Duke

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Royal, noble and

chivalric ranks

Emperor

King

Archduke

Grand Duke

Grand Prince

Prince / Infante
Duke
Sovereign Prince / Frst
Marquess / Marquis /
Margrave / Landgrave
Count / Earl
Viscount / Vidame
Baron

Baronet

Hereditary Knight

Knight

Esquire
Gentleman

A duke (male) (British English: /djuk/[1] or American English: /duk/[2]) or duchess (female) can either be a
monarch ruling over a duchy or a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch.
The title comes from French duc, itself from the Latin dux, 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer
to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later
coming to mean the leading military commander of a province.
During the Middle Ages the title signified first among the Germanic monarchies. Dukes were the rulers of
the provinces and the superiors of the counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies, the highestranking peers of the king. A duke may or may not be, ipso facto, a member of the nation's peerage: in the
United Kingdom and Spain all dukes are/were also peers of the realm, in France some were and some were
not, while the term is not applicable to dukedoms of other nations, even where an institution similar to the
peerage (e.g., Grandeeship, Imperial Diet, Hungarian House of Magnates) existed.
During the 19th century many of the smaller German and Italian states were ruled by Dukes or Grand
Dukes. But at present, with the exception of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, there are no ruling dukes.
Duke remains the highest hereditary title (aside from titles borne by the reigning or formerly reigning
dynasty) in Portugal (though now a republic), Spain and the United Kingdom. In Sweden, members of the
Royal Family are given a personal dukedom at birth. The Pope, as a temporal sovereign, has also, though
rarely, granted the title of Duke or Duchess to persons for services to the Holy See. In some realms the
relative status of "duke" and "prince", as titles borne by the nobility rather than by members of reigning
dynasties, variede.g., in Italy and the Netherlands.
A woman who holds in her own right the title to such duchy or dukedom, or is the wife of a duke, is
normally styled duchess. Queen Elizabeth II, however, is known by tradition as Duke of Normandy in the
Channel Islands and Duke of Lancaster in Lancashire.

Contents

1 Duchy versus dukedom

2 Middle Ages
o 2.1 Albania
o 2.2 Visigoths
o 2.3 Lombards
o 2.4 Franks

2.4.1 Stem duchies

o 2.5 England

2.5.1 Anglo-Saxon times

2.5.2 Late medieval times

3 The modern age

4 Equivalents in other European languages

5 Royal dukes
o 5.1 United Kingdom
o 5.2 Belgium
o 5.3 Denmark
o 5.4 Iberian peninsula

5.4.1 Portugal

5.4.2 Spain

o 5.5 Nordic Europe

o 5.6 France and other former monarchies

6 France

7 Italy, Germany and Austria

8 Elsewhere in Europe
o 8.1 Hungary
o 8.2 Greece
o 8.3 Slavic countries
o 8.4 Netherlands

9 Post-colonial non-European states

o 9.1 Empire of Brazil
o 9.2 Haiti

10 Equivalents
o 10.1 India

o 10.2 China
o 10.3 Indonesia

11 See also

12 Notes

13 References

Duchy versus dukedom

A duchy is the territory or geopolitical entity ruled by a duke. The term implies a territorial domain, within
which the duke has actual subjects or significant land holdings, with respect to which the duke has or had
unique legal privileges, e.g., sovereignty or manorial rights or entitlement to certain duties or income from
residents (e.g., the corve), etc. A dukedom is the title or status of a duke, a rank in the present or past
nobility, and is not necessarily attached to a duchy. A few examples exist today: The Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg is a fully independent state and its head, the Grand Duke, is a sovereign monarch reigning over
his Luxembourgish subjects. The Duke of Cornwall holds both the dukedom (title) and duchy (estate
holdings), the latter being the source of his personal income; those living on the ducal estates are subjects of
the British sovereign and owe neither fealty nor services to the duke per se. In Scotland the male heir
apparent to the British crown is always the Duke of Rothesay as well, but this is a dukedom (title) without a
duchy. Similarly, the British monarch rules and owns the Duchy of Lancaster as Duke of Lancaster, but it is
held separately from the Crown, with the income of the duchy estates providing the Sovereign's Privy Purse.
The Channel Islands are two of the three remaining Crown Dependencies, the last vestiges of the lands of
the Duchy of Normandy. The Islanders in their loyal toast will say "La Reine, notre Duc" (The Queen, Our
Duke). Though the title was apparently renounced under the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the Crown still
maintains that the title is retained: "In 1106, William's youngest son Henry I seized the Duchy of Normandy
from his brother Robert; since that time, the English Sovereign has always held the title Duke of
Normandy," and that "By 1205, England had lost most of its French lands, including Normandy. However,
the Channel Islands, part of the lost Duchy, remained a self-governing possession of the English Crown.
While the islands today retain autonomy in government, they owe allegiance to The Queen in her role as
Duke of Normandy."[3]

Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, after Roman power in Western Europe collapsed, the title was still employed in the
Germanic kingdoms, usually to refer to the rulers of old Roman provinces.

Albania
In 1332, Robert of Taranto succeeded his father, Philip. Robert's uncle, John, did not wish to do him homage
for the Principality of Achaea, so Robert received Achaea from John in exchange for 5,000 ounces of gold
and the rights to the diminished Kingdom of Albania. John took the style of Duke of Durazzo (today
Durrs).
In 1368, Durazzo fell to Karl Thopia, who was recognized by Venice as Prince of Albania.

Visigoths
The Visigoths retained the Roman divisions of their kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and it seems that
dukes ruled over these areas.[citation needed] They were the most powerful landowners and, along with the
bishops, elected the king, usually from their own midst. They were the military commanders and in this

capacity often acted independently from the king, most notably in the latter period before the Muslim
invasions.
The army was structured decimally with the highest unit, the thiufa, probably corresponding to about 1,000
people from each civitas (city district). The cities were commanded by counts, who were in turn answerable
to the dukes, who called up the thiufae when necessary.

Lombards
Main article: Duke (Lombard)
When the Lombards entered Italy, the Latin chroniclers called their war leaders duces in the old fashion.
These leaders eventually became the provincial rulers, each with a recognized seat of government. Though
nominally loyal to the king, the concept of kingship was new to the Lombards and the dukes were highly
independent, especially in central and southern Italy, where the Duke of Spoleto and the Duke of Benevento
were de facto sovereigns. In 575, when Cleph died, a period known as the Rule of the Dukes, in which the
dukes governed without a king, commenced. It lasted only a decade before the disunited magnates, in order
to defend the kingdom from external attacks, elected a new king and even diminished their own duchies to
provide him with a handsome royal demesne.
The Lombard kings were usually drawn from the duke pool when the title was not hereditary. The dukes
tried to make their own offices hereditary. Beneath them in the internal structure were the counts and
gastalds, a uniquely Lombard title initially referring to judicial functions, similar to a count's, in provincial
regions

Franks
The Franks employed dukes as the governors of Roman provinces, though they also led military expeditions
far from their duchies. The dukes were the highest-ranking officials in the realm, typically Frankish
(whereas the counts were often Gallo-Roman), and formed the class from which the kings' generals were
chosen in times of war. The dukes met with the king every May to discuss policy for the upcoming year, the
so-called Mayfield.
In Burgundy and Provence, the titles of patrician and prefect were commonly employed instead of duke,
probably for historical reasons relating to the greater Romanization of those provinces. But the titles were
basically equivalent.
In late Merovingian Gaul, the mayors of the palace of the Arnulfing clan began to use the title dux et
princeps Francorum: "duke and prince of the Franks". In this title, "duke" implied supreme military control
of the entire nation (Francorum, the Franks) and it was thus used until the end of the Carolingian dynasty in
France in 987.
Stem duchies
Further information: Stem duchy

