Grand Duke
Encyclopedia
The title
grand duke is used in Western Europe
and particularly in Germanic
countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king
but higher than a sovereign duke
. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince
in languages which do not differentiate between prince
s who are children of a monarch (e.g. German
Prinz) and ruling princes (e.g. German
Fürst). English and French also use grand duke in this way. The title grand duke as translation of grand prince and the proper title grand duke have clearly different meanings and a separate background. Compare with the article grand prince
. The territory of a grand duke is referred to as a grand duchy
.
The feminine form of grand duke is grand duchess.
Translations for grand duke include: in Latin
, magnus dux; in Spanish
, gran duque; in Russian
, великий князь (velikiy kniaz); in German
, Großherzog, Italian
gran duca; in French
, grand-duc; in Portuguese
, grão-duque; in Finnish
, suurherttua; in Polish
, wielki książę; in Hungarian
, nagyherceg; in Swedish
, storhertig; in Dutch
, groothertog; in Danish
, storhertug; in Lithuanian
, didysis kunigaikštis; in Czech
velkovévoda or velkokníže.
has until the end of Middle Ages been deflated to belong to rulers of relatively small fiefs (such as a city state or a district), instead of the big provinces it once was attached to.
One of the first examples, occurred when Count Gonçalo I Mendes of Portucale
(in northwest Portugal and considered as the country’s original nucleus) took, in 987
, the personal title of Magnus Dux Portucalensium (Grand-Duke of Portucale
) and rebelled against King Bermudo II of León
. He was defeated by the royal armies but he obtained a remarkable autonomy as a Magnus Dux.
Another example was the semi-official use of grand duke meaning the later Dukes of Burgundy
, i.e., in the 15th century, when they ruled a portion of eastern France as well as most of the Netherlands. Philip III, Duke of Burgundy
(ruler 1419–67) assumed the subsidiary, legally void style and title Grand Duke of the West in 1435, having recently consolidated the duchies of Brabant
and Limburg
as well as the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Hainaut and Namur under his possession. His son and successor Charles the Bold (ruler 1467–77) continued to use the same style.
The title magnus dux or grand duke (Didysis Kunigas, Didysis Kunigaikštis in Lithuanian) is said to have been used by the rulers of Lithuania
, and after Jagiello also became kings of Poland
. From 1573, both the Latin and the Polish equivalent wielki ksiaze, in chief of Lithuania as well as Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogithia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov (including hollow claims), were used as part of the respective versions of the full style officially used by the kings (title Krol) of Poland during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
.
The first monarchs ever officially titled grand duke were the Medici
sovereigns of Tuscany
beginning from the late 16th century. This official title was granted by Pope Pius V
in 1569, but the lands in question were under the vassalage of the Holy Roman Empire
.
Napoleon
used to award that title extensively: during his era, several of his allies were allowed to assume the title of grand duke, usually at the same time as their inherited fiefs were enlarged by additional lands obtained thanks to being his allies. His conquerors, for example the Congress of Vienna
, consented to yet more uses of the title. Thus, the 19th century saw a new group of monarchs titled grand duke all around Central Europe. A list of such is available at grand duchy
.
At the same century, the courtesy use of the title, translated grand duke, in Russia expanded because of the births of several male dynasts, instead of the earlier precarious situations when Russia barely had only one or two to succeed.
The term can be said to originate in Germany, in a sense that a ruler in the then Germany's western borders was the first to be called so, and that it was a German overlord, the Holy Roman Emperor, whose vassal (although an Italian) was first granted the official title by the Pope.
The German and Dutch languages, which have separate words for royal prince (Prinz, Prins) and for sovereign prince (Fürst, Vorst), mark the Grand Princes of Lithuania, Ruthenian states and other Eastern European nations as higher princes, as well as the Russian rulers and later princes of the blood, by the terms Grossfürst, Grootvorst, not Grossherzog, Groothertog.
