 TheAlmanach de Gotha book, published in 1851 | |
| Country | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (original) United Kingdom (current) |
|---|---|
| Language | French, German (original), English (current) |
| Genre | Nobility, heraldry, genealogy |
| Publisher | J. C. Dieterich C. W. Ettinger C. G. Ettinger Justus Perthes Almanach de Gotha |
| Published | 1763–1944 1998– |
| Published in English | 1998– |
| Media type | |
| Website | Official website |
TheAlmanach de Gotha (German:Gothaischer Hofkalender,pronounced[ˈɡoːtaɪʃɐˈhoːfkaˌlɛndɐ]) is a directory of Europe'sroyalty and highernobility, also including the majorgovernmental,military anddiplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published in 1763 byCarl Wilhelm Ettinger [de] inGotha inThuringia, Germany at theducalcourt ofFrederick III, Duke ofSaxe-Gotha-Altenburg, it came to be regarded as an authority in the classification of monarchies and their courts, reigning and former dynasties, princely and ducal families, and the genealogical, biographical and titulary details of Europe's highest level of aristocracy. It was published annually from 1785 until 1944 byJustus Perthes Publishing House in Gotha.
In 1992, the family of Justus Perthes re-established its right to use the nameAlmanach de Gotha. In 1998, a London-based publisher, John Kennedy, acquired the rights for use of the title ofAlmanach de Gotha from Justus Perthes Verlag Gotha GmbH, then a fully owned subsidiary of Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag GmbH, Stuttgart. The last edition produced by Justus Perthes was the 181st, produced in 1944. After a gap of 54 years the first of the new editions (the 182nd) was published in 1998 with English, the new diplomatic language, used as thelingua franca in the place of French or German.[1] Perthes regards the resultant volumes as new works, and not as a continuation of the editions which Perthes had published from 1785 to 1944.[2] Two volumes have been printed since 1998, with Volume I containing lists of the sovereign, formerly sovereign andmediatised houses of Europe, and a diplomatic and statistical directory; and Volume II containing lists of the non-sovereign princely and ducal houses of Europe.
The originalAlmanach de Gotha provided detailed facts and statistics on nations of the world, including theirreigning and formerly reigning houses, those of Europe being more complete than those of other continents. It also named the highest incumbentofficers of state, members of thediplomatic corps, and Europe's upper nobility with their families. At its most extensive theAlmanach had more than 1200 pages, fewer than half of which were dedicated to monarchical or aristocratic data.[3] It acquired a reputation for the breadth and precision of its information on royalty and nobility compared to otheralmanacs.[4]
TheAlmanach's publication byJustus Perthes began at the ducal court ofSaxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany. The almanac listed the reigning dynasty of that court first well into the 19th century, usually followed by kindred sovereigns of theHouse of Wettin and then, in alphabetical order, other families of princely rank, reigning and non-reigning. Although always published in French, other almanacs in French and English were more widely sold internationally. The almanac's structure changed and its scope expanded over the years. The second portion, called theAnnuaire diplomatique et statistique ("Diplomatic and Statistical Yearbook"), provideddemographic and governmental information by nation, similar to otheralmanacs. Its first portion, called theAnnuaire généalogique ("Genealogical Yearbook"), came to consist essentially of three sections: reigning and formerly reigning families,mediatized families and non-sovereign families at least one of whose members bore the title ofprince orduke.[4]
The first section always listed Europe'ssovereign houses, whether they reigned as emperor, king, grand duke, duke, prince, or some other title such asprince elector,margrave,landgrave,count palatine orpope. Until 1810 these sovereign houses were listed alongside such families and entities asBarbiano-Belgiojoso,Clary-Aldringen,Colloredo-Mansfeld,Fürstenberg, theEmperor,Genoa,Gonzaga,Hatzfeldt,Jablonowski,Kinsky,Ligne,Paar,Radziwill,Starhemberg,Thurn and Taxis,Turkey,Venice, theOrder of Malta and theTeutonic Knights. In 1812, these entries began to be listed in groups:[4] first were German sovereigns who held the rank of grand duke or prince elector and above (the Duke of Saxe-Gotha was, however, listed here along with, but before, France—see below).
