A duke is a nobleman, historically of highest rank below the King or Queen, and
usually controlling a duchy. The title comes from the Latin
dux, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed both by the
Germanic peoples themselves and by the Roman
authors covering them to refer to their war leaders.
In the Middle Ages, the title signified first, among the Germanic monarchies. The dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the
counts in the cities, and later, in the feudal monarchies, the
highest-ranking peers of the king. There were, however, variants of these meanings, and there were even sovereign princes
employing ducal titles.
In the Modern Age, it has become a nominal rank without an actual principality. It is
still the highest titular peerage in France, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and
Italy.
A woman who holds in her own right the title to such duchy or dukedom, or is the wife of a duke, is normally styled
duchess. However, Queen Elizabeth II is known as
Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands.
History
Roman Empire
- See also: dux
Originally, dux was a title given to a general commanding a single military expedition or army and holding no other
power than that which he exercised over his soldiers. The designation, first applied to barbarian tribal leaders, 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 contained in a military territory, often
corresponding to one or more provinces; this Roman rank was below the similar
comes rei militaris. To avoid the connotations of the modern "dukes," Roman and post-Roman
military leaders are usually styled with the Latin title, e.g., Artorius Dux
Bellorum[1] rather than a translate the title to
duke.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages following the collapse of Roman power in Western Europe, the title
was still employed in the Germanic kingdoms, most often to the rulers of the old Roman provinces.
Visigoths
The Visigoths retained the Roman divisions of their kingdom in Spain and it seems that
dukes ruled over these. They were the highest magnates in the land and, together with the bishops, elected the king, usually from
their own file. They were the military commanders and in this capacity often acted independently of the king, especially in the
last days of the kingdom.
The army was structured decimally with the highest unit, the thiufa, probably corresponding to
about one thousand men from each civitas, city district. The cities were commanded by the counts, who were in turn
responsible to the dukes, who called up the thiufae when need be.
Lombards
When the Lombards entered Italy, the Latin chroniclers called their war leaders duces
in the old fashion. These leaders eventually became the provincial rulers, each with a recognized seat of government. Though
nominally loyal to the king, the concept of kingship was new to the Lombards and the dukes were highly independent, especially in
central and southern Italy, where the Duke of Spoleto and the Duke of Benevento were de facto sovereigns. In 575, when Cleph died, a period known as the Rule
of the Dukes, in which the dukes governed without a king, commenced. It lasted only a decade before the disunited
magnates, in order to defend the kingdom from external attacks, elected a new king and even diminished their own duchies to
provide him with a handsome royal demesne.
The Lombard kings were usually drawn from the dukes when the title was not hereditary. The dukes tried to make their own
offices hereditary. Beneath them in the internal structure were the counts and gastalds, a
uniquely Lombard title initially referring to judicial functions, similar to a count's, in provincial regions.
Franks
The Franks employed dukes as the governors of Roman provinces, though they also led military expeditions far away from their
duchies. The dukes were the highest ranking officials in the realm, were more typically Franks than the counts (who were often
Gallo-Romans), and formed the class from which the kings' generals were drawn in times of war. The dukes gathered every May with
the king to converse on policy for the upcoming year, the so-called Mayfield.
In Burgundy and Provence, the titles of patrician and prefect were commonly employed in preference to duke, probably
for historical reasons relating to the greater Romanization of those provinces. The titles, however, were basically
equivalent.
In late Merovingian Gaul, the mayors of the
palace of the Arnulfing clan began to use the title dux et princeps Francorum: "duke and prince of the Franks." In this title, "duke" implied
supreme military control of the entire nation (Francorum, the Franks) and it was thus used until the end of the
Carolingian dynasty in France in 987.
Stem duchies
-
In the early tenth century, with Carolingian authority waning in East Francia, the
various tribal regions, which had in the past been ruled by duces under Frankish overlordship, began to fall naturally
under the leadership and rule of dukes. These duchies, called stem duchies, have been the
subject of great historical controversy. Their origins and how they came about have been the source of great dispute, much of it
political.
The original stem duchies which made up East Francia (Germany) were Saxony,
Franconia, Bavaria, Swabia, and Lotharingia. The tenth through twelfth centuries
were often filled with conflict between the dukes, who thought of themselves as hereditary princes on whom the king depended for
his election, and the kings, who considered themselves the dukes' suzerains and those whom the dukes represented to the tribes.
The dukes, on the other hand, often saw themselves as the tribes' representatives to the king.
England
Anglo-Saxon times
The highest political division beneath that of kingdom among the Anglo-Saxons was the
ealdormanry and, while the title ealdorman was replaced by the Danish eorl (later earl) over time, the first
ealdormen were referred to as duces in the chronicles. Thus, in Anglo-Saxon England, where the Roman political divisions
were largely abandoned, the grade of duke was retained as supreme territorial magnate after the king.
