 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Part ofa series on |
| Imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks in Europe |
|---|
.svg) |
Acount palatine (Latincomes palatinus), alsocount of the palace orpalsgrave (fromGermanPfalzgraf), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ordinarycount. The title originated in theLate Roman Empire. In theMiddle Ages especially and into modern times, it is associated with theHoly Roman Empire,[1] especiallyElectoral Palatinate.
The office, jurisdiction or territory of a count palatine was acounty palatine orpalatinate. In England the formsearl palatine andpalatine earldom are rare alternative terms.[1]
This Latin title is the original, but is also pre-feudal: it originated as Romancomes, which was a non-hereditary court title of high rank meaning "companion" and connoting the status of peer, the specific partpalatinus being the adjective derived frompalatium ('palace').
After the fall of Rome, a new feudal type of title, also known simply aspalatinus, started developing. TheFrankish kings of theMerovingian dynasty (reigned 480–750) employed a high official, thecomes palatinus, who at first assisted the king in his judicial duties and at a later date discharged many of these himself. Other counts palatine were employed on military and administrative work.[2]
In theVisigothic Kingdom, theOfficium Palatinum consisted of a number of men with the title of count who managed the various departments of the royal household. TheComes Cubiculariorum oversaw thechamberlains, theComes Scanciorum directed the cup-bearers, theComes Stabulorum directed the equerries in charge of the stables, etc. TheOstrogothic Kingdom also maintained palatine counts with titles such asComes Patrimonium, who was in charge of the patrimonial or private real estate of the king, and others.
The system was maintained by theCarolingian sovereigns (reigned 751–987), who increased the power of counts palatine through successive grants of authority. A Frankishcapitulary of 882 andHincmar, archbishop of Reims, writing about the same time, attest to the extent to which the judicial work of the Frankish Empire had passed into the hands of counts palatine.[2]
Instead of remaining near the person of the king, some of the counts palatine were sent to various parts of his empire to act as judges and governors, the districts ruled by them being called palatinates. Being in a special sense the representatives of the sovereign, they were entrusted with more extended power than the ordinary counts. In this way came about the later and more general use of the word "palatine", its application as an adjective to persons entrusted with special powers—but also to the districts over which these powers were exercised.[2]
By the High Middle Ages, the title "count" had become increasingly common, to the point that both great magnates who ruled regions that were the size of duchies, and local castle-lords, might style themselves "count." As the great magnates began to centralize their power over their local castle-lords, they felt the need to assert the difference between themselves and these minor "counts". Therefore, several of these great magnates began styling themselves "Count palatine", signifying great counts ruling regions equivalent to duchies, such as theCounts Palatine of Champagne in the 13th century. See alsoRoyal Administration of Merovingian and Carolingian Dynasties.
In earlymedieval Poland, thePalatinus was next in rank to the King. As he is also the chief commander of the King's army the rank is merged withWojewoda, with the latter replacing the title of Palatine. During theFragmentation of Poland each Prince would have his ownvoivode. When some of these Principalities were reunited into the Kingdom of Poland, the Palatines wereinfeudated with them, as there was no longer a local Prince to rule on behalf of the King to whom all these princely titles returned. The Principalities are thus made Voivodships (sometimes translated as Palatinates). In thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth theVoivodes sit in the Senate. Throughout its history, the dignity remained non-hereditary, or semi-hereditary. Todayvoivodes are government officials.
As successor to theByzantine emperor after the fall ofConstantinople in 1453, theOttoman sultan also claimed the right to bestow the office. ThusGiovanni Bellini was namedComes palatinus by EmperorFrederick III in 1469 and later again in 1481 by SultanMehmet II.
Grand Čelnik (велики челник).[3] The Grand Čelnik was the highest court title of theSerbian Despotate, and the title-holders held great provinces, property, and honours, andRadič (fl. 1413–1441) was one of the most powerful ones.[4]Hungary in the Middle Ages:nádorispán ornádor (seePalatine of Hungary)
The termcount palatine was not used in theUnited Kingdom. Just ascount always remained reserved for continental territories, even though the equivalence of earl became clear by rendering it in Latin also ascomes,earl palatine was the exclusively British title for the incumbent of a Britishcounty palatine.
KingLothar of France (954–986) gaveHerbert III of Omois, one of his most loyal supporters in the struggle against the Robertians, the title of Count palatine.[5] The title was later inherited by his nephews, precursors of the Counts ofChampagne. The title of Count of the palace is therefore linked to the title of Count of Champagne until its extiction in 1305.
Pfalzgraf (Old High Germanphalanzgrāvo) is theGerman equivalent of the title,Graf being the German term for "count" or "earl", andPfalz being the German reflex of Latinpalatium. The German title has also been rendered aspalsgrave in English (recorded 1548).
Counts Palatine were the permanent representatives of theFrankish king, later of theHoly Roman Emperor, in apalatial domain of the crown. There were dozens of these royalPfalzen throughout the early Empire, and the emperor would travel between them, as there was no imperial capital.
In the empire, the word count palatine was also used to designate the officials who assisted the emperor in exercising the rights which were reserved for his personal consideration,[2] like grantingarms. They were called Imperial counts palatine (in Latincomites palatini caesarii, orcomites sacri palatii; in German,Hofpfalzgrafen). Both the Latin form(Comes) palatinus and the French(comte) palatin have been used as part of the full title of the Dukes of Burgundy (a branch of the French royal dynasty) to render their rare German titleFreigraf, which was the style of a (later lost) bordering principality, theallodial County of Burgundy (Freigrafschaft Burgund in German), which came to be known asFranche-Comté.
