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82-601: Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassals of the Emperor who held a fief (secular or ecclesiastical) that had no suzerain except the Emperor. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, there were a number of holders of Imperial princely titles who did not meet these criteria. Thus, there were two main types of princes: those who exercised Landeshoheit ( sovereignty within one's territory while respecting

164-648: A huge ransom in 1193. Henry died at Brunswick in 1195. Henry the Lion's son, Otto of Brunswick, was elected King of the Romans and crowned Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV after years of further conflicts with the Hohenstaufen emperors. He incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215. Otto was forced to abdicate the imperial throne by the Hohenstaufen Frederick II . He

246-498: A native title into the Latin prīnceps (as for the hereditary ruler of Wales ) or when the lord's territory was allodial . The lord of an allodium owned his lands and exercised prerogatives over the subjects in his territory absolutely, owing no feudal homage or duty as a vassal to a liege lord , nor being subject to any higher jurisdiction. Most small territories designated as principalities during feudal eras were allodial, e.g.

328-709: A noble house in Germany. Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria , from 1120 to 1126, was the first of the three dukes of the Welf dynasty called Henry. His wife Wulfhild was the heiress of the house of Billung , possessing the territory around Lüneburg in Lower Saxony. Their son, Henry the Proud , was the son-in-law and heir of Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor and became also Duke of Saxony on Lothair's death. Lothair left his territory around Brunswick , inherited from his mother of

410-613: A reigning monarch), Ukrainian and Russian : князь , romanized :  knyaz , etc., are usually translated as "prince" in English. Some princely titles are derived from those of national rulers, such as tsarevich from tsar . Other examples are (e) mirza (da), khanzada , nawabzada , sahibzada , shahzada , sultanzada (all using the Persian patronymic suffix -zada , meaning "son, descendant"). However, some princely titles develop in unusual ways, such as adoption of

492-598: A result of increasing tensions with the townsfolk of Brunswick , the Brunswick Line moved their residence to Wolfenbüttel Castle , thus the name Wolfenbüttel became the unofficial name of this principality. With Ivan VI of Russia the Brunswick line even had a short intermezzo on the Russian imperial throne in 1740. Not until 1754 was the residence moved back to Brunswick, into the new Brunswick Palace . In 1814

574-765: A role in the Investiture Controversy . Since the Welf dynasty sided with the Pope in this controversy, partisans of the Pope came to be known in Italy as Guelphs ( Guelfi ). The first genealogy of the Welfs is the Genealogia Welforum , composed shortly before 1126. A much more detailed history of the dynasty, the Historia Welforum , was composed around 1170. It is the earliest history of

656-454: A slash. If a second title (or set) is also given, then that one is for a Prince of the blood, the first for a principality. Be aware that the absence of a separate title for a prince of the blood may not always mean no such title exists; alternatively, the existence of a word does not imply there is also a reality in the linguistic territory concerned; it may very well be used exclusively to render titles in other languages, regardless whether there

738-623: A specific style other than prince has become customary for dynasts, such as fils de France in the House of Capet , and Infante . Infante was borne by children of the monarch other than the heir apparent in all of the Iberian monarchies. Some monarchies used a specific princely title for their heirs, such as Prince of Asturias in Spain and Prince of Brazil in Portugal. Sometimes

820-818: A specific title is commonly used by various dynasties in a region, e.g. Mian in various of the Punjabi princely Hill States (lower Himalayan region in British India). European dynasties usually awarded appanages to princes of the blood, typically attached to a feudal noble title, such as Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, Britain's royal dukes , the Dauphin in France, the Count of Flanders in Belgium, and

902-805: A style for dynasts which is not pegged to the ruler's title, but rather continues an old tradition (e.g., " grand duke " in Romanov Russia or " archduke " in Habsburg Austria), claims dynastic succession to a lost monarchy (e.g. Prince de Tarente for the La Trémoïlle heirs to the Neapolitan throne ), or descends from a ruler whose princely title or sovereign status was not de jure hereditary, but attributed to descendants as an international courtesy, (e.g., Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan , Poniatowski , Ypsilanti ). In some dynasties,

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984-513: A time when anti-Catholic sentiment ran high in much of Northern Europe and Great Britain. Sophia died shortly before her first cousin once removed, Anne, Queen of Great Britain , the last sovereign of the House of Stuart . Sophia's son George I succeeded Queen Anne and formed a personal union from 1714 between the British crown and the Electorate of Hanover, which lasted until well after

