Imperial, royal and noble ranks explained

Traditional rank amongst European imperiality, royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke), the following is a reasonably comprehensive list that provides information on both general ranks and specific differences. Distinction should be made between reigning (or formerly reigning) families and the nobility – the latter being a social class subject to and created by the former.

Ranks and titles

English titles

See also: Peerage of England.

During the Middle Ages, in England, as in most of Europe, the feudal system was the dominant social and economic system. Under the feudal system, the monarch would grant land to the monarch’s loyal subjects in exchange for the subject’s loyalty and military service when called by the monarch. Besides grants of land, these subjects were usually given titles that implied nobility and rank, such as Duke, Earl, Baron, etc, which were passed down through the holder’s male line. Barons were the lowest rank of nobility and were granted small parcels of land. Earls were the next highest rank with larger land holdings. Dukes were the highest rank and held the largest holdings, known as duchies. The monarch was the ultimate authority and was able to grant and revoke titles.

In the 14th century, an English peerage began to emerge as a separate entity from the feudal system. The peers held titles granted by the monarch, but did not necessarily hold any land or have any feudal obligations. The peerage was divided into five ranks; from highest to lowest: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, and Baron.

The peerage system became more formalized over time. By the 18th century, peerages were no longer granted as a reward for military service, but instead were granted as a way to recognize social status and political influence.

Today, there are two types of peerages in England: hereditary and life peerages. Hereditary peerages are those that are passed down through the male line of the family. Life peerages, on the other hand, are granted to an individual for their lifetime only and do not pass down to their heirs.

Before 1958, life peerages were relatively rare, and were held not to entitle the bearer to sit in the House of Lords. Since the Life Peerages Act 1958, nearly all new peerages are life baronies.

In addition to peerages, there are also a number of honorary titles in England. These titles do not carry any legal or social privileges, but are instead granted as a way to recognize individuals for their contributions to society.

Some common honorary titles include Knighthood, Damehood, and Companion of Honour. These titles are granted by the monarch and are not hereditary.

Sovereign

See main article: Monarch and Sovereign.

Common titles for European, Latin American, and Asian monarchs

Many titles listed may also be used by lesser nobles – non-sovereigns – depending on the historical period and state. The sovereign titles listed below are grouped together into categories roughly according to their degree of dignity; these being: imperial (Emperor/Empress, etc.), royal (King/Queen, Grand Duke, etc.), others (sovereign Prince, sovereign Duke, etc.), and religious.

Imperial titles
Royal titles
Princely, ducal, and other sovereign titles
Tribal titles
Religious titles
Dual titles

Other sovereigns, royalty, peers, and major nobility

See main article: Royal family, Peerage, Nobility and Imperial immediacy.

Several ranks were widely used (for more than a thousand years in Europe alone) for both sovereign rulers and non-sovereigns. Additional knowledge about the territory and historic period is required to know whether the rank holder was a sovereign or non-sovereign. However, joint precedence among rank holders often greatly depended on whether a rank holder was sovereign, whether of the same rank or not. This situation was most widely exemplified by the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in Europe. Several of the following ranks were commonly both sovereign and non-sovereign within the HRE. Outside of the HRE, the most common sovereign rank of these below was that of Prince. Within the HRE, those holding the following ranks who were also sovereigns had (enjoyed) what was known as an immediate relationship with the Emperor. Those holding non-sovereign ranks held only a mediate relationship (meaning that the civil hierarchy upwards was mediated by one or more intermediaries between the rank holder and the Emperor).

Titles

A regent (from Latin regens: ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state pro tempore (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, or the throne is vacant and the new monarch has not yet been determined. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency. A regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title granted to a monarch's most trusted advisor or personal assistant. If the regent is holding their position due to their position in the line of succession, the compound term prince regent is often used; if the regent of a minor is their mother, she would be referred to as queen regent.

Minor nobility, landed gentry, and other aristocracy

See main article: Aristocracy (class) and Landed gentry.

