| Emperor & Empress
|
|
| King & Queen
|
|
| Viceroy & Vicereine
|
|
| Archduke & Archduchess | |
| Infante & Infanta
|
|
| Grand Duke & Grand Duchess Grand Prince & Grand Princess |
|
| Duke & Duchess | |
|
|
|
| Marquess & Marchioness Marquis & Marquise |
|
| Margrave & Margravine
|
|
|
Count & Countess |
|
| Viscount & Viscountess
|
|
|
Freiherr & Freifrau
|
|
| Baronet & Baronetess |
|
| Hereditary Knight, Ritter
|
|
| Knight & Dame |
|
| Nobile, Edler von |
A count (male) or countess (female) is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is "comital". The British equivalent is an earl (whose wife is a "countess", for lack of an Anglo-Saxon term). Alternative names for the "Count" rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Graf in Germany and Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.
Contents |
In the late Roman Empire, the Latin title comes meaning (imperial) "companion" denoted the high rank of various courtiers and provincial officials, either military or administrative: before Anthemius was made emperor in the West in 467, he was military comes charged with strengthening defenses on the Danube frontier.[1]
In the Western Roman Empire Count came to generically indicate a military commander, but was not a specific rank. In the Eastern Roman Empire, from about the seventh century, a count was a specific rank indicating the commander of two centuries (i.e. 200 men).
Military counts in the Late Empire and the Germanic successor kingdoms were often appointed by a dux and later by a king. From the start the count was in charge, not of a roving warband, but settled in a locality, a countship, his main rival for power being the bishop, whose diocese was often coterminous.
In many Germanic and Frankish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, the count might also be a count palatine, whose authority derived directly from the royal household, the "palace" in its original sense of the seat of power and administration. This other kind of count had vague antecedents in Late Antiquity too: the father of Cassiodorus held positions of trust with Theodoric, as comes rerum privatarum, in charge of the imperial lands, then of comes sacrarum largitionum (concerned with the strictly monetary fiscal matters of the realm).[2]
The position of comes was originally not hereditary. By holding large estates, many counts were able to make it a hereditary title—though not always. For instance, in Piast Poland, the position of komes was not hereditary, resembling the early Merovingian institution. The title had disappeared by the era of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the office replaced with other institutions. Only after the Partitions of Poland did the title of "count" re-surface in the German-derived title hrabia.
The title of Count was also often conferred by the monarch as an honorific title for special services rendered, without an actual feudal estate (countship, county), just a title, with or without a domain name attached to it. In the UK, the equivalent Earl is often a courtesy title for the eldest son of a duke. In the United Kingdom stringent rules apply, often a future heir has a lower ranking courtesy title; in Italy, by contrast, all the sons of certain counts are counts (contini). In Sweden there is a distinction between counts (Swedish: greve) introduced before 1809 and after. All children in countship families introduced before 1809 are called count/countess. In families introduced after 1809 only the head of the family is called count, the rest had a status similar to barons and were called Mr. and Ms./Mrs. (before the use of titles was abolished).