1066-404: A title among the nobility, from the 16th century onwards. These titles were created by elevating a seigneurie to the nominal status of a principality—although prerogatives of sovereignty were never conceded in the letters patent. Princely titles self-assumed by the princes du sang and by the princes étrangers were generally tolerated by the king and used at the royal court, outside

1148-446: A title named for a specific and historical territory. The family's possession of prerogatives or properties in that territory might be long past. Such were most of the "princedoms" of France's ancien régime , so resented for their pretentiousness in the memoirs of Saint-Simon . These included the princedoms of Arches-Charleville, Boisbelle-Henrichemont, Chalais, Château-Regnault, Guéménée, Martigues, Mercœur, Sedan, Talmond, Tingrey, and

1230-835: A treaty or a victory. Examples include: Eastern Europe In the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , the titles of prince dated either to the times before the Union of Lublin or were granted to Polish nobles by foreign monarchs, as the law in Poland forbade the king from dividing nobility by granting them hereditary titles : see The Princely Houses of Poland . In Ukraine, landlords and rulers of Kievan Rus' were called князь ( knjazʹ ), translated as "prince". Similarly, foreign titles of "prince" were translated as knyaz in Ukrainian (e. g. Ivan Mazepa , "knyaz of Holy Roman Empire"). Princes of Rurik Dynasty obeyed their oldest brother, who

1312-404: Is Queen Frederica's nephew Ernst August , the third and present husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco . In 1129, after Henry the Proud's defeat against Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor , his sister Sophia was given a seat at Regensburg . From c.  1150 until his death in 1167, Welf VI's son, Welf VII, was associated to his father, but predeceased him. After Welf VI's death, Altdorf

1394-612: Is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Moselle area was closely related to the imperial family of the Carolingians . The (Younger) House of Welf is the older branch of the House of Este , a dynasty whose earliest known members lived in Veneto and Lombardy in

1476-512: Is a historical link with any (which often means that linguistic tradition is adopted) Etymologically, we can discern the following traditions (some languages followed a historical link, e.g. within the Holy Roman Empire, not their language family; some even fail to follow the same logic for certain other aristocratic titles): In Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Ukraine, Japan, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Belarus and Hungary

1558-499: Is accorded the masculine equivalent of her title (e.g., emperor, king), at least after he fathered her heir. In previous epochs, husbands of queens regnant were often deemed entitled to the crown matrimonial , sharing their consorts' regnal title and rank jure uxoris . However, in cultures which allow the ruler to have several wives (e.g., four in Islam ) or official concubines (e.g., Imperial China , Ottoman Empire , Thailand ,

1640-513: Is also used in this sense in the United States Declaration of Independence . As a title, by the end of the medieval era, prince was borne by rulers of territories that were either substantially smaller than those of or exercised fewer of the rights of sovereignty than did emperors and kings. A lord of even a quite small territory might come to be referred to as a prince before the 13th century, either from translations of

1722-578: Is common but in many respects rather dubious. Different (historical, religious...) backgrounds have also begot significantly different dynastic and nobiliary systems, which are poorly represented by the 'closest' western analogy. It therefore makes sense to treat these per civilization. It's crucial to use the proper title while speaking to members of the royal family because Brunei is an absolute monarchy , and inappropriate use might be uncomfortable. The heir apparent and crown prince , styled as Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri (His Royal Highness),

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1804-477: Is officially known as Pengiran Muda Mahkota (Crown Prince); A blood prince is officially known as Pengiran Muda (Prince); their names are styled differently: If they do not have additional titles, the Sultan's sons are addressed as Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri (His Royal Highness); The Pengiran Muda Mahkota's sons are addressed as Yang Teramat Mulia (His Royal Highness). Before Qin dynasty , prince (in

1886-524: Is the higher title of a male member of the Imperial family while the latter is the lower. In the Joseon Dynasty , the title "Prince" was used for the king's male-line descendants. The title was divided into two: the king's legitimate son used the title daegun (대군, 大君, literally "grand prince"), but any other male royals used the title gun (군, 君, lit. "prince"). These included the descendants of

