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Grand duke (feminine:grand duchess) is a Europeanhereditary title, used either by certainmonarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families. The title is used in some current and former independent monarchies in Europe, particularly:
The termgrand duke as a monarch reigning over an independent state was a later invention (in Western Europe at first in 1569 for the ruler ofTuscany) to denote either a particularly mighty duke or a monarchy playing an important political, military and/or economic role. It arose because the title ofduke had gradually lost status and precedence during theMiddle Ages by having been granted to rulers of relatively smallfiefs (feudal territories), instead of thelarge tribal regions or even national territories to which the title was once attached.
One of the first examples occurred when CountGonçalo I Mendes ofPortucale (in northwest Portugal and considered as that country's original nucleus) took, in 987, the personal title ofMagnus Dux Portucalensium ("Grand Duke of the Portuguese") and rebelled against his feudal lord, KingBermudo II of León. He was defeated by the royal armies but nevertheless obtained a remarkable autonomy as aMagnus Dux (Grand Duke), leading ultimately to Portuguese independence from the Spanish kingdom of Castille-León.
Another example was the line of self-proclaimed grand dukes (legally dukes)[citation needed] ofBurgundy in the 15th century, when they ruled most of present-day northeastern France as well as almost the entire Low Countries. They tried—ultimately without success—to create from these territories under their control a new unified country between the Kingdom of France in the west and the Holy Roman Empire (mainly present-day Germany) in the east.Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (reigned 1419–67) assumed the subsidiary, legally void style and title of "Grand Duke of the West" in 1435, having previously brought the duchies ofBrabant andLimburg as well as the counties of Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, Hainaut and Namur into his possession. His son and successorCharles the Bold (reigned 1467–77) continued to use the same style and title.
The titlemagnus dux or grand duke (Kunigų kunigas,Didysis kunigaikštisin Lithuanian) has been used by the rulers ofLithuania, who afterJogaila also became kings ofPoland. From 1573, both the Latin version and its Polish equivalentwielki książę (literally "grand prince"), the monarchic title of the rulers of Lithuania as well as of (western) Russia, Prussia, Mazovia, Samogithia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia and Chernigov (including hollow claims nurtured by ambition), were used as part of their full official monarchic titles by the Kings (Polish:król) of Poland during thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The first monarchs ever officially titled grand duke were theMedici sovereigns ofTuscany, starting from the late 16th century. This official title was granted byPope Pius V in 1569 toCosimo I de' Medici.[1]
Napoleon I awarded the title extensively: during his era, several of his allies (andde facto vassals) were allowed to assume the title of grand duke, usually at the same time as their inherited fiefs (or fiefs granted by Napoleon) were enlarged by annexed territories previously belonging to enemies defeated on the battlefield. After Napoleon's downfall, the victorious powers who met at theCongress of Vienna, which dealt with the political aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, agreed to abolish the Grand Duchies created by Bonaparte and to create a group of monarchies of intermediate importance with that title. Thus the 19th century saw a new group of monarchs titled grand duke in central Europe, especially in present-day Germany. The title was also used for the part of Poland granted toPrussia – theGrand Duchy of Posen – which was formally held in apersonal union with Prussia (and so nominally separate) untilits incorporation in 1848.
In the same century, the purely ceremonial version of the title grand duke in Russia (in fact the western translation of the Russian title "grand prince" granted to the siblings of thetsar) expanded massively because of the large number of progeny of the ruling House of Romanov during those decades.
In the German and Dutch languages, which have separate words for a prince as the issue (child) of a monarch (respectivelyPrinz,Prins) and for a sovereign prince (Fürst,Vorst), there is also a clear linguistic difference between a sovereign grand duke reigning over a state of central and western Europe (Großherzog,Groothertog) and a non-sovereign, purely ceremonial grand duke of either the Russian imperial family or other non-sovereign territories that arede facto dependencies of a major power (Großfürst,Grootvorst).
In 1582, KingJohn III of Sweden added "Grand Duke of Finland" to the subsidiary titles of the Swedish kings, but without any political consequences, asFinland was already apart of the Swedish realm.
After the Russian conquests, the title continued to be used by the Russian emperors in their role as rulers of both (de facto non-sovereign)Lithuania (1793–1917) and the (equally non-sovereign)autonomous Finland (1809–1917). TheHabsburg monarchy also instituted the similarly non-sovereignGroßfürstentum Siebenbürgen (Grand Principality of Transylvania) in 1765, and the (purely nominal)Großherzogtum Krakau (Grand Duchy of Kraków) in 1846.
The Latin titledux (the etymological root ofduke), which was phonetically rendereddoux (δούξ) in Greek, was a common title for imperial generals in the Late Roman Empires (west and east), but note it waslower in rank thancomes (the etymological root ofcount).
Under the latter, exclusively Byzantinetheme system, the commander of a theme was often styled adoux instead of the earlierstrategos from the 10th century on. The title of "Grand Duke" (megas doux) was created byAlexios I Komnenos and was conferred upon the commanding admiral of theByzantine navy. As such, it was an actual office rather than a court rank (although it also became a grade in the court order of precedence under thePalaiologan emperors), and was always held by one individual.