England
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Anglo-Saxon times
The highest political division beneath that of kingdom among the Anglo-Saxons was the ealdormanry and,
while the title ealdorman was replaced by the Danish eorl (later earl) over time, the first ealdormen were
referred to as duces (the plural of the original Latin dux) in the chronicles. So in Anglo-Saxon England,
where the Roman political divisions were largely abandoned, the grade of duke was retained as supreme
landlord after the king. But after the Norman conquest, their power and regional jurisdiction was limited to
that of the Norman counts.[4]
Late medieval times
Edward III of England created the first three English dukedoms (Cornwall, Lancaster, and Clarence) by
naming his eldest son Edward, the Black Prince, as Duke of Cornwall in 1337. Upon the death of the Black
Prince the duchy of Cornwall passed to his nine-year-old son, who would eventually succeed his grandfather
as Richard II.
The duchy of Lancaster was created by Edward III in 1351 for Henry of Grosmont, but became extinct upon
the duke's death in 1361. The following year, Edward III bestowed the title (2nd creation) on his fourth son,
John of Gaunt, who was also married to the first duke's daughter.[5] On the same day Edward III also created
his second son, Lionel of Antwerp, as Duke of Clarence.

All five of Edward III's surviving sons eventually became dukes. In 1385, ten years after their father's death,
his heir Richard II created dukedoms for his last two uncles on the same day. Thomas of Woodstock was
named Duke of Gloucester and Edmund of Langley became Duke of York, thereby founding the House of
York, which later fought for the throne with John of Gaunt's Lancastrian descendants during the Wars of the
Roses.
By 1483, a total of 16 ducal titles had been created: Cornwall, Lancaster, Clarence, Gloucester, York,
Ireland, Hereford, Aumale, Exeter, Surrey, Norfolk, Bedford, Somerset, Buckingham, Warwick and Suffolk.
Some became extinct, others had multiple creations, and some had merged with the crown upon the holder's
accession to the throne. When the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22
August 1485, only four ducal titles remained extant, of which two were now permanently associated with
the crown. John de la Pole was Duke of Suffolk and John Howard was Duke of Norfolk (2nd creation),
while the duchy of Cornwall was reserved as a title and source of income for the eldest son of the sovereign,
and the duchy of Lancaster was now held by the monarch.
Norfolk perished alongside Richard III at Bosworth field, and the title was forfeit. It was restored to his son
Thomas thirty years later by Henry VIII, as one of a number of dukes created or recreated by the Tudor
dynasty over the ensuing century. England's premier ducal title, Norfolk, remains in the Howard family to
this day.

The modern age

A Duke's coronet (United Kingdom), as used in Heraldry

In the 19th century, the sovereign dukes of Parma and Modena in Italy, and of Anhalt, Brunswick-Lneburg,
Nassau, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg in Germany survived Napoleon's
reorganization.
Since the unification of Italy in 1870 and the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918, there have no longer
been any reigning dukes in Europe; Luxembourg is ruled by a grand duke, a higher title, just below king.
In the United Kingdom, the inherited position of a duke along with its dignities, privileges, and rights is a
dukedom. However, the title of duke has never been associated with independent rule in the British Isles:
they hold dukedoms, not duchies (excepting the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster). Dukes in
the United Kingdom are addressed as "Your Grace" and referred to as "His Grace". Currently, there are
twenty-seven dukedoms in the Peerage of England, Peerage of Scotland, Peerage of Great Britain, Peerage
of Ireland and Peerage of the United Kingdom, held by twenty-four different people (see List of Dukes in
order of precedence).

Equivalents in other European languages

See wikt:en:duke for equivalents in other European languages.

Royal dukes

"Royal duke" redirects here. For the South Korean car, see Daewoo Royale Duke.
Various royal houses traditionally awarded (mainly) dukedoms to the sons and in some cases, the daughters,
of their respective sovereigns; others include at least one dukedom in a wider list of similarly granted titles,
nominal dukedoms without any actual authority, often even without an estate. Such titles are still conferred
on royal princes or princesses in the current European monarchies of Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the
United Kingdom.
Other historical cases occurred for example in Denmark, Finland (as a part of Sweden) and France, Portugal
and some former colonial possessions such as Brazil and Haiti.

United Kingdom
Main article: Royal Dukedoms in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, ducal titles which have been given within the royal family include Duke of
Cornwall, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence, Duke of York, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Bedford, Duke
of Cumberland, Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Albany, Duke of Ross, Duke of Edinburgh,
Duke of Kent, Duke of Sussex, and Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Following his abdication in 1936 the
former King Edward VIII was given the title Duke of Windsor.

