Nobility

The nobility represents, or has represented, the highest stratum of a society that is ordered by class. Most societies in history have recognized an elite or noble class. Nobles typically command resources, such as food, money, or labor, from common members of their societies, and may exercise religious or political power over them.

A nobleman was bound to his liege by a sworn oath of allegiance. The liege could be the monarch or another noble, forming a hierarchy, usually with a king at the top. Some of the other strata of feudal society were priests, burghers (i.e. city inhabitant) and peasants (i.e. farmer).

Table of contents

1 Ranks 2 Titles of nobility 3 External links

Ranks

Traditional ranks among royalty, peers, and nobles are rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and between geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke), the following is a fairly comprehensive list that provides information on both general ranks and specific differences.

• Royal:
  • Emperor, rules¹ an empire
  • King, rules¹ a kingdom (kings of independent (sovereign) kingdoms are ranked above kings of imperial kingdoms)
  • (Arch Duke, successors to the imperial throne (used only by the Habsburgs in Austria))
  • Grand Duke, ruling¹ a grand duchy
• Princely:
  • electing Prince, Elector, Kurfürst in German, electing the Emperor
  • Duke, who rules¹ a duchy
  • sovereign Prince, Fürst in German, ruling¹ a Principality
  • Prince, Prinz in German, junior members of a royal or princely family
• Peers:²
  • Duke³
  • Marquess / Margrave, and the German Landgraf & Pfalzgraf, theoretically the ruler¹ of a margravate
  • Count / Earl, theoretically the ruler of a county
  • Viscount (vice-count) and Baron, in Britain the lowest rank of the peerage, had tax-exempted estates, and often official non-hereditary positions

1) Loss of sovereignty or fief does not necessarily lead to loss of title. The position in the ranking table is however accordingly adjusted. The occurrence of fiefs has changed from time to time, and from country to country. For instance, dukes in England rarely had a duchy to rule.

2) The term Peer is used in Britain, but the division could be argued to be of general value.

3) Dukes who are not actually or formerly sovereign, such as all British, French, and Spanish dukes, or who are not sons of sovereigns, as titulary dukes in many other countries, would not be considered to be of princely rank.

In Germany, the actual rank of the holder of a title is, however, dependent on not only the title as such, but on for instance the degree of sovereignty and on the rank of the lord of the title-holder. But also such matters as the age of the princely dynasty play a role (Uradel, Briefadel, altfürstliche, neufürstliche, see: German nobility).

Thus, any sovereign ruler would be higher than any formerly sovereign, i.e. mediatized, family of any rank (thus, the Fürst of Waldeck, sovereign until 1918, was higher than the Duke of Arenberg, mediatized). Members of a formerly sovereign house ranked higher than the regular nobility. Among the regular nobility, those whose titles derived from the Holy Roman Empire ranked higher than those whose titles were granted by one of the German princes after 1806, no matter what title was held.

Titles of nobility

English	French	Italian	Spanish	German	Norwegian	Swedish	Finnish	Russian
Duke	Duc	Duca	Duque	Herzog	Hertug	Hertig	Herttua3	князь	Kniaz4
Prince¹	Prince¹	Principe¹	Príncipe¹	Fürst	Furst3	Furste3	Ruhtinas3
Marquess	Marquis	Marchese	Marques	Markgraf²	Marki	Markis3	Markiisi3	Boyar4
Earl / Count	Comte	Conte	Conde	Graf	Greve	Greve	Kreivi
Viscount	Vicomte	Visconte	Vizconde		Visegreve
Baron	Baron			Freiherr	Baron	Friherre	Paroni
Baronet5
Knight5	Chevalier	Cavaliere	Caballero	Ritter	Ridder	Riddare3	Ritari
Notes: 1) Prince/principe can also be a royal title, Prinz in German, Prins in Swedish 2) In the German system by rank approximately equal to Landgraf and Pfalzgraf 3) Not in current domestic use. 4) For domestic Russian nobility only the two titles Kniaz and Boyar were used. 5) Not counted as nobility in the British system

See also: Graf, Peerage, British honours system, Royal and noble styles, aristocracy, Chinese noble, Korean nobility

External links

• European Noble, Princely, Royal, and Imperial Titles
• Feudal Hierarchy (scroll down)
• A Glossary of Titles in 35 Languages
• The German nobility