Segovia*
Duque de Seo d'Urgel*
Duque de Seo de Urgel*
Duque de Sessa*
Duque de Sevilha*
Duque de Silva*
Duque de Soma*
Duque de Soria*
Duque de Sotomayor*
Duque de Suárez*
Duque de Sueca*
Duque de T'Serclaes*
Duque de Talavera de la Reina*
Duque de Tamanes*
Duque de Tarancón*
Duque de Tarifa*
Duque de Tetuan*
Duque de Tovar*
Duque de Trani*
Duque de Trujillo*
Duque de Uceda*
Duque de Uzeda*
Duque de Valencia de Campos*
Duque de Veragua*
Duque de Vergara*
Duque de Vigo *
Duque de Villafranca*
Duque de Villahermosa*
Duque de Villena*
Duque de Vista-Alegre*
Duque de Vistahermoso*
Duque de Vitonton*
Duque de ZaragozaSome titles inherited by or conferred on historically important politicians, such as :
*Duque de Alva /
Duke of Alba*
Duke of MedinacelliColonial titles
In various Spanish-American viceroyalties (one dukedom in present
Chile; in
Mexico, in addition to the title Duque de Moctesuma for descendants of the deposed last
Aztec ruler of that very name, three: Arion, Atrisco and Regla, all four Spanish
Grandees; in
Panama only Duque de Veragua, also Grande de España; in
Peru San Carlos and Buono, again Grandees; in several other Spanish American countries only lower titles were created) and on the
Canary IslandsIn other colonial empires, notably as
victory titles.
Germany
Although the titled aristocracy of Germany no longer holds a legal rank, nearly all ducal families in
West Germany continued to be treated as
dynastic (i.e., "royalty") for marital and genealogical purposes after
1918. Some maintain dynastic traditions that are reflected in roles they still play in high
society,
philanthropy and Germany's version of local "
squirearchy".
At first, the highest nobles -de facto at par with several Kings/emperors- were the Dukes of each
stem duchy:
*
Duchy of Saxony*
Duchy of Franconia*
Duchy of Bavaria*
Duchy of Swabia*
Duchy of Lorraine (replacing
Duchy of Thuringia)
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. The ducal title, however, was not limited by
primogeniture in the post-medieval era. All descendants in the male line, including females, shared the original title, but each male added as a
suffix the name of his inherited domain to distinguish his line from that of other branches. From the 19th century, some
cadets of the kingly houses of
Bavaria and
Wurttemberg, and all those of the grand-ducal houses of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
Mecklenburg-Strelitz and
Oldenburg, took the ducal
prefix as their primary style instead of that of
Prince (Prinz).
There were many other duchies, some of them insignificant petty states (
Kleinstaatererei):
*Duchy of
Bavaria, elector since
1623*Duchy of
Brunswick-Lüneburg, divided into various lines, one of which became the electorate of
Hanover in
1692*Duchy of
Franconia, the secular title of the
Bishop of Würzburg*Duchy of
Holstein, in union with
Schleswig, in
personal union with the Danish crown.
*Duchy of
Jülich and
Berg *Duchy of
Lorraine*Duchy of
Magdeburg, the former prince-archbishopric after being acquired by
Brandenburg-Prussia in
1680*Duchy of
Mecklenburg, later divided into various lines
*Duchy of
Pomerania*Grand Duchy of
Salzburg, the secularized prince-archbishopric
1803-
1806*Duchies of
Saxony, collateral lines of the elector
*Duchy of
Silesia*Duchy of
Westphalia, a territory under the
Archbishop of Cologne*Duchy of
Würtemberg, became an electorate in
1803The Low countries (Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg)
*Duchy of
Brabant*Duchy of
Guelders*Duchy of
Bouillon in the Ardenne
*Duchy of
LuxembourgAustria
*the
Austrian lands: the Duchies of
Austria proper, the Duchy of
Carinthia, Duchy of
Styria, the Duchy of
Krain (today
Slovenia). The
Habsburg dukes came to style themselves
Archdukes
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*the
Doges (a variant in Italian) of Genua and of Venice were elective crowned heads of commercial maritime 'most serene republics', in style echoed by the minute Adriatic republic of
SenaricaSee 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:
*
Dalmatia (now in Croatia): for maréchal
Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult (1808, extinguished 1857)
*
Istria: for maréchal
Jean-Baptiste Bessières (1809, ext. 1856)
*
Frioul, i.e Friuli: for the widow of general
Geraud Christophe Michel Duroc (1813, ext. 1829)
*
Cadore: for amiral
Jean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny (ext. 1893)
*
Bellune, i.e. Belluno: for
maréchal Victor (1808, ext. 1853)
*
Conegliano: for maréchal
Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey (1808, ext. 1842)
*
Trévise, i.e. Treviso: for maréchal
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier (1808, ext. 1912)
*
Feltre: for
general Clarke (ext. 1852, extended 1864)
*
Bassano: for
Hugues-Bernard Maret, minister (ext. 1906)
*
Vicence, i.e. Vicenza: for general
Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt , also imperal
Grand-Écuyer (ext. 1896)
*
Padoue, i.e. Padua (Padova in Italian): for general
Arrighi de Casanova (24 April 1808, ext. 1888)
*
Rovigo: for general
Anne Jean Marie René Savary (extinguished in 1872)
In the Principality of
Lucca-Piombino, only
Massa et Carrara: for Régnier, judge (extinguished 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 :
*
Gaete, i.e. Gaeta: for
Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin, finance minister (1809, extinguished 1841)
*
Otrante, i.e. Otranto: for
Joseph Fouché, minister of Police (1809)
*
Reggio: for maréchal
Charles Nicolas Oudinot (1810, main line exting. 1956, but special clause of the letters patent authorizing a substitution were applied)
*
Tarente, i.e. Tarento: for maréchal
Étienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald (1809, extinguished 1912)
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:
*
Parme, i.e. Parma: for lawyer
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès, author of the Code (the main European revision since Roman law, still influential in most democratic societies),
Arch-Chancellor (24 April 1808, extinguished 1824)
*
Plaisance, i.e. Piacenza: for
Charles-François Lebrun, also imperial
Arch-Treasurer (24 April 1808, ext. 1926)
*
Guastalla (extinguished in 1842)
On the Baltic south coast
*The duchies of
Courland (now in
Latvia) and
Pomerellen (Pomerelia; capital
Danzig, now Gdańsk in Poland) were part of the
Ordensstaat of the
Teutonic Knights until its takeover by the Polish crown in 1466.
