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| Nobile, Edler von |
A marquess or marquis (UK /ˈmɑrkwɨs/; French: "marquis", /mɑrˈkiː/) is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam (Annam). In the British Isles the title ranks below a duke and above an earl (see "Marquesses in the United Kingdom").
The actual distinction of a Marquess and other peerage titles has, in more recent years, faded into obscurity. In times past, the distinction between a Count and a marquess was that a marquess's land, called a march, was on the border of the country, while a count's land, called a county, often wasn't. Because of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile neighbors and was thus more important and ranked higher than an count. The title is ranked below duke which was mostly restricted to the royal family and those that were held in high enough esteem to be granted such a title.
The word "marquess" is unusual in English, ending in "-ess" but referring to a male and not a female. In continental Europe it is usually equivalent where a cognate title exists. A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a marchioness ( /ˌmɑrʃəˈnɛs/) in the British Isles, or a marquise ( /mɑrˈkiːz/) elsewhere in Europe. The dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate.
In the German lands, a Margrave was a ruler of an immediate Imperial territory (examples include Margrave of Brandenburg, Margrave of Baden and Margrave of Bayreuth to name a few) and never a mere noble like Marquesses/Marquises in Western and Southern Europe. German rulers did not confer the title of Marquis and holders of marquisates in Central Europe were mostly of Italian and Spanish origin.
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The word enters the English language from Old French marchis ("ruler of a border area") in the late 13th or early 14th century. The French word was derived from marche ("frontier"), itself descended from the Middle Latin marca ("frontier"), from which the modern English words "march" and "mark" also descend. The distinction between governors of frontier territories and interior territories was made as early as the founding of the Roman Empire when some provinces were set aside for administration by the Senate and more unpacified or vulnerable provinces were administered by the Emperor. The titles "Duke" and "Count" were similarly distinguished as ranks in the late empire, with dux (ltierally, "leader") being used for a provincial military governor and the rank of comes (literally "companion," that is, of the Emperor) given the leader of an active army along the frontier.
In Italy the equivalent modern rank (as opposed to margravio) is that of marchese, the wife of whom is a marchesa, a good example of how several languages adopted a new word derived from marquis for the modern style, thus distinguishing it from the old "military" margraves. Even where neither title was ever used domestically, such duplication to describe foreign titles can exist.
Like other major Western noble titles, marquess or marquis 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. However, they are considered "equivalent" in relative rank.
This is the case with:
^ Although the vast majority of marquessates are named after places, and hence their holders are known as the "Marquess of X", a very few of them are named after surnames (even if not the bearer's own), and hence their holders are known as the "Marquess X". In either case, he is still informally known as "Lord X", regardless whether there is an of in his title, and it is always safe to style him so.