Listed next were Germany's reigning ducal and princely dynasties under the heading "College of Princes", e.g.Hohenzollern,Isenburg,Leyen,Liechtenstein and the otherSaxon duchies. They were followed by heads of non-German monarchies, such asAustria,Brazil, andGreat Britain. Fourth were listed non-reigning dukes and princes, whether mediatized or not, includingLa Rochefoucauld (includingDominique and his son Gabriel),Arenberg,Croy,Fürstenberg alongsideBatthyany,Jablonowski,Sulkowski,Porcia andBenevento.
In 1841 a third section was added to those of the sovereign dynasties and the non-reigning princely and ducal families. It was composed exclusively of themediatised houses ofcomital rank recognized by the various states of theGerman Confederation as belonging, since 1825, to the same historical category and sharing some of the same privileges as reigning dynasties because they previously held the rank of rulingPrinces of the Holy Roman Empire; these families were German with a few exceptions (e.g.Bentinck,Rechteren-Limpurg). The 1815 treaty of theCongress of Vienna had authorized – and Article 14 of the German Confederation'sBundesakt (charter) recognized – retention from theGerman Imperial regime ofequality of birth for marital purposes of mediatized families (calledStandesherren) to reigning dynasties.[4] In 1877, the mediatized comital families were moved from section III to section II A, where they joined the princely mediatized families.
In the third section were members of such non-reigning but historically notable princely or ducal families such asRohan,Orsini,Ursel,Norfolk,Czartoryski,Galitzine,La Rochefoucauld,Kinsky,Radziwill,Merode,Dohna andAlba.
Otherdeposed European dynasties (e.g.Arenberg,Biron,Dadiani,Boncompagni-Ludovisi,Giray,Murat) did not benefit from a similar interpretation of their historical status in the almanac. Many princely or ducal families were listed only in its third, non-dynastic section or were excluded altogether, evoking criticism in the 20th century from such genealogists asJean-Engelbert, Duke d'Arenberg,William Addams Reitwiesner andCyril Toumanoff[5][6] the latter commenting that the changes displayed "pan-German triumphalism"[7]
Even in the early 19th century there were objections to the almanac's retention ofdeposed dynasties, although not necessarily the desired changes. The elected EmperorNapoleon protested in writing to his foreign minister,Champagny:
"Monsieur de Champagny, this year's "Almanach de Gotha" is badly done. First comes the Comte de Lille [title used in exile by the future KingLouis XVIII], followed by all the princes of theConfederation as if no change has been made in the constitution of Germany; the family of France is named inappropriately therein. Summon the Minister of Gotha, who is to be made to understand that in the next Almanach all of this is to be changed. The House of France must be referred to as in the [French] Imperial Almanac; there must be no further mention of the Comte de Lille, nor of any German prince other than those retained by the Articles of Confederation of the Rhine. You are to insist that the article be transmitted to you prior to publication. If other almanacs are printed in my allies' realms with inappropriate references to the Bourbons and the House of France, instruct my ministers to make it known that you have taken note, and that this is to be changed by next year."[8]
The response of the publishers was to humour Napoleon by producing two editions: one for France, with the recently ennobled, and another which included dynasties deposed since abolition of theHoly Roman Empire. A merged version, whose first section (Princely houses) included recently reigning dynasties but also the titulature of families that lost sovereignty after the fall of Napoleon in 1815, remained in publication asGothaischer Hofkalender (Gothaic court calendar). The almanac was published in a German and a French edition asGothaischer Hofkalender andAlmanach de Gotha.