During the 11th century, some imperial palatine counts became a valuable political counterweight against the mighty duchies. Surviving old palatine counties were turned into new institutional pillars through which the imperial authority could be exercised. By the reigns ofHenry the Fowler and especially ofOtto the Great,comites palatini were sent into all parts of the country to support the royal authority by checking the independent tendencies of the great tribal dukes[how?]. Apparent thereafter was the existence of a count palatine in Saxony, and of others in Lorraine, in Bavaria and in Swabia, their duties being to administer the royal estates in these duchies.[2]
Next to the Dukes ofLotharingia,Bavaria,Swabia andSaxony, who had become dangerously powerful feudal princes, loyal supporters of the German Emperor were installed as counts palatine.
The Lotharingian palatines out of theEzzonian dynasty were important commanders of the imperial army and were often employed during internal and external conflicts (e.g. to suppress rebelling counts or dukes, to settle frontier disputes with the Hungarian and the French kingdom and to lead imperial campaigns).
Although a palatinate could belong for decades to one dynasty, the office of the palatine counts became hereditary only during the 12th century. During the 11th century the palatinates were still regarded asbeneficia, non-hereditary fiefs. The count palatine in Bavaria, an office held by the family of Wittelsbach, becameduke of this land, the lower comital title being then merged into the higher ducal one.[2] The Count Palatine of Lotharingia changed his name toCount Palatine of the Rhine in 1085, alone remaining independent until 1777. The office having become hereditary, Pfalzgrafen were in existence until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.[2] The palatinate of Saxony merged with the Electoral Duchy of Saxony. The Palatinate of the Rhine became an electorate, and both wereImperial Vicars.
Originally, the Counts Palatine held the County Palatine (aroundRegensburg), and were subordinate to theDukes of Bavaria, rather than to the king. The position gave its holder a leading position in the legal system of the Duchy.
From 985, theEzzonids held the title:
The County Palatine of Lotharingia was suspended by the Emperor. Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde, Herman II's widow, remarried toHenry of Laach. About 1087 he was assigned in the newly created office ofCount Palatine of the Rhine.
In 1085, after the death of Herman II, the County Palatine of Lotharingia lost its military importance in Lorraine. The territorial authority of the Count Palatine was reduced to his territories along the Rhine. Consequently, he is called theCount Palatine of the Rhine after 1085.
TheGolden Bull of 1356 made the Count Palatine of the Rhine one of the sevenelectors. He was therefore known as theElector Palatine.
In the 10th century theEmperor Otto I created theCounty Palatine of Saxony in theSaale-Unstrut area of southern Saxony. The honour was initially held by a Count ofHessengau, then from the early 11th century by the Counts ofGoseck, later by the Counts of Sommerschenburg, and still later by the Landgraves ofThuringia:
After Henry Raspe's death, the County Palatine of Saxony and the Landgraviate of Thuringia were given to theHouse of Wettin, based on a promise made by Emperor Frederick II:
KingRudolph I of Germany gave the County Palatine of Saxony to theHouse of Welf:
After 1146, the title went to theCounts Palatine of Tübingen.
In 1169, EmperorFrederick I created theFree County of Burgundy (not to be confused with its western neighbour, theDuchy of Burgundy). The Counts of Burgundy had the title of Free Count (German:Freigraf), but are sometimes called Counts Palatine.
Apapal count palatine (Comes palatinus lateranus, properlyComes sacri Lateranensis palatii "Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran"[6]) began to be conferred by thepope in the 16th century. This title was merely honorary and by the 18th century had come to be conferred so widely as to be nearly without consequence.
TheOrder of the Golden Spur began to be associated with the inheritablepatent of nobility in the form of count palatinate during theRenaissance;Emperor Frederick III namedBaldo Bartolini, professor of civil law at theUniversity of Perugia, a count palatinate in 1469, entitled in turn to conferuniversity degrees.[7]
PopeLeo X designated all of the secretaries of thepapal curiaComites aulae Lateranensis ("Counts of the Lateran court") in 1514 and bestowed upon them the rights similar to animperial count palatine.[citation needed] In some cases the title was conferred by specially empoweredpapal legates. If an imperial count palatine possessed both an imperial and the papal appointment, he bore the title of "Comes palatine imperiali Papali et auctoritate" (Count palatine by Imperial and Papal authority).
The Order of the Golden Spur, linked with the title of count palatinate, was widely conferred after theSack of Rome, 1527, byCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor; the text of surviving diplomas conferred hereditary nobility to the recipients. Among the recipients wasTitian (1533), who had painted an equestrian portrait of Charles.[8] Close on the heels of the Emperor's death in 1558, its refounding in Papal hands is attributed toPope Pius IV in 1559.[9]Benedict XIV (In Supremo Militantis Ecclesiæ, 1746) granted to theKnights of the Holy Sepulchre the right to use the title of Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran.[10]
By the mid-18th century the Order of the Golden Spur was being so indiscriminately bestowed thatCasanova remarked "The Order they call the Golden Spur was so disparaged that people irritated me greatly when they asked me the details of my cross;"[11]
The Order was granted to "those in the pontifical government, artists, and others, whom the pope should think deserving of reward. It is likewise given to strangers, no other condition being required, but that of professing the catholic religion."[12]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Holland, Arthur William (1911). "Palatine". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 595–596.Authority control databases: National |
|---|