In 1582, king John III of Sweden
added Grand Duke of Finland to the subsidiary titles of the Swedish kings, however without any factual consequences, Finland
already being a part of the Swedish realm.
After the Russian conquests, it continued to be used by the Russian emperor in his role as ruler of Lithuania
(1793–1918) and of autonomous Finland
(1809–1917) as well. The Holy Roman Empire
ruling house of Habsburg
instituted a similar Grand Principality in Transylvania
in 1765.
s. However, grand princes were not as elevated sovereign as later Western European kings, and thus they are treated lower than kings, particularly in later literature.
Grand Princes ruled in Central and Eastern Europe, notably among Slavs and Lithuanians.
The title grand prince is Velikiy Knjaz (Великий князь) in Russian. The Slavic word knjaz and the Lithuanian kunigas (today translated as prince) are actually cognates of King. Thus, Veliki Knjaz and Didysis Kunigas was more like "high king" than "grand duke".
These countries developed in a way that the position of the head of the dynasty became more elevated. In such situations, those monarchs assumed a higher title, such as tsar
or king. Grand Prince Ivan IV of Muscovy
was the last monarch to rule without any higher title, until he assumed the style Tsar of Russia in 1547.
The rulers of the Turkish vassal state of Transylvania used the title of Grand Prince, this title was later assumed by the Habsburgs on their conquest of Hungary. The Polish kings of the Swedish Vasa
dynasty also used the grand-princely title for their non-Polish territory.
The title grand prince (which in many of those lands already was in later medieval centuries awarded simultaneously to several rulers of the more expanded dynasty) continued, in modern times, as a courtesy title for all or several members of the Russian dynasty, such as the Grand Duke of Russia (veliki knjaz) in Russia's imperial era.
(the etymological root of duke
), which was phonetically rendered δουξ in Greek, was a common title for imperial generals in the Late Roman Empires (west and east), but note it was lower in rank than Comes
(the etymological root of Count
). In the Eastern Empire
, a dux ranked just below a strategos
.
Under the latter, exclusively Byzantine theme system, the commander of a theme was often styled a dux. The title of "Grand Duke" (megas doux) was created by Alexios I Komnenos
and was conferred upon the commanding admiral of the Byzantine navy
. The title remained in use until the Empire's end, by which time the office had become a virtual chief minister, heading both civil and military administration.
of Kievan Rus'
, then of several princes of the Rus'
. From 1328 the Velikii Kniaz of Muscovy appeared as the grand duke for "all of Russia" until Ivan IV of Russia
in 1547 was crowned as Tsar
. Thereafter the title was given to sons and grandsons (through male lines) of the Tsars and Emperors of Russia. The daughters and paternal granddaughters of Russian emperors, as well as the consorts of Russian grand dukes, were generally called "grand duchesses" in English.
Another translation of the Russian title would be grand prince. While this term is a more precise translation, it is neither standard nor widely used in English. In German, however, a Russian grand duke was known as a Großfürst, and in Latin
as Magnus Princeps.
From 1809 to 1917 the Emperor of Russia
was also the Grand Duke of Finland, which he held as an autonomous state. Before the Russian conquest Finland had been held by the Swedish kings, first as a royal duchy, since 1581 with the King assuming the secondary title Grand Prince of Finland
(Finnish: Suomen suuriruhtinas, Swedish: Storfurste av Finland), also often translated as Grand Duke of Finland.
as "Royal Highness
". Other more junior members of the families generally bore the lower style of "Grand Ducal Highness
". For instance, prior to her marriage, Empress Alexandra of Russia was known as "Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine" Ihre Großherzogliche Hoheit Alix Prinzessin von Hessen und bei Rhein).
The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
however, styles all its members as "Royal Highness" since 1919; this is due to the fact that they are cadet members of the Royal and Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma
, as male-line descendants of Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.
Historically, grand dukes and grand duchesses from Russia were styled as "Imperial Highness
", as being member of the Russian Imperial Family.
