Graf
Graf (feminine: Gräfin) is a historical
The German nobility was gradually divided into high and low nobility. The high nobility included those counts who ruled immediate imperial territories of "princely size and importance" for which they had a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet.
Etymology and origin
The word Graf derives from
History
The comital title of Graf is common to various European territories where German was or is the official or vernacular tongue, including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Alsace, the Baltic states and other former Habsburg crown lands. In Germany, all legal privileges of the nobility have been officially abolished since August 1919, and Graf, like any other hereditary title, is treated as part of the legal surname.[3] In Austria, its use is banned by law, as with all hereditary titles and nobiliary particles. In Switzerland, the title is not acknowledged in law. In the monarchies of Belgium, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, where German is one of the official languages, the title continues to be recognised, used and, occasionally, granted by the national fons honorum, the reigning monarch.
From the
These rights gradually eroded and were largely eliminated before or during the 19th century, leaving the Graf with few legal privileges beyond land ownership, although comital estates in German-speaking lands were often substantial. Nonetheless, various rulers in German-speaking lands granted the hereditary title of Graf to their subjects, particularly after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Although lacking the prestige and powers of the former Imperial counts, they remained legal members of the local nobility, entitled to whatever minor privileges were recognised at the ruler's court. The title, translated as "count", was generally accepted and used in other countries by custom.
Many
In the medieval Holy Roman Empire, some counts took or were granted unique variations of the gräfliche title, often relating to a specific domain or jurisdiction of responsibility, e.g.
In Russia, the title of Graf (
Nobiliary titles containing the term Graf
Some are approximately of comital rank, some higher, some lower. The more important ones are treated in separate articles (follow the links); a few minor, rarer ones only in sections below.
German | English | Comment/ etymology |
---|---|---|
Markgraf | Margrave (only continental) or Marquess |
Mark 'march, border province' + Graf. Exercised authority over territory on the border of the Empire. |
Landgraf | Landgrave | Land 'country' + Graf. Exercised authority over an entire province. |
Reichsgraf | Imperial Count | Reich 'Empire' + Graf. Imperial count, whose title was granted or recognised by the Emperor. |
Gefürsteter Graf | Princely Count | German verb for "made into a Reichsfürst " + Graf.
|
Pfalzgraf | Count Palatine or Palsgrave (archaic) |
Pfalz 'palatial estate, Palatinate' + Graf. Originally ruled "with the authority of the Imperial Palace"; later, ruler of the "Palace-land", i.e., the Palatinate. |
Rheingraf | Rhinegrave | Rhein 'river Rhine' + Graf. Ruled territory bordering the Rhine River. |
Burggraf | Burgrave | Burg 'castle, burgh' + Graf. Ruled territory surrounding or dominated by a fortified castle. |
Altgraf | Altgrave | alt 'old' + Graf. A count whose title pre-dated Imperial grants of the comital title. Unique to the Salm family.
|
Freigraf | Free Count | frei 'free' (allodial?) + Graf. Both a feudal title of comital rank and a more technical office. |
Gaugraf | Gaugrave | Gau 'imperial territory' + Graf. Ruler of a gau in the Carolingian Empire. Most gäue later became counties (Grafschaften). |
Waldgraf | Wildgrave |
Wald 'forest' + Graf. Ruled a heavily forested area. |
Raugraf | Raugrave |
Rau ('raw, uninhabited, wilderness') + Graf. Ruled territory centered on an undeveloped area of land. |
Vizegraf | Viscount | Vize 'vice-, substitute' + Graf. |
Reichsgraf
A Reichsgraf was a
However, the Holy Roman Emperors also occasionally granted the title of Reichsgraf to subjects and foreigners who did not possess and were not granted immediate territories — or, sometimes, any territory at all.[5] Such titles were purely honorific.[citation needed]
In English, Reichsgraf is usually translated simply as count and is combined with a territorial suffix (e.g.,
Notable Reichsgrafen have included:
- Castell
- Fugger
- Henneberg, a title merged into the imperial dignity
- Leiningen
- Nassau-Weilburgsince 26 September 1366 (previously, simply Graf)
- Pappenheim
- Stolberg
- Tyrol as a dominion of the Austriancrown
A complete list of Reichsgrafen with immediate territories as of 1792 can be found in the
Margrave
A Markgraf or
Examples: Margrave of Baden, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Since the abolition of the German Empire at the end of World War I, the heirs of some of its former monarchies have resumed use of margrave as a title of pretence, e.g. Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen and Maximilian, Margrave of Baden.