*The
Ordensstaat became the Duchy of
Prussia in
1525, part of the dynastic home country of the later German Emperor.
Nordic
* In
Denmark, the longest-surviving duchy being
Schleswig, i.e Sonderjylland, part of which later was transferred to Germany; its southern neighbour
Holstein in personal union with the Danish crown was always a German principality; ultimately both ended up joint as the German federation's
Bundesland of
Schleswig-Holstein.
** duchies of
Laland,
Halland,
Jutland,
Reval and
Osilia.
* In Sweden, medieval duchies of
Finland,
Sudermannia,
Scania and
Halland, and in modern ages almost each province.
Greece
As the Catholic crusaders overran orthodox parts of the Byzantine empire, they installed several
crusader states, some of which were of ducal rank:
*
duchy of Athens, to which
duchy of Neopatras (in Thessaly) was later linked
* the Aegean insular
duchy of Naxos, more officially "Duchy of the Archipelago"
*
duchy of Negroponte, i.e. the Aegean island of
Euboia.
<- any source?? The Venetians styled their elected leaders in their main Greek community(/ies) Doge, according to model at home; Doge of
Crete ->.
Byzantines had used the title Dux, still a military office for them, also territory-specifically: Dux of
Dyrrhachium, Dux of
Thrakesion.
Palaiologos emperors, living under much more feudalized necessities, granted fiefs to some westerners:
Duke of Leucadia,
Duke of Lemnos.
Sometimes in Italy and other Western countries, the later Byzantine appanages were translated as duchies:
Peloponnese,
Mistra,
Mesembria,
Selymbria and
Thessalonike. However, as these had Greek holders, they were titled
Archon ('magistrate') or
Despotes (rather Prince of the blood).
After Greece's post-Ottoman independence as kingdom of the Hellenes, the style of
Duke of Sparta was instituted as primogeniture for the royal heir,
diadochos, the crown prince of Greece.
Slavic countries
Generally, confusion reigns whether to translate the usual petty ruler titles,
knyaz/ knez/ ksiaze etc. as Prince (analogous to the German Fürst) or as Duke;
* in splintered
Poland, also in (later ethnically German parts of) Silesia (later within the HRE), petty principalities generally ruled by branches of the earlier Polish
Piast dynasty are regarded as duchies in translated titulary. Examples of such:
Kujavia,
Masovia,
Sandomir,
Greater Poland,
Kalisz and
Silesia (Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia), as well as various minor duchies, often short-lived and/or in personal union or merger, named after their capitals, mainly in the regions known as
Little Poland and
Greater Poland, including (there are often also important Latin and/or German forms)
Cracow,
Opole,
Ratibor,
Legnica,
Zator,
Leczyca and
Sieradz.
* In
Pomerelia and
Pomerania (inhabited by the Kashubians, different Slavic people from the Poles proper), branches of native ruling dynasties were usually recognized as dukes, quite similarly to the pattern in Poland.
* in
Russia, before the imperial unification from
Muscovy; sometimes even as vassal, tributary to a Tartar
Khan; later, in Peter the Great's autocratic empire, the russification
gertsog was used as the Russian rendering of 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 [see above],
Stormarn,
Dithmarschen and
Oldenburg, and of other lands", in chief of German and Danish territories to which the Tsar was dynastically linked.
Brazilian empire
In this former Portuguese
viceroyalty, ater separation ruled by a branch of the Portuguese royal dynasty (house of Bragança), three dukedoms were created (being its highest ranks for non-members of the imperial dynasty), two of which were for illegitimate sons of the Emperor.
Haiti
The royal Christophe dynasty created eight hereditary dukedoms, in rank directly below the nominal princes.
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.
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", Prince of the Blood of the second rank, and 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", Prince of the Blood of the fourth rank, 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 those 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.
Japan
The highest-ranking of the fives titles of the
kazoku (jp: 華族, literally "flowery lineage"), the hereditary
peerage of Japan between 1869 and 1947,
kōshaku, is rendered in Western languages either as prince or as duke.
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).
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.
*
List of dukes in the peerages of the British Isles*
Victory title for honorary dukedoms (as well as princedoms) without an actual duchy, commemorating a general's military triumph
*
Grand duke*
Duke of Cornwall*
Duke of Newcastle*
Duke of Lancaster*
Duke of Richmond*
Duke of St Albans*
Duke of Wellington*
Lord*
Earl*Foss, Arthur.
The Dukes of Britain. St. Martin, 1986.
*
Peerage Titles Held by Male-Line Descendants of Sovereigns Since King George I*
alt.talk.royalty Heraldica.org- British Royal&Noble Families &
Heraldica.org- The French peerage &
Heraldica.org on Napoleonic titles; also gives their heraldic armories*
RoyalArk - click on the present country*
The Kings of Sweden*Almanach de Bruxelles (now a paying site)
