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Landgrave (German:Landgraf,Dutch:landgraaf,Swedish:lantgreve,French:landgrave;Latin:comes magnus,comes patriae,comes provinciae,comes terrae,comes principalis,lantgravius) was arank of nobility used in theHoly Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles ofLandgraf,Markgraf ("margrave"), andPfalzgraf ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate toHerzog ("duke"), and superior toGraf ("count").
TheEnglish wordlandgrave is the equivalent of theGermanLandgraf, fromLand 'land' andGraf 'count'.
A landgrave was originally acount who possessedimperial immediacy, that is, a feudal duty owed directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. His jurisdiction stretched over a sometimes quite considerable territory, which was not subservient to an intermediate power, such as aduke, abishop orcount palatine. The title originated within theHoly Roman Empire, and was first recorded inLower Lotharingia in 1086:Henry III, Count of Louvain, landgrave ofBrabant. By definition, a landgrave exercised sovereign rights. His decision-making power was comparable to that of a Duke.
Landgrave occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such noblemen as the Grand Duke ofSaxe-Weimar, who functioned as theLandgrave ofThuringia in the first decade of the 20th century, but the title fell into disuse afterWorld War II.
The jurisdiction of a landgrave was alandgraviate (German:Landgrafschaft), and the wife of a landgrave or a female landgrave was known as alandgravine (from the GermanLandgräfin,Gräfin being the feminine form ofGraf).
The term was also used inthe Carolinas (what is now North and South Carolina in the United States) during British rule. A "landgrave" was "a county nobleman in the British, privately held North American colony Carolina, ranking just below the proprietary (chartered equivalent of a royal vassal)."[1][2]
Examples include:
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The dictionary definition oflandgrave at Wiktionary