In 1887 theAlmanach began to include non-European dynasties in its first section, with the inclusion of one of the ruling families of India. Since 1824, thePrincely houses, i.e. ruling and princely families listed in the court calendar, have been divided into three groups: (1) current sovereigns and their houses, (2) other princely and ducal houses in Germany, France and Italy and (3) mediatized German houses characterized by equality with the ruling houses. After the founding of the newGerman Empire, from 1877 the mediatized German princes and counts, i.e. the formerly ruling houses of the Holy Roman Empire, were grouped together as section II in order to emphasize their significance in the Old Empire as well as their right of equality with the ruling houses in the German Confederation and the New Empire, while the (never ruling) German and foreign titular princes have been moved to section III.[9]
Thecourt calendar was later expanded to include the four series of volumes for the German and Austriancomital houses (i.e.,counts' families, since 1825), thebaronial houses (since 1848), the untitledUradel houses (since 1900) and the untitledBriefadel houses (since 1907). The series continued until 1944,[4] but in 1939 its titleGotha court calendar was changed toGothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch ("Gothan Genealogical Pocket Book"). This format has since been widely replicated in dynastic compilations (e.g.,Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels,Fürstliche Häuser,Burke's Royal Families of the World,Le Petit Gotha, Ruvigny's "Titled Nobility of Europe").
AfterSoviet troops enteredGotha in 1945, the city became part of CommunistEast Germany and the publisher ceased operations.
From 1951 to 2013, a different publisher,C.A. Starke ofLimburg,West Germany, published a multi-volume German-language publication entitled theGenealogisches Handbuch des Adels (GHdA) - (Genealogical Handbook of Nobility). Like its Gotha predecessor it was divided into subsets (Princely Houses,Comital Houses,Baronial Houses,Noble Houses); theFürstliche Häuser (Princely Houses) subset is largely equivalent to the German languageGothaischer Hofkalender and itsFürstliche Häuser volume which was published by Perthes, or sections 1, 2 and 3 of theAlmanach de Gotha. The book series produced several volumes of all sections each year, often containing new, first-time post-war entries, with the respective families being updated about once every 10 to 20 years. In 2013 the publisherStarke Verlag ceased to continue to publish new books in this series after a contract termination by the author.[10]
Instead theGothaisches Genealogisches Handbuch (GGH) − (Gothaic Genealogical Handbook) continues the annual publication of the substantially same content as GHdA since 2015.[11] Its subsetFürstliche Häuser (Princely Houses, the red volumes) continues with the publication of the genealogies of the European royal, princely and ducal houses, divided into the three sections as previously with Gotha and GHdA, but focuses on their current family members and refers to older volumes of the latter publications with regard to generations that are longer in the past. The publisher and editor of the new GGH publication is theVerlag des Deutschen Adelsarchivs (publishing company of theGerman Nobility Archive). This archive of theUnion of German nobility associations has always been the author of both GHdA and GGH.[12] In contentious questions, theGerman Nobility Rights Committee of this union decides.[13]
However, no single volume of theFürstliche Häuser of GHdA or GGH includesall the families of German and European royal, princely and ducal families that were annually included in theHofkalender orAlmanach de Gotha. Rather, they are recorded alternately in successive volumes. Therefore it is necessary to use multiple volumes to trace all of Europe's royal families. With regard to the current information, the archive works together with the respective family heads and is dependent on the cooperation and consent of the families for reasons ofinformation privacy.[14] Because of this required legwork, not that many princely and ducal houses of France, the UK, Italy and other countries are included, while the German ones, as well as the ruling and formerly ruling royal families of Europe are covered quite reliably.