Grand Duke of Bosnia (Serbo-Croatian:Veliki Vojvoda Bosanski;Latin:Bosne supremus voivoda / Sicut supremus voivoda regni Bosniae)[2][3] was a court title in theKingdom of Bosnia, bestowed by the king to highest military commanders, usually reserved for most influential and most capable among highest Bosnian nobility.[4][5][6][7] To interpret it as an office post rather than a court rank could be even more accurate.[8][9] Unlike usage in Western Europe, Central Europe, or in various Slavic lands from Central to North-East Europe, where analogy betweengrand duke andgrand prince was significant, with both titles corresponding to sovereign lower than king but higher than duke. In Bosnia, the titlegrand duke corresponded more to the Byzantine military titlemegas doux.[9][10] It is possible to register some similarities with equivalent titles in neighboring Slavic lands, such as Serbia; however, in neighboring countries, the titleduke, in Slavicvojvoda, also had military significance, but in that sense "grand duke" was specifically, even exclusively, Bosnian title.[8]
"Grand duke" is the traditional translation of the titleVelyky Knyaz (Великий Князь), which from the 11th century was at first the title of the leadingprince (Kniaz) ofKievan Rus', then of several other East Slavic princes. The title ofGrand Duke of Kiev was usually given by a father to his eldest son, and with his death passed to the next oldest sibling. This system didn’t last very long, and in 12th century multiple northern princes of theRurikid Dynasty could compete for their dominance in Kiev. Some of them would prefer to establish themselves as grand dukes independently from Kiev.[11]
Another translation of this title would begrand prince. While this term is a more precise translation, it is neither standard nor widely used in English. In German, however, grand duke was known as aGroßfürst, and inLatin asmagnus princeps.
With the decline of Kiev under the Mongols in the 13th century,Danylo of Galicia would be crowned asking of Ruthenia to show succession between Kiev and Galicia, while keeping the title of Grand Duke of Kiev.[12] With the expansion of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania into Ukrainian lands, Lithuanian princes would take the title of Grand Dukes of Ruthenia, until their unification with Poland.[13]
Throughout thehistory of Lithuania from 1230s to 1795, most of its leaders were referred to asGrand Duke of Lithuania, even when they jointly held the titleKing of Poland and other titles.[14]
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From 1328 theVelikii Kniaz ofMuscovy appeared as the grand duke for "all of Russia" untilIvan IV of Russia in 1547 wascrowned astsar. 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.
From 1809 to 1917 the Emperor ofRussia was also theGrand Duke of Finland, which he held as an autonomous state. Before the Russian conquest Finland had been held by the Kings of Sweden, first as aroyal duchy, since 1581 with the King assuming the secondary title Grand Duke of Finland (Finnish:Suomen suuriruhtinas, Swedish:Storfurste av Finland).
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Grand princes (or sometimesgreat princes) were medieval monarchs who usually ruled over several tribes and/or were feudaloverlords of other princes. At the time, the title was usually translated as "king", sometimes also as "minor king" or "little king" (German:Kleinkönig).
Grand princes reigned in Central and Eastern Europe, notably among Slavs and Lithuanians.
The title "grand prince" translates tovelikiy knjaz (Великий князь) in Ukrainian and Russian. The Slavic wordknjaz and the Lithuaniankunigas (today translated as "priest") arecognates of the wordking in its original meaning of "ruler". Thus, the literal meaning ofVeliki Knjaz andDidysis kunigaikštis was more like "great ruler" than "grand duke".
With the growing importance and size of their countries, those monarchs claimed a higher title, such as king ortsar (also spelled "czar" in English) which was derived from the Latincaesar ("emperor") and based on the claim to be the legitimate successors of the Byzantine-East Roman Emperors. Grand PrinceIvan IV of Muscovy was the last monarch to reign without claiming any higher title, until he finally assumed the styleTsar of Russia in 1547.
The rulers of the Turkish vassal state of Transylvania (German:Siebenbürgen) used the title of grand prince; this title was later assumed by the Habsburgs after their conquest of Hungary. The Polish kings of the SwedishHouse of Vasa also used the grand-princely title for their non-Polish territories.
In the late Middle Ages, the title "grand prince/grand duke" became increasingly a purely ceremonial courtesy title for close relatives of ruling monarchs, such as the Tsar of Russia, who granted his brothers the titleGrand Duke of Russia (veliki knjaz).
Most often, a sovereign grand duke wasstyled as "Royal Highness" (abbreviated "HRH"), possibly because of the connection of many grand-ducal houses to royal ones or as the highest style beneath that of a king (sometimes styled "Royal Highness"). The heir to the throne (a hereditary grand duke) was sometimes styled as "Royal Highness", otherwise as "Grand Ducal Highness" (HGDH). Junior members of the family also generally bore the lower title of prince or princess with the style of "Grand Ducal Highness". However, in other grand duchies (e.g.,Oldenburg), junior members of the family bore the title of duke or duchess, with the style of "Highness" (HH).
TheGrand Ducal Family of Luxembourg styles all its members as "Royal Highness" since 1919, due to their being also cadet members of theRoyal and Ducal House of Bourbon-Parma as male-line descendants ofPrince Felix of Bourbon-Parma.
TheHabsburg grand dukes of Tuscany, being members of the imperial family of Austria, were styled as "Imperial and Royal Highness" (HI&RH).
Grand dukes and grand duchesses from Russia were styled as "Imperial Highness" (HIH), being members of theRussian Imperial Family.
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