1968-693: Is usually translated as Huang Zi ( 皇子 , lit. Son of the Emperor) or Wang Zi ( 王子 lit., Son of the King), e.g. 查爾斯王子 (Prince Charles). As a title of nobility, prince can be translated as Qin Wang according to tradition, Da Gong (大公, lit., Grand Duke) if one want to emphasize that it is a very high rank but below the King ( Wang ), or just Zhu Hou ( 诸侯 , lit. princes) which refers to princes of all ranks in general. For example, 摩納哥親王 (Prince of Monaco). In Japan,

2050-703: The Reichsgrafen (imperial counts), Freiherren (barons) and Reichsprälaten (imperial prelates), who formed with them the Imperial Diet assemblies, but held only collective votes. Around 1180, the secular Princes comprised the Herzöge (Dukes) who generally ruled larger territories within the Empire in the tradition of the former German stem duchies , but also the Counts of Anhalt and Namur ,

2132-674: The Bishop of Minden and Count of Schaumburg and set up his own army. On 28 May 1388, battle was joined at Winsen an der Aller; it ended in victory for Henry . According to the provisions of the Treaty of Hanover from the year 1373, after the death of Wensceslas, the Principality passed to the House of Welf. In 1389, an inheritance agreement between the Welfs and the Ascanians was concluded,

2214-536: The Brunonids , to his daughter Gertrud. Her husband Henry the Proud became then the favoured candidate in the imperial election against Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen . Henry lost the election, as the other princes feared his power and temperament, and was dispossessed of his duchies by Conrad III. Henry's brother Welf VI (1115–1191), Margrave of Tuscany, later left his Swabian territories around Ravensburg,

2296-512: The Diet of Augsburg in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was inextricably linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Later elevated noble families like the Fürstenberg , Liechtenstein or Thurn und Taxis dynasties subsequently began to refer to their territory as a "principality" and assumed the awarded rank of a Prince ( Fürst ) as a hereditary title . Most of

2378-576: The French word prince , from the Latin noun prīnceps , from primus (first) and caput (head), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler , prince". The Latin word prīnceps (older Latin *prīsmo-kaps, lit.   ' the one who takes the first [place/position] ' ), became the usual title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before

2460-555: The House of Luneburg residing at Celle Castle . In 1635 it was given to George , younger brother of Prince Ernest II of Lüneburg , who chose Hanover as his residence. New territory was added in 1665, and in 1705 the Principality of Luneburg was taken over by the Hanoverians. In 1692 Duke Ernest Augustus from the Calenberg-Hanover Line acquired the right to be a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire as

2542-611: The Parlement of Paris . These titles held no official place in the hierarchy of the nobility, but were often treated as ranking just below ducal peerages , since they were often inherited (or assumed) by ducal heirs: This can even occur in a monarchy within which an identical but real and substantive feudal title exists, such as Fürst in German. An example of this is: Spain, France and Netherlands In other cases, such titular princedoms are created in chief of an event, such as

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2624-697: The Prince-Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg . Colloquially the Electorate was known as the Electorate of Hanover . In 1814 it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Hanover . Religion-driven politics placed Ernest Augustus's wife Sophia of the Palatinate in the line of succession to the British crown by the Act of Settlement 1701 , written to ensure a Protestant succession to the thrones of Scotland and England at

2706-575: The Princedom of Dombes . Lords who exercised lawful authority over territories and people within a feudal hierarchy were also sometimes regarded as princes in the general sense, especially if they held the rank of count or higher. This is attested in some surviving styles for e.g., British earls, marquesses , and dukes are still addressed by the Crown on ceremonial occasions as high and noble princes (cf. Royal and noble styles ). In parts of

2788-571: The Russian Empire , were also accorded the title of knyazʹ —sometimes after first being allowed to use the higher title of tsarevich (e.g. the Princes Gruzinsky and Sibirsky ). In each case, the title is followed (when available) by the female form and then (not always available, and obviously rarely applicable to a prince of the blood without a principality) the name of the territory associated with it, each separated by

2870-474: The Zulu monarchy ), these women, sometimes collectively referred to as a harem , often have specific rules determining their relative hierarchy and a variety of titles, which may distinguish between those whose offspring can be in line for the succession or not, or specifically who is mother to the heir to the throne. To complicate matters, the style His/Her (Imperial/Royal) Highness , a prefix often accompanying