Title
A title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
grand duke is used in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
and particularly in Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
but higher than a sovereign duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince
Grand Prince
The title grand prince or great prince ranked in honour below emperor and tsar and above a sovereign prince .Grand duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in English and Romance languages, which do not normally use separate words for a "prince" who reigns...
in languages which do not differentiate between prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
s who are children of a monarch (e.g. German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Prinz) and ruling princes (e.g. German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Fürst). English and French also use grand duke in this way. The title grand duke as translation of grand prince and the proper title grand duke have clearly different meanings and a separate background. Compare with the article grand prince
Grand Prince
The title grand prince or great prince ranked in honour below emperor and tsar and above a sovereign prince .Grand duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in English and Romance languages, which do not normally use separate words for a "prince" who reigns...
. The territory of a grand duke is referred to as a grand duchy
Grand duchy
A grand duchy, sometimes referred to as a grand dukedom, is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a grand duke or grand duchess.Today Luxembourg is the only remaining grand duchy...
.
The feminine form of grand duke is grand duchess.
Translations for grand duke include: in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, magnus dux; in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, gran duque; in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, великий князь (velikiy kniaz); in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Großherzog, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
gran duca; in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, grand-duc; in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, grão-duque; in Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, suurherttua; in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, wielki książę; in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, nagyherceg; in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, storhertig; in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, groothertog; in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, storhertug; in Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, didysis kunigaikštis; in Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
velkovévoda or velkokníže.
Western European grand dukes
The proper term of grand duke was a later invention, probably originating in Western Europe, to denote a particularly mighty duke, as the title dukeDuke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
has until the end of Middle Ages been deflated to belong to rulers of relatively small fiefs (such as a city state or a district), instead of the big provinces it once was attached to.
One of the first examples, occurred when Count Gonçalo I Mendes of Portucale
Portucale
Portucale can mean different things:*Portus Cale, old Roman name of an ancient town and port in current day Portugal, in the area of today's Grande Porto...
(in northwest Portugal and considered as the country’s original nucleus) took, in 987
Timeline of Portuguese history (First County)
-9th century:*868 - Establishment of the 1st County of Portugal, a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Asturias, by count Vímara Peres, after the reconquest from the Moors of the region between the Minho and Douro Rivers...
, the personal title of Magnus Dux Portucalensium (Grand-Duke of Portucale
Portucale
Portucale can mean different things:*Portus Cale, old Roman name of an ancient town and port in current day Portugal, in the area of today's Grande Porto...
) and rebelled against King Bermudo II of León
Bermudo II of León
Bermudo II , called the Gouty , was the King of Galicia and León . His reign is summed up by Justo Pérez de Urbel's description of him as "el pobre rey atormentado en la vida por la espada de Almanzor y en muerte por la pluma vengadora de un obispo" Bermudo (or Vermudo) II (956–999), called the...
. He was defeated by the royal armies but he obtained a remarkable autonomy as a Magnus Dux.
Another example was the semi-official use of grand duke meaning the later Dukes of Burgundy
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
, i.e., in the 15th century, when they ruled a portion of eastern France as well as most of the Netherlands. Philip III, Duke of Burgundy
Philip III, Duke of Burgundy
Philip the Good KG , also Philip III, Duke of Burgundy was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty . During his reign Burgundy reached the height of its prosperity and prestige and became a leading center of the arts...
(ruler 1419–67) assumed the subsidiary, legally void style and title Grand Duke of the West in 1435, having recently consolidated the duchies of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
and Limburg
Duchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...
as well as the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Hainaut and Namur under his possession. His son and successor Charles the Bold (ruler 1467–77) continued to use the same style.
The title magnus dux or grand duke (Didysis Kunigas, Didysis Kunigaikštis in Lithuanian) is said to have been used by the rulers of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, and after Jagiello also became kings of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. From 1573, both the Latin and the Polish equivalent wielki ksiaze, in chief of Lithuania as well as Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogithia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov (including hollow claims), were used as part of the respective versions of the full style officially used by the kings (title Krol) of Poland during the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
.