The distinction between the ranks of the major nobility (listed above) and the minor nobility, listed here, was not always a sharp one in all nations. But the precedence of the ranks of a Baronet or a Knight is quite generally accepted for where this distinction exists for most nations. Here the rank of Baronet (ranking above a Knight) is taken as the highest rank among the ranks of the minor nobility or landed gentry that are listed below.

Titles

In Germany, the constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919 ceased to accord privileges to members of dynastic and noble families. Their titles henceforth became legal parts of the family name, and traditional forms of address (e.g., "Hoheit" or "Durchlaucht") ceased to be accorded to them by governmental entities. The last title was conferred on 12 November 1918 to Kurt von Kleefeld. The actual rank of a title-holder in Germany depended not only on the nominal rank of the title, but also the degree of sovereignty exercised, the rank of the title-holder's suzerain, and the length of time the family possessed its status within the nobility (Uradel, Briefadel, altfürstliche, neufürstliche, see: German nobility). Thus, any reigning sovereign ranks higher than any deposed or mediatized sovereign (e.g., the Fürst of Waldeck, sovereign until 1918, was higher than the Duke of Arenberg, head of a mediatized family, although Herzog is nominally a higher title than Fürst). However, former holders of higher titles in extant monarchies retained their relative rank, i.e., a queen dowager of Belgium outranks the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein. Members of a formerly sovereign or mediatized house rank higher than the nobility. Among the nobility, those whose titles derive from the Holy Roman Empire rank higher than the holder of an equivalent title granted by one of the German monarchs after 1806.