List of dukes in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

List of dukes in the peerages of the British Isles

Belgium
In Belgium, the title of Duke of Brabant (historically the most prestigious in the Low Countries, and
containing the federal capital Brussels), if still vacant, has been awarded preferentially to the eldest son and
heir apparent of the king, other male dynasts receiving various lower historical titles (much older than
Belgium, and in principle never fallen to the Belgian crown), such as Count of Flanders (King Leopold III's
so-titled brother Charles held the title when he became the realm's temporary head of state as prince-regent)
and Prince of Lige (a secularised version of the historical prince-bishopric; e.g. King Albert II until he
succeeded his older brother Baudouin I).

Denmark
Denmark's kings gave appanages in their twin-duchies of Schleswig-Holstein (now three-fourths of them is
part of Germany, but then the Holstein half of it was part of the Holy Roman Empire in personal union with
Denmark proper) to younger sons and/or their male-line descendants, with a specific though not sovereign
title of Duke, e.g., Duke of Gottorp, Duke of Sonderburg, Duke of Augustenborg, Duke of Franzhagen,
Duke of Beck, Duke of Glucksburg and Duke of Norburg.

Iberian peninsula
When the Christian Reconquista, sweeping the Moors from the former Caliphate of Crdoba and its taifaremnants, transformed the territory of former Suevic and Visigothic realms into Catholic feudal
principalities, none of these warlords was exactly styled Duke. A few (as Portugal itself) started as Count
(even if the title of Dux was sometimes added), but soon all politically relevant princes were to use the royal
style of King.
Portugal
Main article: List of dukedoms in Portugal

In Portugal, the title of Duke was granted for the first time in 1415 to infante Peter and infante Henry, the
second and third sons of king John I, following their participation in the successful Conquest of Ceuta.
Pedro became the first Duke of Coimbra and Henry the first Duke of Viseu.
From the reign of king Manuel I, the title of Duke of Beja was given to the second son of the monarch. This
was changed during the Liberal regime in the 19th century (with queen Maria II), when the first infante
(second son of the monarch) got the title of Duke of Porto and the second infante (third son) was known as
Duke of Beja.
There are examples of Duke as a subsidiary title, granted to the most powerful noble Houses:

Duke of Barcelos, to be used by the heir of the Duke of Braganza;

Duke of Torres Novas, to be used by the heir of the Duke of Aveiro;

Duke of Miranda do Corvo, to be used by the heir of the Duke of Lafes.

Usually, the title of Duke was granted to relatives of the Royal Family, such as the infantes or natural sons of
the monarch. There are exceptions, such as Antnio Jos de vila, who, although not having any relation to
the royal family, was given the title of duke of vila and Bolama in the 19th Century.
Spain
Main article: List of dukedoms in Spain
Spanish infantes and infantas were usually given a dukedom upon marriage, excepting the heir apparent who
is the Prince of Asturias. This title is nowadays not hereditary but carries a Grandeza de Espaa. The current
royal duchesses are: HRH the Duchess of Badajoz (Infanta Maria del Pilar), HRH the Duchess of Soria
(Infanta Margarita) (although she inherited the title of Duchess of Hernani from her cousin and is second
holder of that title), HRH the Duchess of Lugo (Infanta Elena) and HRH the Duchess of Palma de Mallorca
(Infanta Cristina).
In Spain all the dukes hold the court rank of Grande, i.e., Grandee of the realm, which had precedence over
all other feudatories.

Nordic Europe
The Northern European duchies of Halland, Jutland, Lalland, Osilia and Reval existed in the Middle Ages.
The longest-surviving duchy was Schleswig, i.e., Sonderjylland (a portion of which later became part of
Germany). Its southern neighbor, the duchy of Holstein, in personal union with the Danish crown, was
nonetheless always a German principality. The two duchies jointly became a member of the German
Bundesland as "Schleswig-Holstein" in the 19th century.
In Sweden, medieval duchies of Finland, Sdermanland, Skne, and Halland were some appanages for
princes of the reigning dynasty. In modern times almost every province in Sweden was used as the territorial
designation for a royal prince's dukedom.
Sweden had a history of making the sons of its kings ruling princes of vast duchies, but this ceased in 1622.
Only one non-royal person was ever given a dukedom. Title-wise, however, all Swedish princes since 1772,
and princesses since 1980, are given a dukedom for life. Currently, there are one duke and four duchesses.
The territorial designations of these dukedoms refer to six of the Provinces of Sweden.
Key parts of Finland were sometimes under a Duke of Finland during the Swedish reign. Some of the
provinces are still considered duchies for the purposes of heraldry.