The first monarchs ever officially titled grand duke were the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
sovereigns of Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
beginning from the late 16th century. This official title was granted by Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...
in 1569, but the lands in question were under the vassalage of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
.
Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
used to award that title extensively: during his era, several of his allies were allowed to assume the title of grand duke, usually at the same time as their inherited fiefs were enlarged by additional lands obtained thanks to being his allies. His conquerors, for example the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, consented to yet more uses of the title. Thus, the 19th century saw a new group of monarchs titled grand duke all around Central Europe. A list of such is available at grand duchy
Grand duchy
A grand duchy, sometimes referred to as a grand dukedom, is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a grand duke or grand duchess.Today Luxembourg is the only remaining grand duchy...
.
At the same century, the courtesy use of the title, translated grand duke, in Russia expanded because of the births of several male dynasts, instead of the earlier precarious situations when Russia barely had only one or two to succeed.
The term can be said to originate in Germany, in a sense that a ruler in the then Germany's western borders was the first to be called so, and that it was a German overlord, the Holy Roman Emperor, whose vassal (although an Italian) was first granted the official title by the Pope.
The German and Dutch languages, which have separate words for royal prince (Prinz, Prins) and for sovereign prince (Fürst, Vorst), mark the Grand Princes of Lithuania, Ruthenian states and other Eastern European nations as higher princes, as well as the Russian rulers and later princes of the blood, by the terms Grossfürst, Grootvorst, not Grossherzog, Groothertog.
In 1582, king John III of Sweden
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
added Grand Duke of Finland to the subsidiary titles of the Swedish kings, however without any factual consequences, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
already being a part of the Swedish realm.
After the Russian conquests, it continued to be used by the Russian emperor in his role as ruler of Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(1793–1918) and of autonomous Finland
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
(1809–1917) as well. The Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
ruling house of Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
instituted a similar Grand Principality in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
in 1765.
Grand prince
Grand princes or great princes were medieval monarchs who ruled usually several tribes and/or were overlords of other princes. At the time, they were usually treated and translated as kingMonarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
s. However, grand princes were not as elevated sovereign as later Western European kings, and thus they are treated lower than kings, particularly in later literature.
Grand Princes ruled in Central and Eastern Europe, notably among Slavs and Lithuanians.
The title grand prince is Velikiy Knjaz (Великий князь) in Russian. The Slavic word knjaz and the Lithuanian kunigas (today translated as prince) are actually cognates of King. Thus, Veliki Knjaz and Didysis Kunigas was more like "high king" than "grand duke".
These countries developed in a way that the position of the head of the dynasty became more elevated. In such situations, those monarchs assumed a higher title, such as tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
or king. Grand Prince Ivan IV of Muscovy
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
was the last monarch to rule without any higher title, until he assumed the style Tsar of Russia in 1547.
The rulers of the Turkish vassal state of Transylvania used the title of Grand Prince, this title was later assumed by the Habsburgs on their conquest of Hungary. The Polish kings of the Swedish Vasa
House of Vasa
The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....
dynasty also used the grand-princely title for their non-Polish territory.
The title grand prince (which in many of those lands already was in later medieval centuries awarded simultaneously to several rulers of the more expanded dynasty) continued, in modern times, as a courtesy title for all or several members of the Russian dynasty, such as the Grand Duke of Russia (veliki knjaz) in Russia's imperial era.
Byzantine grand dukes
The Latin title duxDux
Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....
(the etymological root of duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
), which was phonetically rendered δουξ in Greek, was a common title for imperial generals in the Late Roman Empires (west and east), but note it was lower in rank than Comes
Comes
Comes , plural comites , is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus, especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" +...
(the etymological root of Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
). In the Eastern Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, a dux ranked just below a strategos
Strategos
Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...