In 1992 the family ofJustus Perthes re-established its right to the use of the nameAlmanach de Gotha. The companyJustus Perthes Verlag Gotha GmbH (a subsidiary ofErnst Klett Schulbuchverlag GmbH) then sold these rights in 1995 to a new company, Almanach de Gotha Limited, formed in London.[16] The new publisher launched the 182nd edition on 16 March 1998 atClaridge's Hotel.[17][18] It was written inEnglish instead ofFrench, as the editor felt that English was now the language of diplomacy.[19] Charlotte Pike served as editor of the 1998 edition only and John Kennedy as managing director and publisher. The new publishers also revived the Committee of Patrons under the presidency ofKing Juan Carlos I of Spain and chairmanship ofKing Michael I of Romania. Upon his death, King Michael was succeeded byAlbert II, Prince of Monaco.[20]
The London publisher produced a further four editions of volume I (1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004), based on the 1998 edition, which included Europe's and South America's reigning, formerly reigning, andmediatised princely houses, and a single edition of volume II in 2001 edited by John Kennedy and Ghislain Crassard, which included other non-sovereign princely and ducal houses of Europe.[21] A review inThe Economist criticised the low editorial standards and attacked volume II for a lack of genealogical accuracy.[22] A new edition of volume I was published in 2012 under the editorship of John James.[23] A review inThe Times Literary Supplement praised the 2012 volume I for a "punctilious itemisation of titles, lineage and heraldry [aiming] for scholarship rather than sensation ..."[24]Since 2022, Italian publisher Ettore Gallelli has published the Gotha Calendar in Italian.
As it was the practice of the diplomatic corps to employ official titles, to adhere to localprecedence and etiquette, and to tender congratulations and condolences to members of the dynasty of the nation to which they were assigned, the almanac included aCalendrier des Diplomates ("Diplomats' Calendar") section, which detailed major national holidays, anniversaries, ceremonies and royal birthdates.[3]
FollowingWorld War I and the fall of manyroyal houses, fewer regulatory authorities remained to authenticate the use of titles; however theAlmanach de Gotha continued the practice of strict verification of information, requesting certified copies ofletters patent, genealogies confirmed by competent authorities, documents, decrees and references for titles claimed.[3] Europe's middle and lower nobility (families whose principal title ranked below that of prince or duke — exceptmediatized families, listed in a section of their own) were not included in the almanac. Nor were thegrandees orducal families of Portugal and Spain (where titles, being transmissible through both male andfemale lines, were regularly inherited by descendants of non-patrilineal lineage). Families of some Italian and East European nations (e.g. Russia, Romania), where the princely title was claimed by many, were also incomplete. Yet the reigning, formerly reigning and noble families included in the almanac numbered in the hundreds by the time the almanac ceased publication in 1944.[3]
In 1890 the almanac renamed II A to section II, and II B to section III. Dynasties reigning over non-European nations were listed in section I B. Families which became extinct were listed for the final time in the year following the death of the last member, male or female, and subsequent editions referred readers to that volume.[3]
Families that ceased to be included for other reasons, such as lack of proof of a family's legitimate descendants or discovery that it did not hold a valid princely or ducal title, were omitted from then on, but added, along with dates of previous insertion, to a list after the last section of eachAnnuaire Genealogique (Genealogical Yearbook), which page was entitledListe des Maisons authrefois publiées dans la 3e partie de l'Almanach de Gotha ("List of Houses formerly published in the 3rd section of theAlmanach de Gotha.")[3]
From 1927, the almanac ceased to include all families in each year's edition, and instead rotated entries every few years. Where titles andstyles (such asSerene Highness) had ceased to be recognized by national governments (e.g. Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia), the almanac provided associated dates and details, but continued to attribute such titles and styles to individuals and families, consistent with its practice since theFrench Revolution; deposed sovereigns and dynasties continued to be accorded their former titles and rank, but dates of deposition were noted,[4] and titles exclusively associated with sovereignty (e.g. emperor, queen, grand duke, crown princess) were not accorded to those who had not borne them during the monarchy. Titles ofpretence below sovereign rank were accorded to members of formerly reigning dynasties as reported by heads of their houses, otherwise self-assumed titles were not used. The almanac included an explicit disclaimer announcing that known biographical details, such as birth dates and divorces, would not be suppressed.[3]
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)a valuable bibliography and index to the families which appeared in various editions of the Almanach de Gotha