2952-491: The crown prince before the grand duke's abdication, or in form of consortium imperii . Some monarchies even have a practice in which the monarch can formally abdicate in favour of his heir and yet retain a kingly title with executive power, e.g. Maha Upayuvaraja ( Sanskrit for Great Joint King in Cambodia ), though sometimes also conferred on powerful regents who exercised executive powers. In several countries of

3034-399: The "kingship" of Yvetot, among others. A prince or princess who is the head of state of a territory that has a monarchy as a form of government is a reigning prince. The current princely monarchies include: In the same tradition, some self-proclaimed monarchs of so-called micronations style themselves as princes: Various monarchies provide for different modes in which princes of

3116-497: The 18th century (although Liechtenstein long remained an exception, with cadets and females using Fürst/Fürstin into the 19th century) for dynasties headed by a Fürst in Germany. The custom spread through the Continent to such an extent that a renowned imperial general who belonged to a cadet branch of a reigning ducal family, remains best known to history by the generic dynastic title, " Prince Eugene of Savoy ". Note that

3198-483: The British throne was inherited by an elder brother's only daughter, Queen Victoria . Her offspring belong to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha : in 1917 the name was changed to the House of Windsor . The Kingdom of Hanover was lost in 1866 by Ernest Augustus's son George V of Hanover , Austria's ally during the Austro-Prussian War , when it was annexed by Prussia after Austria's defeat and became

3280-561: The Count of Syracuse in Sicily . Sometimes appanage titles were princely, e.g. Prince of Achaia (Courtenay), Prince de Condé (Bourbon), Prince of Carignan (Savoy), but it was the fact that their owners were of princely rank rather than that they held a princely title which was the source of their pre-eminence. For the often specific terminology concerning an heir apparent, see Crown prince . Other princes derive their title not from dynastic membership as such, but from inheritance of

3362-580: The Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806. Ecclesiastical Princes were the Prince-Bishops (including the Prince-Archbishops of Besançon , Bremen , Magdeburg and Salzburg ) as well as the actual Prince-abbots . They comprised a number of political entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia . The honorary status of prince of

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3444-640: The Empire, but were codified by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 when it created the German Confederation and recognised a specific, elevated status ( Standesherren or Mediatized Houses ) for the mediatized princes of the defunct Empire. The actual titles used by Imperial nobles varied considerably for historical reasons, and included archdukes , dukes , margraves , landgraves , counts palatine , princely counts ( Gefürstete Grafen ), as well as princes and prince-electors . Moreover, most of

3526-551: The European continent, such as France, prince can be an aristocratic title of someone having a high rank of nobility or as lord of a significant fief, but not ruling any actual territory and without any necessary link to the royal family , which makes it difficult to compare with the British system of royal princes. France and the Holy Roman Empire The kings of France started to bestow the style of prince, as

3608-531: The German fiefs in the Empire (except electorships) were heritable by all males of a family rather than by primogeniture , the princely title (or whatever title the family used) being likewise shared by all agnatic family members, male and female. The estate of imperial princes or Reichsfürstenstand was established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages . A particular estate of "the Princes"

3690-650: The Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1185 and returned to his much diminished lands around Brunswick without recovering his two duchies. Bavaria had been given to Otto I, Duke of Bavaria , and the Duchy of Saxony was divided between the Archbishop of Cologne, the House of Ascania and others. Diminished lands did not prevent him from imprisoning Richard I on his return from the Third Crusade , and demanding

3772-485: The Hohenstaufen dynasty, tried to get along with him, but when Henry refused to assist him once more in an Italian war campaign, conflict became inevitable. Dispossessed of his duchies after the Battle of Legnano in 1176 by Emperor Frederick I and the other princes of the German Empire eager to claim parts of his vast territories, he was exiled to the court of his father-in-law Henry II in Normandy in 1180. He returned to Germany three years later. Henry made his peace with

3854-408: The Holy Roman Empire in which primogeniture did not prevail (e.g., Germany), all legitimate agnates had an equal right to the family's hereditary titles. While titles such as emperor , king , and elector could only be legally occupied by one dynast at a time, holders of such other titles as duke , margrave , landgrave , count palatine , and prince could only differentiate themselves by adding

3936-432: The Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals. These individuals included: Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king , grand prince , and grand duke ) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. Prince is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary , in some European states . The female equivalent is a princess . The English word derives, via