.
Under the latter, exclusively Byzantine theme system, the commander of a theme was often styled a dux. The title of "Grand Duke" (megas doux) was created by Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
and was conferred upon the commanding admiral of the Byzantine navy
Byzantine navy
The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defense and survival of the state then its earlier iterations...
. The title remained in use until the Empire's end, by which time the office had become a virtual chief minister, heading both civil and military administration.
Russian grand dukes
"Grand duke" is the traditional translation of the title Velikiy Kniaz, which from the 11th century was at first the title of the leading PrincePrince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
of Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
, then of several princes of the Rus'
Rus' (people)
The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...
. From 1328 the Velikii Kniaz of Muscovy appeared as the grand duke for "all of Russia" until Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
in 1547 was crowned as Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
. Thereafter the title was given to sons and grandsons (through male lines) of the Tsars and Emperors of Russia. The daughters and paternal granddaughters of Russian emperors, as well as the consorts of Russian grand dukes, were generally called "grand duchesses" in English.
Another translation of the Russian title would be grand prince. While this term is a more precise translation, it is neither standard nor widely used in English. In German, however, a Russian grand duke was known as a Großfürst, and in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
as Magnus Princeps.
From 1809 to 1917 the Emperor of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
was also the Grand Duke of Finland, which he held as an autonomous state. Before the Russian conquest Finland had been held by the Swedish kings, first as a royal duchy, since 1581 with the King assuming the secondary title Grand Prince of Finland
Grand Prince of Finland
Grand duke of Finland, was from around 1580 to 1809 a title in use by most Swedish monarchs. Between 1809 and 1917, it was the official title of the head of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, who was the Emperor of Russia. The anachronistic female form of the title in English is usually Grand...
(Finnish: Suomen suuriruhtinas, Swedish: Storfurste av Finland), also often translated as Grand Duke of Finland.
Styles and forms of address
Most often, a reigning grand duke, and in some families also a hereditary grand duke, were styledStyle (manner of address)
A style of office, or honorific, is a legal, official, or recognized title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal...
as "Royal Highness
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style ; plural Royal Highnesses...
". Other more junior members of the families generally bore the lower style of "Grand Ducal Highness
Grand Ducal Highness
His/Her Grand Ducal Highness is a style of address used before the princely titles of the non-reigning members of some German ruling families headed by a Grand Duke. No currently reigning family employs the style, although it was used most recently by the younger sisters of the late Grand Duchess...
". For instance, prior to her marriage, Empress Alexandra of Russia was known as "Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine" Ihre Großherzogliche Hoheit Alix Prinzessin von Hessen und bei Rhein).
The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg
The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg consists of the extended family of the sovereign Grand Duke....
however, styles all its members as "Royal Highness" since 1919; this is due to the fact that they are cadet members of the Royal and Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma
House of Bourbon-Parma
The House of Bourbon-Parma is an Italian cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. It is thus descended from the Capetian dynasty in male line. The name of Bourbon-Parma comes from the main name and the other from the title of Duke of Parma....
, as male-line descendants of Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.
Historically, grand dukes and grand duchesses from Russia were styled as "Imperial Highness
Imperial Highness
His/Her Imperial Highness is a style used by members of an imperial family to denote imperial - as opposed to royal - status to show that the holder in question is descended from an Emperor rather than a King .Today the style has mainly fallen from use with the exception of the Imperial Family of...
", as being member of the Russian Imperial Family.
See also
- FürstFürstFürst is a German title of nobility, usually translated into English as Prince.The term refers to the head of a principality and is distinguished from the son of a monarch, who is referred to as Prinz...
- List of Grand Duchesses of Russia
- List of Grand Dukes of Russia
- NobilityNobilityNobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
- Royal and noble ranksRoyal and noble ranksTraditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and between geographic regions , the following is a reasonably comprehensive list that provides information on both general ranks and specific differences.-...
- Titles of nobility