France and other former monarchies

See appanage (mainly for the French kingdom) and the list in the geographical section below, which also
treats special ducal titles in orders or national significance.

France
Main article: Dukes in France
The highest precedence in the realm, attached to a feudal territory, was given to the twelve original pairies
(en: peers), which also had a traditional function in the royal coronation, comparable to the German imperial
archoffices. Half of them were ducal: three ecclesiastical (the six prelates all ranked above the six secular
peers of the realm) and three temporal, each time above three counts of the same social estate: The PrinceBishops with ducal territories among them were:

The Archbishop of Reims, styled archevque-duc pair de France (in Champagne; who crowns and
anoints the king, traditionally in his cathedral)

Two suffragan bishops, styled evque-duc pair de France :

o the bishop-duke of Laon (in Picardy; bears the 'Sainte Ampoule' containing the sacred
ointment)
o the bishop-duc de Langres (in Burgundy; bears the scepter)

Later, the Archbishop of Paris was given the title of duc de Saint-Cloud with the dignity of peerage, but it
was debated if he was an ecclesiastical peer or merely a bishop holding a lay peerage.
The secular dukes in the peerage of the realm were, again in order of precedence:

The Duke of Burgundy or duc de Bourgogne (known as Grand duc; not a separate title at that time;
just a description of the wealth and real clout of the 15th century Dukes, cousins of the Kings of
France) (bears the crown, fastens the belt)

The Duke of Normandy or duc de Normandie (holds the first square banner)

The Duke of Aquitaine or duc d'Aquitaine or de Guyenne (holds the second square banner)

It should be noted that the theory of the participation of the peers in the coronation was laid down in the late
13th century, when some of the peerage (the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Toulouse) had already
been merged in the crown.
At the end of this same century, the king elevated some counties into duchies, a practice that increased up
until the Revolution. Many of this duchies were also peerages (the so-called 'new peerages').

Italy, Germany and Austria

Main article: Dukes in Italy, Germany and Austria
In Italy, Germany and Austria the title of "duke" (duca in Italian, and Herzog in German) was quite
common. As the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) was until its dissolution a feudal structure, most of its Dukes
were actually reigning in their lands. As the titles from the HRE were taken over after its dissolution, or in
Italy after their territories became independent of the Empire, both countries also had a share of fully

sovereign dukes. Also, in Germany in many ducal families every agnate would bear the ducal title of the
family as a courtesy title.
In Italy some important sovereign ducal families were the Visconti and the Sforza, who ruled Milan; the
Capece Minutolo in Naples; the Savoia in Piedmont; the Medici of Florence; the Farnese of Parma and
Piacenza; the Cybo-Malaspina of Massa; the Gonzaga of Mantua; the Este of Modena and Ferrara. The
maritime republics of Venice and Genoa were ruled by elected Doges, a word which comes from the same
Latin root as "Duke".
In Germany, important ducal families were the Wittelsbachs in Bavaria, the Welfs in Hannover, the ducal
family of Cleves, the Wettins in Saxony (with its Ernestine branch divided into several duchies), the
Wrttembergs, the Mecklenburgs and the Habsburgs in Austria as "Archdukes". In the German
Confederation the Nassaus, the Ascanians of Anhalt, the Welf branch of Brunswick and the Ernestine lines
of the Saxon duchies were the sovereign ducal families.