In Austria, nobility titles may no longer be used since 1918.[35]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.infoplease.com/whos-who-monarchy
  2. Book: Hägerdal, Hans . Lords of the Land, Lords of the Sea: Conflict and Adaptation in Early Colonial Timor, 1600-1800 . 2012-01-01 . BRILL . 978-90-04-25350-6 . en. 68.
  3. Lockhart (2001, p.238); Schroeder (2007, p.3). See also the entry for "TLAHTOANI", in Wimmer (2006)
  4. The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Vaman Shivaram Apte
  5. Book: Thapar, Romila . Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 . 366. 2004 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-24225-8 . en. The unobtrusive titles used by the early Chola kings were replaced with high-sounding ones, such as chakravartigal (emperor, the equivalent of the northern chakravartin)..
  6. Schroeder (2007, pp.3–4). See also the entry for "CIHUATLAHTOANI" in Wimmer (2006).
  7. Book: Harriet Crawford. Harriet Crawford. The Sumerian World . 29 August 2013 . Routledge . 978-1-136-21912-2 . 283 .
  8. Book: Rowe . Ann Pollard . Costume and History in Highland Ecuador . Meisch . Lynn A. . 2012-10-03 . University of Texas Press . 978-0-292-74985-6 . 70 . en.
  9. Meyers Taschenlexikon Geschichte 1982, vol 1, p21-22
  10. Book: Esad Kurtović . Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača . 2009 . Institut za istoriju . 978-9958-649-01-1 . Book 4 of Historijske monografije . Sarajevo . 159, 233, 409 . bs . Esad Kurtović . 4 March 2021.
  11. Sulejmanagić . Amer . 30 November 2012 . Novac Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića . Coins minted by Duke Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića . Numizmatičke Vijesti . sh . 54 . 65 . 54–85 . 0546-9422 . 8 May 2020.
  12. Web site: Vatroslav Jagić . Lajos Thalloczy . Franz Wickhoff . 1899 . Missale Glagoliticum Hervoiae ducis Spalatensis . 10 May 2020 . archive.org . Latin . Vatroslav Jagić . Lajos Thalloczy . Franz Wickhoff.
  13. Book: Miller . William . Essays on the Latin Orient . 2014 . Cambridge University Press . 9781107455535 . 481 . en . 16 February 2019.
  14. Book: Preveden . Francis Ralph . A history of the Croatian people from their arrival on the shores of the Adriatic to the present day: with some account of the Gothic, Roman, Greek, Illyrian, and prehistoric periods of the ancient Illyricum and Pannonia . 1962 . Philosophical Library . 98,99,100 . en . 16 February 2019.
  15. Book: Zlatar . Zdenko . The Poetics of Slavdom: The Mythopoeic Foundations of Yugoslavia . 2007 . Peter Lang . 9780820481357 . 544 . en . 16 February 2019.
  16. Cvetković . Branislav . 19 December 2014 . The Header to the Ten Commandments in the Hval Codex: a Contribution to the Semantics of Medieval Illumination . Ars Adriatica . hr, en . hrcak.srce.hr . 4 . 155–172 . 10.15291/ars.493 . 16 February 2019 . free.
  17. Book: Kurtović . Esad . Veliki vojvoda bosanski Sandalj Hranić Kosača . 2009 . Institut za istoriju Sarajevo . 978-9958-649-01-1 . Historijske monografije; knj. 4 . Bosnian . .pdf . 10 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305184319/http://www.iis.unsa.ba/pdf/kurtovic_sandalj_hranic_kosaca.pdf . 5 March 2016 . dead.
  18. Book: Fine . John Van Antwerp . The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest . 1994 . University of Michigan Press.
  19. Meyers Taschenlexikon Geschichte 1982, vol 2, p. 106.
  20. Esta institucion (Cabecería de Barangay), mucho más antigua que la sujecion de las islas al Gobierno, ha merecido siempre las mayores atencion. En un principio eran las cabecerías hereditarias, y constituian la verdadera hidalguía del país; mas del dia, si bien en algunas provincias todavía se tramiten por sucesion hereditaria, las hay tambien eleccion, particularmente en las provincias más inmediatas á Manila, en donde han perdido su prestigio y son una verdadera carga. En las provincias distantes todavía se hacen respetar, y allí es precisamente en donde la autoridad tiene ménos que hacer, y el órden se conserva sin necesidad de medidas coercitivas; porque todavía existe en ellas el gobierno patriarcal, por el gran respeto que la plebe conserva aún á lo que llaman aquí principalía. (Translation: This institution (Cabecera de Barangay), much older than the fastening of the islands to the Government, has always deserved the most attention. In the beginning, they were the hereditary heads, and they constituted the true chivalry of the country; but of the day, although in some provinces they are still transacted by hereditary succession, there are also elections, particularly in the provinces closest to Manila, where they have lost their prestige and are a real burden. In the distant provinces they are still enforced, and that is precisely where authority has less to do, and the order is preserved without the need for coercive measures; because the patriarchal government still exists in them, because of the great respect that the plebs still retain for what they call here principalía.FERRANDO.) FERRANDO, Fr Juan & FONSECA OSA, Fr Joaquin (1870–1872). Historia de los PP. Dominicos en las Islas Filipinas y en las Misiones del Japon, China, Tung-kin y Formosa (Vol. 1 of 6 vols) (in Spanish). Madrid: Imprenta y esteriotipia de M Rivadeneyra. OCLC 9362749.