4018-434: The Landgraves of Thuringia and the Margraves of Meissen . From the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. Among the most important of these were the Welf descendants of Henry the Lion in Brunswick-Lüneburg , elevated to Princes of the Empire and vested with the ducal title by Emperor Frederick II in 1235, and the Landgraves of Hesse in 1292. The resolutions of

4100-457: The Prussian province of Hanover. The Welfs went into exile at Gmunden , Austria, where they built Cumberland Castle . The senior line of the dynasty had ruled the much smaller principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , created the sovereign Duchy of Brunswick in 1814. This line became extinct in 1884. Although the Duchy should have been inherited by the Duke of Cumberland , son of the last king of Hanover, Prussian suspicions of his loyalty led

4182-652: The duchy's throne to remain vacant until 1913, when the Duke of Cumberland's son, Ernst August , married the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II and was allowed to inherit it. His rule there was short-lived, as the monarchy came to an end following the First World War in 1918. The Welf dynasty continues to exist. The last member sitting on a European throne was Frederica of Hanover , Queen of Greece († 1981), mother of Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece . Frederica's brother Prince George William of Hanover married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark , sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . The House's head

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4264-466: The dynasty can temporarily or permanently share in the style and/or office of the monarch, e.g. as regent or viceroy . Though these offices may not be reserved legally for members of the ruling dynasty, in some traditions they are filled by dynasts, a fact which may be reflected in the style of the office, e.g. " prince-president " for Napoleon III as French head of state but not yet emperor, or "prince-lieutenant" in Luxembourg , repeatedly filled by

4346-405: The end of the Napoleonic Wars more than a century later, through the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of a new successor kingdom. The British royal family became known as the House of Hanover . The "Electorate of Hanover" (the core duchy) was enlarged with the addition of other lands and became the Kingdom of Hanover in 1814 at the Congress of Vienna . During the first half of

4428-409: The end of the 17th century, the heir apparent to the House of La Tour d'Auvergne 's sovereign duchy bears the title Prince de Bouillon , but he would record in 1728 that the heir's La Tour cousin, the Count of Oliergues, is " known as the Prince Frederick" (" dit le prince Frédéric"). The post-medieval rank of gefürsteter Graf (princely count) embraced but elevated the German equivalent of

4510-421: The estates, which was to supervise the treaty. However, 1373–1388 would be the only period in which a Brunswick-Luneburg land was not ruled by a Welf: In the wake of his death, Elector Wenceslas appointed Bernard, his brother-in-law, as co-regent involved him in the government. But his younger brother Henry did not agree with this ruling, and after vain attempts to reach an agreement, the fight flared up again in

4592-409: The former highest title which was then replaced by Huang Di ( 皇帝 , lit. Emperor). Since Western Jin , the Wang rank was divided into two ranks, Qin Wang ( 親王 , lit. King of the Blood) and Jun Wang ( 郡王 , lit. King of the Commandery). Only family of the Emperor can be entitled Qin Wang , so prince is usually translated as Qin Wang , e.g. 菲利普親王 (Prince Philip). For the son of the ruler, prince

4674-414: The habit of inter-marrying with sovereign dynasties. By the 19th century, cadets of a Fürst would become known as Prinzen . The husband of a queen regnant is usually titled " prince consort " or simply "prince", whereas the wives of male monarchs take the female equivalent (e.g., empress, queen) of their husband's title. In Brazil, Portugal and Spain, however, the husband of a female monarch

4756-406: The historical boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire . In medieval and early modern Europe , there were as many as two hundred such territories, especially in Italy, Germany, and Gaelic Ireland . In this sense, "prince" is used of any and all rulers, regardless of actual title or precise rank. This is the Renaissance use of the term found in Niccolò Machiavelli 's famous work, Il Principe . It

4838-425: The intermediate French, English and Spanish nobles. In the Holy Roman Empire, these nobles rose to dynastic status by preserving from the Imperial crown ( de jure after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) the exercise of such sovereign prerogatives as the minting of money; the muster of military troops and the right to wage war and contract treaties ; local judicial authority and constabulary enforcement; and

4920-515: The king up to the grandsons of illegitimate sons of the king and the crown prince, and up to the great grandsons of daegun s, with other royals being able to be named gun if they reached the second rank. But the title of gun wasn't limited to the royal family. It was also granted as an honorary title to the king's father-in-law and to gongsin (공신, 功臣, lit. "servant of merit") and was only conditionally hereditary for gongsin s. House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph )

5002-663: The late 9th/early 10th century, sometimes called Welf-Este. The first member was Welf I, Duke of Bavaria , also known as Welf IV. He inherited the property of the Elder House of Welf when his maternal uncle Welf III , Duke of Carinthia and Verona, the last male Welf of the Elder House, died in 1055. Welf IV was the son of Welf III's sister Kunigunde of Altdorf and her husband Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan . In 1070, Welf IV became Duke of Bavaria . Welf II, Duke of Bavaria married Countess Matilda of Tuscany , who died childless and left him her possessions, including Tuscany , Ferrara , Modena , Mantua , and Reggio , which played

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5084-521: The laws and traditions of the empire) as well as an individual or shared vote in the College of Princes , and those whose title was honorary (the possessor lacking an immediate Imperial fief and/or a vote in the Imperial Diet). The first came to be reckoned as "royalty" in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, imply equality with royalty. These distinctions evolved within

5166-455: The monarch from other members of his dynasty became necessary. Gradual substitution of the title of Prinz for the monarch's title of Fürst occurred, and became customary for cadets in all German dynasties except in the grand duchies of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg . Both Prinz and Fürst are translated into English as "prince", but they reflect not only different but mutually exclusive concepts. This distinction had evolved before

5248-431: The name of their appanage to the family's original title. This tended to proliferate unwieldy titles (e.g. Princess Katherine of Anhalt-Zerbst ; Karl, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Neukastell-Kleeburg ; or Prince Christian Charles of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön-Norburg ) and, as agnatic primogeniture gradually became the norm in the Holy Roman Empire by the end of the 18th century, another means of distinguishing

5330-416: The nineteenth century, the Kingdom was ruled as personal union by the British crown from its creation under George III of the United Kingdom, the last elector of Hanover until the death of William IV in 1837. At that point, the crown of Hanover went to William's younger brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale under the Salic law requiring the next male heir to inherit, whereas

5412-537: The original possessions of the Elder House of Welf , to his nephew Emperor Frederick I , and thus to the House of Hohenstaufen. The next duke of the Welf dynasty Henry the Lion (1129/1131–1195) recovered his father's two duchies, Saxony in 1142, Bavaria in 1156 and thus ruled vast parts of Germany. In 1168 he married Matilda (1156–1189), the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine , and sister of Richard I of England , gaining ever more influence. His first cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor of

5494-406: The princely states of the Holy Roman Empire had to meet three requirements: Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The Princes of the Empire ranked below the seven Prince-electors ( Kurfürsten ; archaic spelling Churfürsten ) designated by the Golden Bull of 1356 (and later electors), but above

5576-493: The princely title was used as a prefix to his Christian name, which also became customary. Cadets of France's other princes étrangers affected similar usage under the Bourbon kings. Always facing the scepticism of Saint-Simon and like-minded courtiers, these quasi-royal aristocrats' assumption of the princely title as a personal, rather than territorial, designation encountered some resistance. In writing Histoire Genealogique et Chonologique , Père Anselme accepts that, by

5658-409: The principality became the Duchy of Brunswick , ruled by the senior branch of the House of Welf. In 1432 the estates gained by the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel between the Deister and Leine split away as the Principality of Calenberg . In 1495 it was expanded around Göttingen and in 1584 went back to the Wolfenbüttel Line. In 1634, as a result of inheritance distributions, it went to

5740-553: The sense of royal family member) had no special title. Princes of the Zhou dynasty were specifically referred to as Wangzi (王子) and Wangsun (王孫), which mean "son of the king" and "grandson of the king," while princes of the vassal states were referred to as Gongzi (公子) and Gongsun (公孫), which mean "son of the lord" and "grandson of the lord," respectively. Sons of the vassals may receive nobility titles like Jun (君), Qing (卿), Daifu (大夫) and Shi (仕). Since Han dynasty , royal family members were entitled Wang ( 王 , lit. King),

5822-415: The spring of 1388. Elector Wenceslas had to assemble an army without the help of Bernard, supported by the town of Lüneburg. From Winsen an der Aller , he wanted to attack Celle , which was held by Henry and his mother. During the preparations Elector Wenceslas fell seriously ill and died shortly thereafter. According to legend, he was poisoned. Lüneburg continued the preparations, formed an alliance with