Elsewhere in Europe
Hungary
In the Kingdom of Hungary no ducal principalities existed but duchies were often formed for members of
the dynasty as appanages. During the rule of the rpd dynasty dukes held territorial powers, some of them
even minted coins, but later this title became more often nominal. These duchies usually were

the Duchy of Nitra

the Duchy of Bihar

the Duchy of Transylvania (consisting of the voivodship of Transylvania and some other counties)

In the Jagellonian era (14901526) only two dukes did not belong to the royal dynasty: John Corvin (the
illegitimate son of Matthias Corvinus) and Lrinc jlaki (whose father was the king of Bosnia), and both
bore the title as royal dukes.
After the Battle of Mohcs the Habsburg kings rewarded Hungarian aristocrats (like the Esterhzys) with
princely titles, but they created these titles as Holy Roman Emperors, not as kings of Hungary.

Greece
As the Catholic crusaders overran Orthodox Christian parts of the Byzantine empire, they installed several
crusader states (see Frangokratia), some of which were of ducal rank:

the Duchy of Athens, to which the duchy of Neopatras was later linked

the Aegean insular Duchy of Naxos, officially the "Duchy of the Archipelago"

The Byzantines retained the title dux, transcribed as doux in Greek. As in the later Roman Empire, it
remained a military office. In the 10th century, it was given to the military commanders over several
themata (also known as katepano), and in the late 11th century it became used for the governor of a thema.
In Italy and other western countries, the later Byzantine appanages of the Palaiologan period were
sometimes translated as duchies: the Morea, Mesembria, Selymbria and Thessaloniki. However, as these had
Greek holders, they were titled Archon ("magistrate") or Despotes.

In the independent Kingdom of Greece, the style of Duke of Sparta was instituted in 1868 upon the birth of
Constantine I as a distinct title for the crown prince of Greece.

Slavic countries
Generally, confusion reigns whether to translate the usual ruler titles, knyaz/ knez/ ksiaze etc. as Prince
(analogous to the German Frst) or as Duke;

in splintered Poland petty principalities generally ruled by branches of the earlier Polish Piast
dynasty are regarded as duchies in translated titulary. Examples of such: Kujavia, Masovia,
Sandomir, Greater Poland and Kalisz as well as various minor duchies, often short-lived and/or in
personal union or merger, named after their capitals, mainly in the regions known as Little Poland
and Greater Poland, including (there are often also important Latin and/or German forms) Krakw,
czyca and Sieradz.

In Pomerelia and Pomerania (inhabited by the Kashubians, different Slavic people from the Poles
proper), branches of native ruling dynasties were usually recognized as dukes, quite similarly to the
pattern in Poland.

in Russia, before the imperial unification from Muscovy; sometimes even as vassal, tributary to a
Tartar Khan; later, in Peter the Great's autocratic empire, the russification gertsog was used as the
Russian rendering of the German ducal title Herzog, especially as (the last) part of the full official
style of the Russian Emperor: Gertsog Shlesvig-Golstinskiy, Stormarnskiy, Ditmarsenskiy i
Oldenburgskiy i prochaya, i prochaya, i prochaya "Duke of Schleswig-Holstein [see above],
Stormarn, Dithmarschen and Oldenburg, and of other lands", in chief of German and Danish
territories to which the Tsar was dynastically linked.

In Bohemia was Duchy of Krumlov, and short-lived Duchy of Reichstadt and Duchy of Friedland.

In Silesia were many petty duchies as Duchy of Brzeg, Duchy of Legnica, Duchy of Zator and
Duchy of Racibrz. They were vassals of King of Bohemia.

Netherlands
After Belgium and the Netherlands separated in 1830, the title of duke no longer existed in the Netherlands.
There is, however, one exception; the title Hertog van Limburg (Duke of Limburg) still exists. This title,
however, is an exclusive title for the head of state (the monarch, i.e., the king or queen of the Netherlands).

Post-colonial non-European states

Empire of Brazil
In the Empire of Brazil duke was the highest rank for people born outside the imperial house and only three
dukedoms were created. Two of these titles were for relatives of Emperor Dom Pedro I: an illegitimate
daughter and a brother-in-law who received the title when married to Pedro I's daughter Dona Maria II. The
third, given to Lus Alves de Lima e Silva, was the only dukedom created during the reign of Pedro II. None
of these titles were hereditary, just like every other title in the Brazilian nobility system.