  21. L'institution des chefs de barangay a été empruntée aux Indiens chez qui on la trouvée établie lors de la conquête des Philippines; ils formaient, à cette époque une espèce de noblesse héréditaire. L'hérédité leur a été conservée aujourd hui: quand une de ces places devient vacante, la nomination du successeur est faite par le surintendant des finances dans les pueblos qui environment la capitale, et, dans les provinces éloignées, par l'alcalde, sur la proposition du gobernadorcillo et la présentation des autres membres du barangay; il en est de même pour les nouvelles créations que nécessite de temps à autre l'augmentation de la population. Le cabeza, sa femme et l'aîné de ses enfants sont exempts du tributo. MALLAT de BASSILAU, Jean (1846). Les Philippines: Histoire, géographie, moeurs. Agriculture, industrie et commerce des Colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie (2 vols) (in French). Paris: Arthus Bertrand Éd. . OCLC 23424678, p. 356.
  22. Zetterstéen (1986), p. 446
  23. Pena Granha, A. (2007): "Galicia, cuna de los celtas de la Europa Atlántica", in Anuario Brigantino, no. 30, pp. 57-88.
  24. Book: Bassie-Sweet, Karen . Maya Gods of War . 2021-06-01 . University Press of Colorado . 978-1-64642-132-9 . en. 4.
  25. https://books.google.com/books?id=pySCGvdyYLIC&dq=indian+epigraphical+pillai+prince&pg=PA166 Indian Epigraphical Dictionary, page 166
  26. Book: Cengage Advantage Books: World History. Upshur. Jiu-Hwa. Terry. Janice. Holoka. Jim. Goff. Richard. Cassar. George H.. I. 2011 . 329 . 9781111345167 . Wadsworth Publishing Co. Inc. . California .
  27. Meyers Taschenlexikon Geschichte 1982, vol 1, p. 22 & vol 2, p. 198.
  28. Book: Szilágyi, László. Székely Primor Családok. 1938. Budapest. 17.
  29. Book: Gerő, József. A M. Kir. Belügyminiszter által igazolt nemesek 1867–1937. Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kingdom of Hungary. 1938. Budapest. 5–30.
  30. "Esta institucion (Cabecería de Barangay), mucho más antigua que la sujecion de las islas al Gobierno, ha merecido siempre las mayores atencion. En un principio eran las cabecerías hereditarias, y constituian la verdadera hidalguía del país; mas del dia, si bien en algunas provincias todavía se tramiten por sucesion hereditaria, las hay tambien eleccion, particularmente en las provincias más inmediatas á Manila, en donde han perdido su prestigio y su una verdadera carga. En las provincias distantes todavía se hacen respetar, y allí es precisamente en donde la autoridad tiene ménos que hacer, y el órden se conserva sin necesidad de medidas coercitivas; porque todavía existe en ellas el gobierno patriarcal, por el gran respeto que la plebe conserva aún á lo que llaman aquí principalía." FERRANDO, Fr Juan & FONSECA OSA, Fr Joaquin (1870–1872). Historia de los PP. Dominicos en las Islas Filipinas y en las Misiones del Japon, China, Tung-kin y Formosa, (Vol. 1 of 6 vols, in Spanish). Madrid: Imprenta y esteriotipia de M Rivadeneyra, p. 61.
  31. Durante la dominación española, el cacique, jefe de un barangay, ejercía funciones judiciales y administrativas. A los tres años tenía el tratamiento de don y se reconocía capacidad para ser gobernadorcillo, con facultades para nombrarse un auxiliar llamado primogenito, siendo hereditario el cargo de jefe. Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana. VII. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S.A. 1921, p. 624.
  32. Ruling of the Court of the Lord Lyon (26 February 1948, Vol. IV, page 26): "With regard to the words 'untitled nobility' employed in certain recent birthbrieves in relation to the (Minor) Baronage of Scotland, Finds and Declares that the (Minor) Barons of Scotland are, and have been both in this nobiliary Court and in the Court of Session recognised as a 'titled nobility' and that the estait of the Baronage (i.e. Barones Minores) are of the ancient Feudal Nobility of Scotland".
  33. Dodd, Charles R. (1843) A manual of dignities, privilege, and precedence: including lists of the great public functionaries, from the revolution to the present time, London: Whittaker & Co., pp.248,251 https://archive.org/details/manualofdignitie00dodc
  34. Book: Larence, Sir James Henry . The nobility of the British Gentry or the political ranks and dignities of the British Empire compared with those on the continent . 2nd . London . T.Hookham – Simpkin and Marshall . 1827 . first published 1824 . 2013-01-06 . 17 January 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230117102115/https://books.google.com/books?id=k04RAQAAIAAJ . live .
  35. Web site: RIS Dokument . bka.gv.at . 23 April 2009 . 27 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110527060220/http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/Bundesnormen/NOR12000691/NOR12000691.html . live .