Late medieval times
The Black Prince was created Duke of
Cornwall in 1337. He was the first proper Duke to be created by a King of England. To celebrate this event six new Earls were created. In the
Patent creating the new Earl of Salisbury, on 16 March 1337, the King refers also to
this higher Honour as: "willing more securely to establish the Royal sceptre as well as by the addition of new honours as by
the restoration of old ones, and to augment the number of nobles by whose counsels our realm may be directed in doubtful, and by
whose suffrages be supported in adverse circumstances, have advanced our most dear first begotten Edward (whom in the prerogative
of honour as is meet, we have caused to have precedence of others) to be Duke of Cornwall, over which awhile ago Dukes for a long
time successively presided as chief rulers..."
The Modern Age
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.
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).
Equivalents in other European languages
-
Royal dukes
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
-
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 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.
Iberian peninsula
When the Christian Reconquista, sweeping the
Moors from the former Caliphate of Cordoba and its
taifa-remnants, transformed the territory of former Suevic 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
-
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).
In Spain many dukes hold the court rank of Grande, i.e. Grandee of the realm, which
had precedence over all other feudatories.
Finland and Sweden
-
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.
Key parts of Finland were sometimes under a Duke of Finland during the Swedish
reign.
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.
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 coronation, comparable to the German imperial
archoffices. Half of them were ducal: three ecclesiastical (the six prelates all ranked above the six 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)
Later, the Archbishop of Paris was given the title of duc de Saint-Cloud with the dignity of peerage, but it was debated if he was an ecclesiastical
peer or merely a bishop holding a lay peerage.
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)
It should be noted what the theory of the participation of the peers in the coronation was laid down in the late XIIIth century, when some of the peerage (the duchy of Normandy and the county of Toulouse) had already been
merged in the crown.
At the end of this same century, the King erected some counties into duchies, a practice what went increasing till the
Revolution. Many of this duchies were also peerages (the so-called 'new peerages').
Colonial 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 Islands
In other colonial empires, notably as victory titles.
Italy, Germany and Austria
-
Elsewhere in Europe
Nordic countries
Hungary
In the Kingdom of Hungary no ducal principalities existed but duchies were often
formed for members of the dynasty as appanage. During the rule of the Árpád dinasty dukes held territorial powers, some of them even minted coins, but later this title became
more often nominal. These duchies usually were
- the Duchy of Nitra
- the Duchy of Bihar
- the Duchy of Slavonia, or whole Slavonia (consisted to be Slavonia and Croatia).
- the Duchy of Transylvania (consisted of the voivodship of Transylvania and some other
counties)
In the Jagellonian era (1490-1526) only two dukes did not belong to the royal dynasty: John
Corvin (the illegitimate son of Matthias Corvinus) and Lőrinc Újlaki (whose father was the king of Bosnia), while both bore
the title as royal dukes.
After the Battle of Mohács the Habsburg kings rewarded Hungarian aristocrats (like
the Esterházys) with princely titles, but they created these titles as Holy Roman
Emperors, not as kings of Hungary.
Greece
As the Catholic crusaders overran orthodox parts of the Byzantine empire, they installed several crusader states, some of which were of ducal rank:
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.
Netherlands
After Belgium and the Netherlands separated in 1830, the title of duke didn't occur in the Netherlands anymore. There is,
however, one exception; the title Hertog van Limburg (Duke of Limburg) still exists. This title, however, is an
exclusive title for the head of state (the monarch, i.e. the king or queen of the Netherlands).
Post-colonial non-European states
Brazilian empire
In this former Portuguese viceroyalty, after 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.
Equivalents
-
Like other major Western noble titles, Duke is sometimes used to render certain titles in non-western languages with their own
traditions, even though they are as a rule etymologically and often historically unrelated and thus hard to compare, which are
considered roughly equivalent, especially in hierarchic aristocracies such as feudal Japan, useful as an indication of relative
rank.
Fictional Dukes and Duchesses
- Sophie, Duchess von Teschen, Duchess and lover of Herr Eisenheim, and
fiancée of Crown Prince Leopold in the movie The Illusionist.
- The House Atreides duchy on Caladan and then
Arrakis in Frank Herbert's Dune:
- Duke of Manhattan, a one-time character in the Doctor Who episode,
"New Earth".
- Duke Org, one of the monsters from the Power Rangers season,
Power Rangers: Wild Force.
- Duchess R of Winnipeg , a socialite in "A Series of Unfortunate
Events" who is host of the masked ball where "Lemony Snicket" warns Beatrice of
some danger.
- Duke Mequen from Tamora Pierce's "Trickster's Choice" and "Trickster's Queen", his second
wife is Duchess Winnamine.
- His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, from Terry Pratchett's
Discworld novels.
- "The Duke of New York" was the chief warlord among the various criminal gangs on the penitentiary-island of Manhattan in the
dystopian 1981 movie Escape from New York. The Duke was portrayed by
Isaac Hayes.
- Duchess Wednesday (also called Lady, Whale or Drowned
Wednesday) from The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix.
- Eight Dukes in 8 Eyes NES videogame.
- Duke Dumas, the head of the Dark Tribe in the game Lunar Knights.
- "Duchess", the name of the fictional superstar diva of which the song of the same name by the band Genesis(band) tells of.
- In the book series starting with "City of Masks", one of the characters is
Duchessa Arianna (equivalent to a Duchess)
See also
Sources
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