Haiti
The royal Christophe dynasty created eight hereditary dukedoms, in rank directly below the nominal princes.
They were short-lived and only recognised in the country.

Equivalents
Main articles: Equivalents of Duke outside Europe and Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles
Like other major Western noble titles, Duke is sometimes used to render (translate) certain titles in nonwestern languages. "Duke" is used even though those titles are generally etymologically and often
historically unrelated and thus hard to compare. However, they are considered roughly equivalent, especially
in hierarchic aristocracies such as feudal Japan, useful as an indication of relative rank.

India
Indian feudal system cannot be fully translated to its European counterparts. The closest equivalent to a
Duchy is a large Jagir. Thus, a Jagirdar, Deshmukh, and Zamindar are closely equivalent to a Duke.

China
During the era of feudalism in Ancient China (Spring and Autumn and the Warring States), the equivalent
titles to Grand Marquis or Grand Duke were often granted to the nobility and governors of the individual
kingdoms and principalities. Noble titles also existed in subsequent periods.
The Duke of Yansheng noble title was granted to the descendants of Confucius. In 1935, the Nationalist
Government changed the title to Sacrificial Official to Confucius (), which still exists
as an office of the Republic of China, de facto hereditary.[6]
Nonhereditary dukedoms and other lesser titles were also awarded, sometimes posthumously (see
posthumous names), during the imperial period of Chinese history to recognize distinguished civil and
military officials without the burdens of supporting a feudal peerage. For example, Emperor Lizong of Song
granted the posthumous title Duke of Hui () to the Neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi.[7]

Indonesia
The Javanese kingdom of Majapahit, which dominated eastern Java in the 14th and 15th centuries, was
divided into nagara (provinces). The administration of these nagara was entrusted to members of the royal
family, who bore the title of Bhrei.e., Bhra i, "lord of" (the word bhra being akin to the Thai Phra),
followed by the name of the land they were entrusted with: for example a sister of king Hayam Wuruk (r.
13501389) was "Bhre Lasem", "lady of Lasem". This system was similar to the Apanage system in Western
Europe.
Sultan Agung, king of Mataram in Central Java (r. 16131645), would entrust the administration of
territories he gradually conquered all over the island of Java, to officials bearing the title of Adipati, this title
is hereditary. Such territories were called Kadipaten.
The VOC (Dutch East Indies Company), while gradually taking control of Javanese territory, would
maintain the existing Mataram administrative structure. Adipati were called "regenten" in Dutch, and the
territories they administered, "regentschappen".
In the 19th century, the Javanese term for regent was bupati. French traveller Grard Louis Domeny de
Rienzi mentions bapati.[8]
The bupati have been maintained in the modern Indonesian administrative subdivision structure, heading a
kabupaten, the subdivision of a provinsi or province.
The word Adipati is still found in the official title of the hereditary dukes Mangkunegara of Surakarta and
Paku Alam of Yogyakartai.e., Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya (shortened into KGPAA).

See also

List of dukes in the peerages of the British Isles

Duchies in Sweden

Duchy of Amalfi

Duchy of Gaeta

Duchy of Naples

Archduke

Notes
1.

"British English: Duke". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 23 September 2014.

"American English: Duke". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/QueenandCrowndependencies/ChannelIslands.aspx
Crouch p108
see Dukes of Lancaster
Duke Yansheng
Chan p34
1.

*Grgoire Louis Domeny de Rienzi, Ocanie ou cinquime partie du monde : revue

gographique et ethnographique de la Malaisie, de la Micronsie, de la Polynsie et de la
Mlansie, ainsi que ses nouvelles classifications et divisions de ces contres, Firmin Didot Frres,
Paris, 1834
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient
inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September
2007)

References

Chan, Wing-tsit, Chu Hsi New Studies. University of Hawaii Press: 1989. ISBN 978-0-8248-1201-0

Crouch, David, The Normans (2002) ISBN 1-85285-387-5

Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press: 1895.

Lewis, Archibald R. "The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550-751." Speculum, Vol. 51, No 3
(July 1976), pp 381410.

Stenton, Sir Frank M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition. Oxford University Press: 1971.

Thompson, E. A. The Goths in Spain. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1969.

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