The following lists are originally based on a Glossary on Heraldica.org by Alexander Krischnig. The male form is followed by the female, and when available, by the territorial circonscription
| Language | Male title | Female title / Spouse | Territory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | Kont | Konteshë | |
| Armenian | Կոմս (Koms) | Կոմսուհի (Komsuhi) | |
| Bulgarian | Кмет (Kmet), present meaning: mayor; medieval (9th-century) Комит (Komit): hereditary provincial ruler | Кметица (Kmetitsa), woman mayor / Кметша (Kmetsha), mayor's wife | Кметство (Kmetstvo); medieval Комитат (Komitat) |
| Cantonese | Pak Tsoek 伯爵 | Neoi Pak Tsoek 女伯爵, female count / Pak Tsoek Fu Yan 伯爵夫人, count's wife | |
| Catalan | Comte | Comtessa | Comtat |
| Danish | Komtesse (Unmarried daughter of a count.) | ||
| English | Count (applies to title granted by monarchies other than the British where Earl applies) | Countess (even where Earl applies) | Earldom for an Earl; Countship or county for a count, but the last is also, and indeed rather, in English-Speaking countries an administrative district |
| French | Comte | Comtesse | Comté |
| Hungarian | Vikomt | Vikomtessz | These forms are now archaic and/or literary; Gróf is used instead. |
| Irish | Cunta; Iarla | Cuntaois, Baniarla | Honorary title only; iarla does not derive from Latin comes but rather from English "earl". |
| Italian | Conte | Contessa | Contea, Contado, Comitato |
| Greek | Κόμης (Kómēs) | Κόμησσα (Kómēssa) | Κομητεία (Komēteía); in the Ionian Islands the respective Italianate terms Kóntes, Kontéssa were used instead |
| Japanese | Hakushaku 伯爵 | Hakushaku fujin 伯爵婦人 | |
| Latin (feudal jargon, not classical) | Comes | Comitissa | Comitatus |
| Maltese | Konti | Kontessa | |
| Monegasque | Conte | Contessa | |
| Norwegian | Komtesse (Unmarried daughter of a count.) | ||
| Portuguese | Conde | Condessa | Condado |
| Romanian | Conte | Contesă | Comitat |
| Romansh | Cont | Contessa | |
| Spanish | Conde | Condesa | Condado |
| Turkish | Kont | Kontes | Kontluk |
| Language | Male title | Female title / Spouse | Territory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Graaf | Gravin | Graafskap |
| Belarusian | Граф (Hraf) | Графiня (Hrafinia) | Графствa (Hrafstva) |
| Bulgarian | Граф (Graf) | Графиня (Grafinya) | Графство (Grafstvo) |
| Croatian | Grof | Grofica | Grofovija |
| Czech | Hrabě | Hraběnka | Hrabství |
| Danish | Greve | Grevinde | Grevskab |
| Dutch | Graaf | Gravin | Graafschap |
| English | Grave | Gravine | Graviate |
| Estonian | Krahv | Krahvinna | Krahvkond |
| Finnish | Kreivi | Kreivitär | Kreivikunta |
| German | Graf | Gräfin | Grafschaft |
| Greek | Γράβος | ||
| Hungarian | Gróf | Grófnő, Grófné | Grófság |
| Icelandic | Greifi | Greifynja | |
| Latvian | Grāfs | Grāfiene | Grāfiste |
| Lithuanian | Grafas | Grafienė | Grafystė |
| Luxembourgish | Graf | Gräfin | |
| Macedonian | Гроф (Grof) | Грофица (Grofica) | |
| Norwegian | Greve | Grevinne | Grevskap |
| Polish | Hrabia | Hrabina | Hrabstwo |
| Romanian | Grof (also Conte, see above) | ||
| Russian | Граф (Graf) | Графиня (Grafinya) | Графство (Grafstvo) |
| Serbian | Гроф | Грофица | Грофовија |
| Slovak | Gróf | Grófka | Grófstvo |
| Slovene | Grof | Grofica | Grofija |
| Swedish | Greve | Grevinna | Grevskap |
| Ukrainian | Граф (Hraf) | Графиня (Hrafynya) | Графство (Hrafstvo) |
Apart from all these, a few unusual titles have been of comital rank, not necessarily to remain there.