5904-550: The style of the subordinate principality. By 1705, the subordinate principalities had taken their final form as the Electorate of Hanover and the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , and these would become the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1269 the Principality of Brunswick was formed following the first division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In 1432, as

5986-750: The title Kōshaku ( 公爵 ) was used as the highest title of Kazoku ( 華族 Japanese modern nobility) before the present constitution. Kōshaku , however, is more commonly translated as "Duke" to avoid confusion with the following royal ranks in the Imperial Household: Shinnō ( 親王 literally, Prince of the Blood); Naishinnō ( 内親王 lit., Princess of the Blood in her own right); and Shinnōhi 親王妃 lit., Princess Consort); or Ō ( 王 lit., Prince); Jyo-Ō ( 女王 lit., Princess (in her own right)); and Ōhi ( 王妃 lit., Princess Consort). The former

6068-626: The title of prince has also been used as the highest title of nobility (without membership in a ruling dynasty), above the title of duke , while the same usage (then as Fürst ) has occurred in Germany and Austria but then one rank below the title of duke and above count . The above is essentially the story of European, Christian dynasties and other nobility, also 'exported' to their colonial and other overseas territories and otherwise adopted by rather westernized societies elsewhere (e.g. Haiti). Applying these essentially western concepts, and terminology, to other cultures even when they don't do so,

6150-572: The title of a dynastic prince, may be awarded/withheld separately (as a compromise or consolation prize, in some sense, e.g., Duke of Cádiz , Duchess of Windsor , Princesse de Réthy , Prince d'Orléans-Braganza ). Although the arrangement set out above is the one that is most commonly understood, there are also different systems. Depending on country, epoch, and translation, other usages of "prince" are possible. Foreign-language titles such as Italian : principe , French : prince , German : Fürst , German: Prinz (non-reigning descendant of

6232-460: The transition to empire , the princeps senatus . Emperor Augustus established the formal position of monarch on the basis of principate , not dominion . He also tasked his grandsons as summer rulers of the city when most of the government were on holiday in the country or attending religious rituals, and, for that task, granted them the title of princeps. The title has generic and substantive meanings: The original but now less common use of

6314-423: The word was the application of the Latin word prīnceps , from late Roman law and the classical system of government that eventually gave way to the European feudal society. In this sense, a prince is a ruler of a territory that is sovereign or quasi-sovereign, i.e., exercising substantial (though not all) prerogatives associated with monarchs of independent nations, such as the immediate states within

6396-409: Was annexed to the Holy Roman Empire . Beatrice of Swabia 1212 no children Maria of Brabant 19 May 1214 Maastricht no children After their death, rule of the Principality was to revert to the Ascanians. In order to underpin the agreement, in 1374 Albert of Saxe-Lüneburg married Catharina, the widow of Magnus II. The treaty also envisaged the creation of a statutory body representing

6478-455: Was first mentioned in the decree issued by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180 at the Imperial Diet of Gelnhausen , in which he divested Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and Bavaria . About fifty years later, Eike of Repgow codified it as an emanation of feudal law recorded in his Sachsenspiegel , where the lay princes formed the third level or Heerschild in the feudal military structure below ecclesiastical princes. Officially

6560-498: Was generally named after the ruler's residence, e.g., the rulers of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel originally lived in Wolfenbüttel. Whenever a branch of the family died out in the male line, the territory was given to another line, as the duchy remained enfeoffed to the family as a whole rather than its individual members. All members of the House of Welf, male or female, bore the title Duke/Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg in addition to

6642-427: Was taking the title of Grand Prince of Kiev . In 14th their ruling role was taken by Lithuanian princes, which used the title of Grand Prince of Lithuania and Ruthenia. With the rise of cossacks, many former Ukrainian princes were incorporated into the new cossack nobility . In the Russian system, knyaz was the highest degree of official nobility. Members of older dynasties, whose realms were eventually annexed to

6724-562: Was the only Welf to become Holy Roman Emperor. Henry the Lion's grandson Otto the Child became duke of a part of Saxony in 1235, the new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and died there in 1252. The duchy was divided several times during the High Middle Ages amongst various lines of the House of Welf. The subordinate states had the legal status of principalities within the duchy, which remained as an undivided imperial fief . Each state

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