Landgrave
A Landgraf or
Landgraf occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such minor royalty as the
Examples: Landgrave of
Gefürsteter Graf
A gefürsteter Graf (English: princely count) is a Reichsgraf who was recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor as bearing the higher rank or exercising the more extensive authority of an
Burgrave/Viscount
A Burggraf, or Burgrave, was a 12th- and 13th-century military and civil judicial governor of a castle (compare castellan, custos, keeper) of the town it dominated and of its immediate surrounding countryside. His jurisdiction was a Burggrafschaft, burgraviate.
Over time the office and domain to which it was attached tended to become hereditary by Imperial grant or retention over generations by members of the same family.
Examples: Burgrave of Nuremberg, Burgrave of (Burggraf zu) Dohna-Schlobitten
Initially burgrave suggested a similar function and history as other titles rendered in German by Vizegraf, in Dutch as Burggraaf or in English as
Rhinegrave, Wildgrave, Raugrave, Altgrave
Unlike the other comital titles, Rhinegrave, Wildgrave (
- Rhinegrave (Lorch on the right bank of the Rhine. Their castle was known as the Rheingrafenstein Castle. After the Rhinegraves inherited the Wildgraviate (see below) and parts of the Countship of Salm, they called themselves Wild-and-Rhinegraves of Salm.[6][7]
- When the
- The first Raugrave was Count Emich I (died 1172). The dynasty died out in the 18th century. morganatic) second marriage to Baroness Marie Luise von Degenfeld, the title of "Raugravine/Raugrave".[9]
- The first Raugrave was Count Emich I (died 1172). The dynasty died out in the 18th century.
- Altgrave (Lower Salm to distinguish themselves from the Wild- and Rhinegraves of Upper Salm, since Lower Salm was the senior branch of the family.[6]
The corresponding titles in Scandinavia are greve (m.) and grevinna (f.) and would commonly be used in the third-person in direct address as a mark of courtesy, as in grevinnan.
Modern usage in German surnames
German nobility, although not abolished (unlike the Austrian nobility by the new First Austrian Republic in 1919), lost recognition as a legal class in Germany under the Weimar Republic in 1919 under the Weimar Constitution, article 109. Former hereditary noble titles legally simply transformed into dependent parts of the legal surname (with the former title thus now following the given name, e.g. Otto Graf Lambsdorff).[10] As dependent parts of the surnames (nichtselbständige Namensbestandteile), they are ignored in alphabetical sorting of names, as is any nobiliary particle, such as von or zu,[11] and might or might not be used by those bearing them. The distinguishing main surname is the name following the Graf, or Gräfin, and the nobiliary particle if any. Today, having lost their legal status, these terms are often not translated, unlike before 1919. The titles do, however, retain prestige in some circles of society.
Other uses
The suffix -graf occurs in various office titles which did not attain nobiliary status but were either held as a sinecure by nobleman or courtiers, or functional officials such as the Deichgraf (in a polder management organization).
See also
- German nobility
- History of Germany
- Holy Roman Emperor
- List of German monarchs
- Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
- Sendgraf
Sources and references
(incomplete)
- ^ "Duden"..
- ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm. "Deutsches Wörterbuch"..
- ^ Weimar Constitution Article 109, sentence 2
- ^ Arsenyev & Petrushevsky 1893.
- ^ a b Velde, François (2008-02-13). "Evolution of the Council of Princes from 1582 to 1803". Heraldica.org. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
- ^ a b c d Almanach de Gotha, Salm. Justus Perthes, 1944, pp. 169, 276, 280. French.
- ^ Rheingraf. In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 4th edition. Volume 13, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig/Vienna 1885–1892, p. 0780.
- ^ Raugraf. In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 4th edition. Volume 13, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig/Vienna 1885–1892, p. 0605.
- ^ Raugraf Archived 2007-06-03 at the Wayback Machine at wissen.de
- ^ Article 109 of the Weimar Constitution constitutes: Adelsbezeichnungen gelten nur als Teil des Namens und dürfen nicht mehr verliehen werden ("Noble names are only recognised as part of the surname and may no longer be granted").
- ^ Compare DIN standard # 5007, part 2.
- WorldStatesmen: see every modern state; here Germany/Holy Roman Empire
- St. Petersburg). pp. 576–577.