Since Louis VII (1137–80), the highest precedence amongst the vassals (Prince-bishops and secular nobility) of the French crown was enjoyed by those whose benefice or temporal fief was a pairie, i.e. carried the exclusive rank of pair; within the first (i.e. clerical) and second (noble) estates, the first three of the original twelve anciennes pairies were ducal, the next three comital comté-pairies:
Later other countships (and duchies, even baronies) have been raised to this French peerage, but mostly as apanages (for members of the royal house) or for foreigners; after the 16th century all new peerages were always duchies and the medieval countship-peerages had died out, or were held by royal princes
Other French countships of note included those of:
See also above for parts of present France
A Graf ruled over a territory known as a Grafschaft, literally 'countship' (also rendered as 'county'). See also various comital and related titles; especially those actually reigning over a principality that can be rendered as countship: Gefürsteter Graf, Landgraf, Reichsgraf; compare Markgraf, Pfalzgraf
The title of Conte is very prolific on the peninsula, and modern counts occupy the position in rural society comparable to an English squire, members of rural gentry. In the eleventh century however, conti like the Count of Savoia or the Norman Count of Apulia, were virtually sovereign lords of broad territories. Even apparently "lower"-sounding titles, like Viscount, could describe powerful dynasts, such as the Visconti family who ruled a major city such as Milan. The essential title of a feudatory, introduced by the Normans, was signore, modelled on the French seigneur, used with the name of the fief. By the fourteenth century, conte and the Imperial title barone were virtually synonymous, but some titles of count, according to the particulars of the patent, might be inherited by the eldest son of a Count. Other younger brothers might be distinguished as "X dei conti di Y" ("X of the counts of Y"). However if there is no male to inherit the title and the count has a daughter, she can inherit the title: for example the Countess Luisa Gazelli di Rossana e di Sebastiano, mother of Queen Paola of Belgium. The Papacy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies might appoint counts palatine with no particular territorial fief. Until 1812 in some regions, the purchaser of land designated "feudal" was ennobled by the noble seat that he held and became a conte. This practice ceased with the formal abolition of feudalism in the various principalities of early-19th century Italy, last of all in the Papal States.
Many Italian counts left their mark on Italian history as individuals, yet only a few contadi (countships; the word contadini for its inhabitants remains the Italian word for "peasant") were politically significant principalities, notably :
Count is one of the noble titles granted by the Pope as a temporal sovereign and the title's holder is often known as a papal count or less so as a Roman count, often confused with the hereditary Roman nobility since the restoration of the Papal States in 1815. The title of Count Palatine of the Lateran Palace, which can be for life or hereditary, has been awarded by popes and Holy Roman Emperors since the Middle Ages, infrequently before the 14th century, and the pope continued to grant the purely honorary title even after 1870, when the ranks of the Roman nobility were otherwise frozen. This title is no longer conferred. By the Lateran Accord of 1929, the Italian government recognized and confirmed the pope's power to grant nobilary titles, and the titles granted by the Pope were considered equivalent to Italian titles. American Francis A. MacNutt, a papal chamberlain at the Vatican and a papal knight was also a papal marquis, having his noble title conferred by Pius X. American financier George MacDonald of New York was created a papal marquis in the 1930s and Long Island philanthropist Genevieve Brady was created a papal duchess by Pope Pius XI in the 1930s. However, noble titles have not been generously granted since Pope Pius XII. Papal Count John McCormack and Papal Countess Rose Kennedy being among the last few to receive this honor. With Paul VI, who responded to the formal Christmas message of the patriciate by declaring that the papal nobility would no longer be a constituent body in the papal court, the custom essentially disappeared. Pope John Paul II did grant several noble titles to Polish compatriots at the beginning of his pontificate, but quietly and without their being published in the Acts of The Apostolic See. The popes continue to award knighthoods and medals of merit on a regular basis which do not confer noble status.[3]
The principalities tended to start out as margraviate and/or (promoted to) duchy, and became nominal archduchies within the Habsburg dynasty; noteworthy are:
Numerous small ones, particularly:
particularly see:
Apart from various small ones, significant were :
As opposed to the plethora of hollow "gentry" counts, only a few countships ever were important in medieval Iberia; most territory was firmly within the Reconquista kingdoms before counts could become important. However, during the 19th century, the title, having lost its high rank (equivalent to that of Duke), proliferated.
Portugal itself started as a countship in 868, but became a kingdom in 1139 (see:County of Portugal). Throughout the History of Portugal, especially during the Constitutional Monarchy many other countships were created (see: List of Countships in Portugal).
In Spain, no countships of wider importance exist, except in the former Spanish march.
In the First Bulgarian Empire, a komit was a hereditary provincial ruler under the tsar documented since the reign of Presian (836-852)[6] The Cometopouli dynasty was named after its founder, the komit of Sredets.
Like other major Western noble titles, Count is sometimes used to render certain titles in non-western languages with their own traditions, even though they are as a rule historically unrelated and thus hard to compare, but which are considered "equivalent" in rank.
This is the case with:
